Numerical Simulations of the Bacterial Pollution Along the Coast of the Venice Province (Northern Adriatic)

To protect sea resources from enteric bacteria pollution, coming from discharges of the rivers and the treatment plants, management and safeguarding practices must be devised based on a sound knowledge of the fate of these organisms in the environment. The potential hazard of bacterial dispersion and die-off along the beaches and the shores of the Venice province in the Northern Adriatic has been evaluated on the basis of model simulations and laboratory data, provided by ARPAV, the environmental protection agency of Veneto region. Different scenarios have been studied with the finite element model SHYFEM developed at ISMAR-CNR in Venice, coupled with a modified version of the EUTRO-WASP model from US-EPA. Escherichia Coli and other coliforms bacteria dispersion have been simulated for the year 2002 with real forcings, with and without considering a die-off rate. For the simulated bacteria the average concentration has been computed during the year 2002, as well as the number of hours that the legal threshold value has been exceeded. Moreover, the area of influence of each treatment plant has been determined. This information will be helpful in devising an optimal monitoring strategy for the pollution of the coastal waters.