The Environmental Impact of Organic Pollutant Discharge from the Seawater Pumped Storage Power Station on Surrounding Sea Areas

Abstract

To ensure the environment-friendly and ecological safety of seawater pumped storage power station (SPSPS) operation, the effect of chemical oxygen demand (COD) discharged by a proposed SPSPS on the surrounding marine environment was simulated and investigated in this paper, which was based on the monitoring and analysis of seawater quality in the Dawanshan island as an example. The results showed that the seawater quality surrounding the Dawanshan island was good with the COD value less than 0.2 mg/L. When the COD concentration was less than 50 mg/L in the effluent of SPSPS, the maximum COD concentration reached 2.29 mg/L in the surrounding seawater, which could still satisfy the requirement of the seawater quality. However, when the COD concentration was higher than 100 mg/L in the effluent of SPSPS, the risk of exceeding the seawater standard was high in the surrounding seawater. The discharge of COD was affected by the seawater temperature and tide, and fluctuated in terms of concentration, diffusion direction and gather location in the surrounding seawater according to the season change. The maximum COD concentration would increase with the water discharge increasing from the SPSPS into the surrounding seawater. The distance between the location of the maximum COD concentration in the surrounding seawater and the outfall of SPSPS was about 1.6 km. The results would provide a scientific basis for controlling the COD pollution from the discharge of SPSPS.

Keywords

• seawater pumped storage power station
• organic pollutant
• marine environment
• chemical oxygen demand
• seawater quality