Abstract
According to the Water Framework Directive, harbours that are classified as heavily modified water bodies must either reach or maintain good ecological potential. Moreover, following the marine spatial planning principles, the effects of port structure changes on water quality must also be considered. To support the sustainable management of harbour waters, we calculated flushing time (FT) through the use of a numerical model within the Civitavecchia port under different scenarios. To assess the effects of the realization of new infrastructure that will significantly alter the port configuration in the coming years, we also developed the flushing efficiency index (FEI). The increase in the harbour basin size due to the embankment extension result in high values of FT, particularly in the inner part of the port, in accordance with the highest values of the enrichment factor of the trace metals found in the sediment. The deterioration of water quality is confirmed by negative FEI values. Otherwise, the index assumes positive values after the realization of a second entrance in the southern part of Civitavecchia port, highlighting a drastic improvement in harbour water renewal. This study provides a low-cost and predictive tool to correctly address environmentally sustainable management of port activities.
Highlights
To pursue the objective of the sustainable management of marine and maritime sectors, the European Commission launched the “Blue Growth” strategy, strengthened in the Mediterranean area via the Bluemed initiative (Venice Declaration on Mediterranean Sea Cooperation, 16 October2015)
This study presents the results of the development and the application of the new flushing efficiency index (FEI) to evaluate the effects of forthcoming structural changes on harbour water quality, confirming its usefulness as a tool to support the sustainable management of port basins
To confirm the relation between the renewal time and the water quality within harbour basins, we investigated the degree of enrichment of Cd, Pb, As, Cu, Ni, Zn, and Cr in the marine sediments in the area in which the maximum flushing time (FT) variation occurred (i.e., PC1 and PC2)
Summary
To pursue the objective of the sustainable management of marine and maritime sectors, the European Commission launched the “Blue Growth” strategy, strengthened in the Mediterranean area via the Bluemed initiative (Venice Declaration on Mediterranean Sea Cooperation, 16 October2015). To pursue the objective of the sustainable management of marine and maritime sectors, the European Commission launched the “Blue Growth” strategy, strengthened in the Mediterranean area via the Bluemed initiative Union (EU) members of the Mediterranean basin to jointly create new “blue jobs” and industrial marine and maritime growth. In this context, ports are of strategically importance, being the crossroads of numerous activities including tourism, pleasure boating, commercial traffic, fishing and cabotage. The regulatory framework to support the sustainable management of coastal activities includes the Water Framework Directive (WFD) [1] and marine spatial planning (MSP) [2].
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