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Lake Maracaibo Remediation Study
| Country: | Venezuela |
| Client: | Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) |
| Partners: |
Bechtel, DHI Moffat & Nichol, Incostas, CGR |
| Year: | 1998-99 |
| Value: | AUD$292,000 |
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Lake Maracaibo Remediation Study
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| OUTLINE | PUBLICATIONS | RELATED RESEARCH |
PROJECT PAGE (password protected) |
CONTRACT RESEARCH |
The Lake Maracaibo Remediation Study is a major multi-disciplinary study for the Petroleos de Venezuela carried out by an international consortium including the Centre for Water Research and headed by Bechtel International Systems.
Lake Maracaibo is one of Venezuela's most important water resources, providing fresh water for agriculture and supporting a local fishery, and is also the location of a major petroleum industry. However, over the past few decades the water quality in the lake has deteriorated, due primarily to increasing salinity and eutrophication caused by the dredging of navigation channels and the increasing industrialisation and urbanisation of the shores of the Lake.
The objectives of this study are to complete a comprehensive analysis of the environmental condition of the Lake, determine the feasibility of its remediation and, if feasible, make recommendations on appropriate remediation measures.
The Centre for Water Research has a major role in several of important aspects of this project, including the planning and participation in a major field program to collect hydrodynamic and water quality data and the modelling of the Lake using the one dimensional hydrodynamic model DYRESM, coupled with the water quality model CAEDYM. The Centre will also provide ongoing advice on aspects of the consortiums remediation proposals.
Although considerable historical data exists on the hydrodynamics and water quality in Lake Maracaibo, the data were collected for a diverse set of programs over a 40 year period and are not coherent enough nor detailed enough to allow detailed interpretations of the dynamics of the Lake or to verify the integrity of the numerical models. To provide an appropriate dataset, the Centre for Water Research will assist in designing and carrying out an extensive field experiment over a five week period during the wet season (October-November) of 1998 and the dry season (March-April) of 1999. The Centre will provide training to local scientists and engineers, as well as supplying instruments for collecting fine and microstructure measurements: the Fine Scale Profiler (F-Probe) and Microstructure Profiler (SCAMP). Microstructure measurements were necessary to enable the calculation of turbulent parameters used in closure schemes by the numerical models.
The one dimensional hydrodynamic model DYRESM, coupled with the water quality model CAEDYM, is being used to predict long-term changes in the Lake as a result of various remediation measures. The use of a one dimensional model allows decadal simulations that would not usually be available using three dimensional models. The model DYRESM, being process based, does not require calibration and is well documented and verified, having been used on lakes and reservoirs throughout the world.
For further information contact:
David Horn
Centre for Water Research
The University of Western Australia
Nedlands WA 6907
Australia
Telephone +61 8 9380 1684
Facsimile +61 8 9380 1015
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Technical Reports: (restricted access) |
A. Jha and J. Imberger (1998) Lake Maracaibo Remediation Study - Field Work Plan ED-1430.1-AJ Contribution to report to client (PDVSA)
A. Jha and J. Imberger (1998)
A. Jha, D. A. Horn and J. Imberger (1999)
P. Yeates, B. Laval, D. A. Horn and J. Imberger (1999)
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| PhD/Masters students: |
Bernard Laval Peter Yeates |
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Last updated 17.9.99