Chinese researchers focus on change of active bed layers in alluvial rivers to study water pollution

Researchers in China have developed a new approach to study the mechanism of water pollution in alluvial rivers.

Entitled ‘Numerical Simulation of Pollution Process Due to Resuspension of Bed Materials Adsorbing Pollutants in Alluvial Rivers’ in the journal ‘Science China: Technological Sciences’, the study looks into dynamics of the active bed layer and simulates the pollution process due to resuspension of those river bed materials that absorb pollutants.

The study, which is being conducted by Hohai University researcher Dr Yun Ding long with two other partners, seeks to establish a transport equation of the active bed layer which aims to indicate dynamic characteristics of the temporal and spatial variation of pollutants absorbed to bed materials.

This research quantitatively reflects the effects of the evolution of the active bed layer on the pollution process, reports Science China Press.

It has been funded by Natural Science Foundation of China, State Key Program of Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Basic Research and Development (973) of China.

The researchers said in a statement: "To the best of our knowledge, most previous studies generally adopted critical conditions to determine the fluxes exchange between the water body and riverbed, and the dynamic of pollutant transport in the active bed layer could not be illustrated.

"This work represents the physical nature of pollutant transport in alluvial rivers."

Unlike previously conducted studies, this one includes complicated coupling mechanism between water motion and evolution of river bed to decipher the physical based transport equation of the active bed layer.

Results from the study have been found to be in agreement with the experimental observations.

The study is expected to serve as an effective tool for water safety and river management, since pollution of the natural water resources has been found to threaten industry, agriculture and drinking water supplies.