Delivering Water Quality Objectives at Swansea Bay Through a Range of Asset Interventions Identified by Integrated Modelling
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Delivering Water Quality Objectives at Swansea Bay through a range of asset interventions identified by integrated modelling Session: 4 – Dealing with Water Quality Issues (Friday 6th November am) Authors and Presenters: Paul Taylor (Intertek) and Neil Campbell (Grontmij) Paul Taylor, Principal Consultant - e-mail: [email protected]; mob: 07943 812738; DD: 01428 728554 Neil Campbell, Operations Manager – e-mail: [email protected]; tel.DD 0117 332 1079 Introduction Revised Bathing Water Directive The revised European Union Bathing Water Directive (rBWD) (2006/07/EC) came into force at the start of this bathing season (May 2015), and fully repealed the previous BWD of 1976. The new legislation has introduced significantly tighter water quality standards causing a number of bathing waters to be at risk of not meeting the new minimum classification. The rBWD has four levels of classification: Excellent; Good; Sufficient; and Poor, and all designated bathing waters (BWs) are required to meet at least the Sufficient classification. The classifications are assessed using data collected during the current bathing season and the three preceding bathing seasons, making a four-year rolling assessment period providing approximately 80 samples (4 x 20 samples per year although 16 samples per year will be collected in Wales from 2015). The key aspect of these classifications is that they are assessed statistically over a four bathing-season period to generate a distribution from which the 90 and 95 percentiles (%iles) are determined. The magnitude of bacteria concentrations are therefore now an important component of bathing water performance -unlike the 1976 directive, where each sample taken either passed or exceeded the threshold. A single very high concentration sample can therefore affect the classification of the BW for the next four years. Natural Resources Wales (NRW), identified that the water quality at the Swansea Bay BW was poor, and was unlikely to meet the minimum Sufficient class required by the revised directive. Swansea Bay Bathing Water description and known historical instances of misconnections to historic performance the streams. Recent efforts by NRW are understood to have led to improvements in the Swansea Bay is bounded to the North and West by water quality of the River Clyne and other local the city of Swansea and to the east by Port Talbot streams. and Aberafan. Large rivers drain into Swansea Bay: the River Tawe, the River Neath and the River The Swansea Bay BW is located approximately in Afan. The rivers have a mixed urban / rural the centre of Swansea Bay, and is therefore catchment. A significant number of combined subject to discharges from local CSOs along the sewer overflows (CSOs) discharge to the Tawe Swansea seafront and discharges from the Tawe (Swansea catchment), the Neath and the Afan and local streams. (Neath and Afan catchment). The River Clyne The discharge from Swansea Bay Wastewater discharges close to the bathing water, and is Treatment Works (WwTW) does not have a known to have suffered from poor microbiological significant impact on the bathing water, as the water quality. A number of smaller streams also discharge is located offshore and the effluent is discharge close to the bathing water, including the disinfected. Singleton Park, or Brynmill Stream; these pass through predominantly urban areas, and there are difference to the class achieved in 2014, 2014, in achieved years 10 past the over Wales) Agency Environment class working closely with NRW (and previously DŽ the investigations Water Welsh to Background to time. first the for class Good achieved been discounted, the bathing water could have investigations, although had the highest samples confirming the need to complete asset summer, difference drier a warning is provided). Discounting made no to can be excluded due if adequate prediction and discounting (whereby high concentration samples 2013 in Road Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) and completion of pump at replacement the Langdon achieved was have been achieved in 2013and 2014. Sufficient would Class andSufficient improved water quality 2011, lower After 2011. to until class Poor to due quality water be part in water underwent a period of steady decline in may 2006 to the bathing From rainfall theseyears. 