Development of a Tool for Modeling the Fecal Contamination in Rivers with Turbulent Flows—Application to the Seine et Marne Rivers (Parisian Region, France)

Abstract

Bacterial pollution in the water comes in particular from Escherichia coli and fecal coliforms, responsible for gastroenteritis and diarrhea, intestinal streptococci or enterococci (urinary tract infections and peritonitis), salmonella which can cause serious gastroenteritis, shigella (dysen-teritis, gastroenteritis), cholera vibrio (cholera). As 23 sites on the Seine and Marne Rivers (Parisian Region) would be identified as the natation competition sites for the Paris-2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the water quality at these sites should be seriously monitored. Numerical modeling can be considered one powerful tool to watch the water quality parameters. However, measurements show that the water quality is not homogeneous in a river cross-section, and one-dimensional (1D) models are not enough to accurately calculate the bacteriological concentration dispersion in the aquatic environments. Therefore, a two-dimensional model has been developed by coupling the TELEMAC-2D model and its water quality module WAQTEL for simulating bathing water quality in the Seine and Marne Rivers. The model was validated against in situ measurements and was compared against a 1D model. Results show that this model can simulate not only the longitudinal evolution but also the transverse dispersion of bacteriological pollutants. Then, a 3D multi-layer model has been developed around a bathing site using the TELEMAC-3D model. The result of the 3D model is promising and allows us to get a finer representation of the bacteriological concentration in three dimensions.