Environmental rethinking of wastewater drains to manage environmental pollution and alleviate water scarcity

Ismail Abd-Elaty; Alban Kuriqi; Abeer El Shahawy

doi:10.1007/s11069-021-05040-w

Environmental rethinking of wastewater drains to manage environmental pollution and alleviate water scarcity

Nat Hazards (Dordr). 2022;110(3):2353-2380. doi: 10.1007/s11069-021-05040-w. Epub 2021 Sep 27.

Authors

Ismail Abd-Elaty¹, Alban Kuriqi², Abeer El Shahawy³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Water and Water Structures Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44519 Egypt.
² CERIS, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. RoviscoPais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal.
³ Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Suez Canal University, PO Box 41522, Ismailia, Egypt.

Abstract

The conservation of water resources in developed countries has become an increasing concern. In integrated water resource management, water quality indicators are critical. The low groundwater quality quantitates mainly attributed to the absence of protection systems for polluted streams that collect and recycle the untreated wastewater. Egypt has a limited river network; thus, the supply of water resources remains inadequate to satisfy domestic demand. In this regard, high-quality groundwater is one of the main strategies for saving water supplies with water shortage problems. This paper investigates the critical issues of groundwater protection and environmental management of polluted streams, leading to overcoming water demand-about 18 × 10³ km of polluted open streams with a discharge of 9.70 billion Cubic Metter (BCM). We have proposed proposals and policies for the safe use of groundwater and reuse of wastewater recycling for agriculture and other purposes. This study was carried out using the numerical model MODFLOW and MT3DMS-(Mass Transport 3-Dimension Multi-Species) to assess the Wastewater Treated Plant's (WWTP) best location and the critical path for using different lining materials of polluted streams to avoid groundwater contamination. The three contaminants are BOD, COD, and TDS. Five scenarios were applied for mitigating the impact of polluted water: (1) abstraction forcing, (2) installing the WWTP at the outlet of the main basin drain with and without a lining of main and sub-basin streams (base case), (3) lining of main and sub-main streams, (4) installing WWTP at the outlet of the sub-basin streams, and (5) lining of the sub-basin and installing WWTP at the outlet of the sub-basin. The results showed that the best location of WWTP in polluted streams is developed at the outlets of sub-basin with the treatment of main basin water and the lining of sub-basins streams. The contamination was reduced by 76.07, 76.38, and 75.67% for BOD, COD, and TDS, respectively, using Cascade Aeration Biofilter or Trickling Filter, Enhancing Solar water Disinfection [(CABFESD)/(CATFESD)] and High-Density Polyethylene lining. This method is highly effective and safe for groundwater and surface water environmental protection. This study could be managing the water poverty for polluted streams and groundwater in the Global South and satisfy the environmental issues to improve water quality and reduce the treatment and health cost in these regions.

Keywords: Contamination; Groundwater; MUDFLOW; Polluted streams; Water poverty.