Coupling hydrological and sanitation datasets to simulate wastewater-derived contamination in European rivers: Model development and calibration

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges of microcontaminants negatively impact freshwater streams, underscoring the need for accurately mapping wastewater-derived contamination in water bodies across Europe (EU). In this study, we present a fast and open-source code for a microcontaminants fate and transport (MFT) model, capable of simulating contamination at a high resolution (15 arc second scale) across the EU. The model was developed using the best publicly available hydrological (HydroSHEDS) and sanitation (UWWTD) datasets and was rigorously calibrated, with a goodness of fit of 77.5% as measured by the R2. Importantly, the model demonstrated the ability to predict wastewater-derived contamination in water bodies, making it a valuable tool for planning the upgrade of WWTPs and improving the ecological condition of freshwater streams in the EU

ICRA authors acknowledge the funding provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the EU FEDER program (project INVEST: RTI2018- 097471-B-C21), the Generalitat de Catalunya through the Consolidated Research Group grant ICRA-Tech 2021-SGR-01283 and ICRA-ENV 2021-SGR-01282, and the funding from the CERCA program of the Catalan Government

Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Elsevier

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