An Environment Friendly Method for Seawater Effluents- A Case Study for Kharg Island

Coastal environment contains the richest and complex ecosystem in the world. Socio-economical developments in the coastal zone and the resulted seawater pollution have a direct impact on coastalenvironment. From this ecosystem, coral reefs are of outmost importance. Corals are very sensitive tothe change in water temperature and salinity and cannot tolerate turbidity. Study on shallow water of North-west coast of Kharg island, Persian Gulf, reveals that the corals in this area are alive (figure 1).Measures must be taken to survive such important ecosystem and therefore, protection of the coastalzone against damaging causes is essential. The construction of industrial plants in coastal zone of Kharg island and using seawater for coolingpurpose and then discharging the heated water effluent back to the sea body is a normal practice in the industry; however, because of the sensitivity of the corals, the process must be fully compliant with environmental standards. In the present study, the stage of thermal dispersion due to discharge of cooling system from a NGL plant at the North-west of Kharg island is studied. In this regard, a numerical model for hydrodynamicpattern and thermal dispersion of effluent is applied [1]. In this way, possible alternatives of discharge are introduced and according to the results of the model, appropriate position for discharge of effluent in deep water, in terms of practicality and compliant with environmental criteria is recommended

Keywords:

Kharg , Coral reef , Hydrodynamics , water Quality Modeling , Thermal dispersion , Persian Gulf