Pol Magermans

PEGASE, an integrated river/basin model dedicated to surface water quality assessment: application to cocaine

Abstract The scientists of the Aquapôle of the University of Liège have been involved in environmental modeling for more than 20 years. Among other, its current R&D unit focuses on the compartment of surface water, and – for modeling processes – is specialized on the water quality. One of its environmental models, called PEGASE (Planification Et Gestion de l’ASsainissement des Eaux), French acronym for “Planning and management of water purification” is devoted to the modeling of the environmental state of surface water, at different scales from small watersheds (10 km2) and basins up to entire transnational Districts (more than 100.000 km2). The software is used operationally by several administrations (Agencies and Ministries) mainly through Europe (France and Benelux, Germany …), and several calculations have also been performed at international District levels for international commissions (Scheldt, Meuse, Moselle …). Recently, the PEGASE model has been adapted to describe the cocaine’s behavior (using a stable metabolite of the cocaine in the environment: the benzoylecgonine) in waste water, waste water treatment plants (WWTP) and surface water. The cocaine is newly described in the model as an additional micropollutant (Pegase already treats numerous heavy metals), thanks to the implementation of new state variable equations and their specific parameterizations. At a first stage, only the urban sources (releases associated to the consumption by inhabitants) were considered as the industrial releases and the soil loads are assumed to be negligible. Simulations of benzoylecgonine have been done in the Walloon and Flemish regions, where many measurements from the COWAT project were available. These first results are showing a good agreement between calculated and measured values. This ability of the model to simulate the fate of the cocaine derivatives in surface waters should be continued and extended to other metabolites.

Modelling Catchment Scale Agricultural Pollution in North Tunisia Using the PEGASE Model

Diffuse pollution in agricultural watershed may contribute to unsustainable use of water resources and implies new challenges in water management.

Lessons Learned from a Partnership Between the University of Liège and Water Agencies for the Management of Surface Water Quality

An innovative partnership has been established between a university team (R&D unit of Aquapole, University of Liege) and public stakeholders managing surface water quality (Water Agencies and Administrations) in order to develop a mathematical model included in a software suite that meets the expectations of operators. This development strategy based on the needs of partners is a guarantee of success, directly benefiting from the quality improvement of aquatic environments. The partners have complementary missions consisting in the monitoring of aquatic environment and in scientific research. The research was carried out in the European context where public water policy has to be supported by robust knowledge to establish the relationships between the state of environment and the associated pressures. In this context, the PegOpera software suite is a tool supporting the management of surface water quality, from local scale to transnational level, up to the River Basin District scale. The main purpose of this operational tool is its ability to explicitly describe the pressure/impact relationships and to help Administrations in their planning missions through prospective simulation of measures (River Basin Management Plans in the scope of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC).