Variabilité spatiale des caractéristiques et des origines des polluants de temps de pluie dans le réseau d'assainissement unitaire parisien

This thesis is registered in the OPUR: "Observatoire des polluants URbains en Ile-de-France". It relies on the fitting out of an experimental on-site observatory of six urban catchments series of growing size and comparable land use, from the Marais catchment (41 ha) to Clichy site's (2500 ha), along the axis of the Clichy trunk, in Paris. This on-site observatory allowed: - to study nature and flux variability of transferred pollutants by dry and wet weather, in combined sewers, in relation to the characteristics and the spatial scale of urban catchments. The work concerns in particular: - flux and mean concentrations of SS, VSS, COD, BOD5, TOC, TKN, and heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn). - Particle characteristics: distribution between dissolved and particle bound pollution, pollutant loads in particles and settling velocities. - to understand the hydraulic and hydrologic functioning of sewer network of the OPUR urban catchments, and to study the transferred mechanisms in combined sewers. - to evaluate the contribution of the three sources of pollution "urban runoff, wastewater and sewer sediments" to pollutant loads of wet weather. This evaluation was realised by using a mass balance approach between the entry and the exit of each catchment. The results obtained indicate, a relative homogeneity of pollutant loads, of their characteristics and of the dominant processes on the six studied catchments. They show an important contribution of the sewer deposit erosion to the flux of SS, organic matter and total copper, whatever the size of catchment. This contribution varies, on average, according to the site, from 49 to 79% for SS and from 43 to 71% for total copper. For cadmium, lead, and zinc, urban runoff proves the main source.Ce travail de thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de l'OPUR: "Observatoire des Polluants Urbains en Ile de France". Il s'appuie sur la mise en place d'un dispositif expérimental sur une série de six bassins versants de taille croissante et de d'occupation du sol comparable, allant du bassin du Marais (41 hectares) jusqu'au site de Clichy (2500 hectares) en suivant l'axe du collecteur de Clichy, à Paris. Ce dispositif a permis : - d'étudier la variabilité des flux et de la nature des polluants transférés par temps sec et par temps de pluie, dans les réseaux d'assainissement unitaires, en fonction des caractéristiques et de l'échelle spatiale des bassins versants. Le travail porte notamment sur : - Concentrations moyennes et flux des MES, MVS, DCO, DBO5, COT, NTK et des métaux lourds Cd, Cu, Pb et Zn. - Nature des polluants: répartition dissous-particulaire, teneurs en polluants et vitesses de chute des particules. - de comprendre le fonctionnement hydrologique et hydraulique du réseau d'assainissement des bassins versants OPUR et d'étudier les mécanismes de transfert dans les réseaux unitaires. - d'évaluer la contribution des trois sources "Eaux usées, Eaux de ruissellement et Stocks de dépôt dans le réseau" aux flux polluants de temps de pluie. Cette évaluation a été faite en utilisant une approche de bilan de masse entre l'entrée et la sortie de chaque bassin versant. Les résultats obtenus indiquent d'une part, une relative homogénéité des flux polluants, de leur nature et des processus dominants sur les six bassins versants étudiés. Ils montrent d'autre part une importante contribution de l'érosion des stocks constitués dans le réseau d'assainissement aux flux des matières en suspension, des matières organiques, du cuivre total, quelque soit la taille du bassin versant. Cette contribution varie, en moyenne, selon le site de mesure, entre 49 et 70% pour les MES, et entre 43 et 71% pour le cuivre total. Pour le cadmium, le plomb et le zinc, les eaux de ruissellement s'avèrent être la source principale

Representativity of samplings by automatic vacuometric samplers in combined sewer: case of Opur

National audienceIn order to analyse the representativity of samplers taken on the sites of the OPUR, 2 approaches were followed: theoretical and experimental. The theoretical approach has permit to respect 7 criteria out of 9 recommended at the time of the choice and the installation of an automatic sampler. The experimental tests showed a satisfactory homogeneity of concentrations in the various sections of measurement, a good representativity of samplings when the pipes are clean a contamination of samples by clogging of samplings pipes because of erosion of biofilms, an influence of temperature and shelf life on the samples intended for the analysis of ammonium and dissolved parameters. The contamination will be eliminated by samplings wastewater then clean water before each measurement campaign and by setting out of the water of samplings pipes. All the analyses will be carried out immediately

Spatial variability of characteristics and origins of urban wet weather pollution in combined sewers

International audienceAn experimental on-site observatory of urban pollutant loads in combined sewers was created in the centre of Paris to quantify and characterise the dry and wet weather flow in relation to spatial scale. Eight rainfall events were studied from April 2003 to May 2004. Samples were analysed for suspended solids, organic matter, nitrogen and heavy metals. Results confirm the extent of wet weather pollution. They have shown the relative homogeneity of SS and organic matter characteristics from one urban catchment area to another. Two groups of heavy metals were identified. The first one concerns Cu, which has a higher concentration in wet weather flow (WWF) than in dry weather flow (DWF), and runoff. The second includes Cd, Pb and Zn, where higher concentrations were measured in urban runoff than in WWF and DWF. A first evaluation of contribution of wastewater, urban runoff and sewer deposit erosion sources to wet weather pollution was established and has highlighted the contribution of wastewater and sewer deposits to this pollution. However, it has shown that sewer deposit erosion remains an important source of wet weather pollution at different spatial scales

Spatial variability of the characteristics of combined wet weather pollutant loads in Paris.

International audienceAn on-site observatory of urban pollutant loads in combined sewers has been created in Paris in order to investigate wet weather pollutant loads at different spatial scales. This observatory is composed of six urban catchments, covering areas from 41 to 2581ha. For a wide range of parameters including suspended solids (SS), volatile suspended solids (VSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn), aliphatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs and PAHs), this article serves to evaluate the potential scale effect on wet weather flow (WWF) quality. Although the extensive data set compiled herein has emphasized the high variability in WWF quality from one rain event to the next, no scale effect could be observed for a given rain event on pollutant concentrations, distributions between dissolved and particulate phases, pollutant contents and loads. Such results are of prime importance since they suggest (i) no spatial scale influence on WWF quality for the considered catchments and (ii) similar dominant sources and transfer processes at the various spatial scales

Contributions of wastewater, runoff and sewer deposit erosion to wet weather pollutant loads in combined sewer systems.

International audienceAn observatory of urban pollutants was created in Paris for the purpose of assessing the dynamics of wastewater and wet weather flow (WW and WWF) pollutant loads within combined sewers. This observatory is composed of six urban catchments, covering land areas ranging in size from 42 ha to 2581 ha. For a wide array of parameters including total suspended solids (TSS), chemical and biochemical oxygen demand (COD and BOD(5)), total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), heavy metals (Cu and Zn) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), this article is intended to evaluate the contributions of wastewater, runoff and in-sewer processes to WWF pollutant loads through the use of an entry-exit mass balance approach. To achieve this objective, a total of 16 rain events were sampled on these sites between May 2003 and February 2006. This study has confirmed that at the considered catchment scale (i.e. from 42 ha to 2581 ha) the production and transfer processes associated with WWF pollutant loads do not vary with basin scale. Entry-exit chemical mass balances over all catchments and for a large number of rain events indicate that wastewater constitutes the main source of organic and nitrogenous pollution, while runoff is the predominant source of Zn. For Cu, PAHs and TSS, the calculation underscores the major role played by in-sewer processes, specifically by sediment erosion, as a source of WWF pollution. A significant loss of dissolved metals was also observed during their transfer within the sewer network, likely as a consequence of the adsorption of dissolved metals on TSS and/or on sewer deposits. Moreover, the nature of eroded particles was examined and compared to the various sewer deposits. This comparison has highlighted that such particles exhibit similar organic and PAH contents to those measured in the organic layer, thus suggesting that the deposit eroded during a wet weather period is organic and of a nature comparable to the organic layer. Despite the extent of initial field investigations, no organic deposit was observed to be present on sewer lines within the catchments, which implies that this organic deposit is probably present in another form or to be found elsewhere in the main trunks

Settling velocity of particulate pollutants from combined sewer wet weather discharges.

International audienceSettling velocities of TSS and of particulate pollutants (COP, PDCO, PTKN, PCu, PPb, PZn, PPAH) measured on a wide range of wet weather flow (WWF) samples collected at different levels of the Parisian combined sewer system are reported. The recorded V30 (0.01 to 0.1 mm s(-1)) and V50 (0.09 to 0.6 mm s(-1)) values exceed by a factor 10 those of dry weather sewage and also exceed the values measured for pavement runoff. These values lie however often below the 0.28 mm s(-1) reference value considered in France for the design of WWF settling facilities. A decrease in settleability is observed between a small upstream catchment and larger scaled downstream catchments. The settling behaviour of particulate pollutants varies depending on the considered parameter and can differ significantly from the TSS behaviour, due to a non homogeneous distribution of micropolluants over the different classes of particles. PZn and PTKN appear far less settleable than TSS, whereas PPAH show higher settleability

Wastewater quality and pollutant loads in combined sewers during dry weather periods

International audienceAn observatory of urban pollutants was created in Paris in order to assess, at the urban catchment scale, the quality of sanitary sewage and pollutant loads during dry weather periods in the Paris combined sewer. Investigations were carried out for six urban catchments (varying from 42 to 2580 ha) focusing on a wide range of parameters, including: suspended solids (SS), chemical and biochemical oxygen demand (COD and BOD5), total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn), and aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs and PAHs). Despite the marginal intra-site variability of some pollutants, which serves to reflect the impact of point sources, this work attests to the spatial homogeneity, at the physical scales considered, of wastewater quality and pollutant loads within the Paris combined sewer network. These results imply that similar production and transfer processes are occurring within sewers during dry weather periods and strongly suggest that data obtained on one specific catchment could be extrapolated to smaller or larger catchments that display quite similar land use and sewer characteristics