2008, during 2001 from qualitybeen achieved. in The improvement water during 2004 to 2007 Sufficient class would have commissioning of the Swansea WwTW (1998); the period from 2000 to 2007 following the over be quality can seen toimprove Bathing water 2-d). (Fig presented also is Swansea in Park the bathing season rainfall recorded at Victoria the (FigrBWD classification 2-c) is and indicated, the seasons. previous three bathing In addition, concentrations for year, each including data from rBWD. the The lines90%ile and95%ile represent data processed towater assess quality under the Figure 2 (a-b) presents the bathing water sample CSOs Spilling Direct & Bay of Swansea location Geographic 1. Figure r Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) have been been have (DCWW) Water Welsh Cymru r theBWD 2006 under quality Water Bathing 2. Figure Historical did not have satisfactory screening arrangements. arrangements. screening satisfactory have did not bathingseasonand16 thanthreespills per greater seven were identified as spilling on average Of water. discharges tothe 17 CSOs, the bathing or into a watercourse, which subsequently waters, intothebathing either directly discharged BW. They with onto thedesignated a directeffect 17 sewer were network, identified as discharging Of the circa 192 CSOs in the greater Swansea NRW. with agreed was cycles (AMP) Programme phased approach, over two Asset Management to ensure compliance withthe rBWD in 2015. A have the potential toimpact onSwanseaBayBW, evaluating assetswhich various and reviewing the Class Class FC Class Class FS Class d c b a Concentration (cfu/100ml) Concentration (cfu/100ml) 10000 10000 1000 1000 100 100 10 10 1 1 P P P EXCELLENT GOOD POOR GOOD POOR 1993 1993 EXCELLENT P P P Swansea WwTW commissioned Swansea WwTW Swansea 1994 1994 P P P (95%ile) (95%ile) 90%ile 95%ile 1995 1995 90%ile 95%ile (95%ile) P P P (95%ile) 1996 1996 P P P P = Poor Class Class Poor P = Class; = Sufficient S Class; G =Good 1997 1997 SUFFICIENT P P P SUFFICIENT 1998 1998 P P P 1999 1999 (90%ile) (90%ile) commissioned P P P 2000 (90%ile) 2000 P P P 2001 2001 FC / EC FC P P P FS / IE / FS 2002 2002 P P P DRY 2003 2003 S S S 2004 2004 S S S 2005 2005 G S S 2006 2006 G S S Wetter weather 2007 2007 W G P P 2008 2008 etter weather P P S 2009 2009 WET P P P 2010 2010 P P P 2011 2011 P P P 2012 2012 S S S 2013 2013 G S S 2014 2014 DCWW and NRW agreed an overall strategy for determine the impact (relative and absolute) of all Swansea Bay to ensure that over both AMP5 and the sources (both continuous and intermittent) AMP6 cycles, a series of projects would be identified as being relevant to the study, and undertaken on the identified CSOs to improve provides detailed information regarding the both the frequency and the aesthetic quality of impact of each individual source, as well as the that spill, and ultimately to deliver the impact in the context of all the other sources environmental improvements required at the BW. (source apportionment). This output enables decisions to be made regarding the most Integrated Modelling Approach appropriate mitigation or intervention required to In order to ensure that the planned asset best deliver compliance at the designated bathing interventions will deliver the required (or shellfish) waters. environmental improvements, and that the most appropriate and sustainable solutions are identified, DCWW commissioned a detailed compliance assessment to be undertaken by their delivery partners: Morgan Sindall, Grontmij and Intertek. This assessment included state-of-the-art integrated hydraulic, riverine and coastal water quality modelling and surveys, which has incorporated the following: x Upgrade and application of a hydrodynamic model of the coast around Swansea Bay, including the use of field data collected by the Smart Coasts Project (funded by the City and County of Swansea and Interreg) x Development and application of a hydrological Figure 3. Schematic summarising compliance model of the River Clyne to provide flows in the assessment approach Clyne and neighbouring streams (via scaling on The study assessed the impact at the BW from all catchment area) potential sources (WwTW, CSOs and diffuse rivers x Flow monitoring of the sewerage networks and streams) over a period of 10 years – based on containing the 17 identified CSOs measured rainfall to drive the river and sewerage catchment models, and the full range of x Network model upgrades and re-verification environmental conditions (wind and tides) run in x Network modelling of Swansea’s sewerage the coastal model. catchments Asset Improvement Schemes x NRW gauged flows for the River Tawe, Neath Investigations and Afan x Microbiological concentrations for rivers, In order to gain a better understanding of the streams, CSOs and WwTWs collected by the Swansea catchment, DCWW appointed Morgan Smart Coasts Project Sindall and Grontmij to instigate a series of investigations including a 12 week flow monitoring Intertek’s STORM-OPTIMISER compliance exercise within the sewer networks surrounding assessment approach integrates outputs from the 17 CSOs. hydrodynamic (coastal), hydrologic (river) and hydraulic (sewerage) models to assess water A sewer network hydraulic model upgrade and quality and environmental compliance at bathing localised re-verification exercise was undertaken (or shellfish) waters. This approach uses a by Grontmij using the information gathered from combination of field data and predictive models to these surveys to locally re-verify the existing Drainage Area model of the Swansea Catchment.