Hydrodynamic and Environmental Impact of Constructing a Closure Dam Near Seawater Intakes of a Power and Desalination Plant

Abstract

Power and desalination plants are very important in the Arabian Gulf region to provide water and electricity. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates has a number of power and desalination plants. One of these plants is Umm Al Nar plant. It is located inside a lagoon north of Abu Dhabi Island, which is the North Lagoon. Hydrodynamic study was carried out to investigate the impact of constructing a temporary closure dam in the tidal water near the plant intake on the flow pattern and the recirculation of effluent discharges from the outfall to the intake of the plant. The effect of the proposed dam on the mangroves in the vicinity of the plant was investigated. Two dimension hydrodynamic numerical flow model simulates the study area was used in the study. The hydrodynamic and environmental impact of the proposed dam was evaluated by comparing the results of the model computations with and without the dam simulation.