A team made up of personnel from IDAEA, IGME, CIDE and the Zaidín Experimental Station analyzes samples from wells, springs, canals and ponds.
The results will make it possible to determine whether groundwater has been affected by contaminants and to design future measures to protect aquifers from these climatic events.
A team made up of personnel from the Institute of Environmental Diagnosis and Water Studies (IDAEA-CSIC), the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC), the Zaidín Experimental Station (EEZ-CSIC) and the Desertification Research Center (CIDE, CSIC-UV-GVA) has begun groundwater analysis work in the area affected by the Valencian DANA.
The severe floods last October caused the deterioration or destruction of urban buildings and industrial facilities that harbored polluting components and substances, such as electronic devices, vehicles, hydrocarbons, oils, phytosanitary products and endocrine disruptors derived from medicines. All these substances could have been carried by the water and infiltrated into the aquifers. Preliminary analysis of the situation suggests that groundwater quality and hydrodynamics may have been affected.
“The goal is to determine what kind of contaminants may have come in. We don't know, but there could be anything from acid from car batteries, pollutants of industrial origin or pharmaceutical compounds. That is why we take different types of samples, to analyze the presence of a broad spectrum of contaminants in groundwater,” explains Estanislao Pujades, researcher at IDAEA-CSIC.
The CSIC team has taken more than twenty water samples in wells, springs and canals, in the area most intensely affected by the DANA, and also in the environment near the Albufera Natural Park. The analyses include the determination of the presence of pesticides, PFAS, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, metals and volatile compounds and personal care products.
“With these analyses we intend to establish a baseline with which to compare the evolution over time of the concentrations of these pollutants in La Albufera Natural Park,” explains Julián Campo, researcher at the Desertification Research Center (CIDE, CSIC-UV-GVA).
Given the magnitude of the catastrophe and the high volume of sludge and waste, the CSIC project will also study the impact on groundwater quality of the areas chosen for its accumulation and processing. In this last phase, the analysis of the real impact will allow the design of recommendations and protocols for action to minimize their effects on groundwater resources, so that they can be incorporated into future flooding and flooding events.
This is the first sampling campaign of the project, which will be repeated every two months. The work has been coordinated with the Grupo de Asesoramiento en Desastres y Emergencias (GADE) of the CSIC.
CSIC's response to the DANA in Valencia
On October 30, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), a body under the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, activated the institution's Disaster and Emergency Advisory Group (GADE) to offer and provide technical and scientific advice in the response and reconstruction work following the DANA that affected the province of Valencia on October 29, through the creation of different groups of experts in matters related to the emergency caused by the flooding.
Since then, the CSIC has mobilized more than 150 people from some thirty centers and institutes (of the 124 that are integrated in the institution) organized in 15 groups (floods, earth movements, water, health risks, social risks, waste management, marine affection, infrastructures, geographic information systems, remote sensing, hydrogeology and pollution, among others).
The work performed by CSIC technical and research staff consists of both strict scientific advice (recommendations, analysis) and operational work in the field. All these tasks have been paid for with the scientific institution's own funds.
Among the work carried out by the research personnel, days after the emergency began, the CSIC moved the Ramón Margalef vessel of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) to the affected area, equipped with the underwater robot ROV Liropus 2000 with articulated arms and high resolution cameras, as well as multibeam probes, reflectivity systems and a high resolution acoustic camera for the study of the seabed in the area around the mouths of the Turia and Júcar rivers. In early January, the IEO-CSIC ship Francisco de Paula Navarro began the CON-DANA24 oceanographic campaign to evaluate the impact on the contamination of marine sediments as a consequence of the extraordinary terrigenous contributions produced by the DANA.
A fleet of drones and sensors of the Operational Field Unit (OPECAM) of the Institute of Marine Sciences of Andalusia (ICMAN-CSIC), which has an aerial work service (SEADRON) with experience in natural emergencies, also entered at the disposal of the emergency. As a result of this work, an innovative image viewer has been designed, which makes it possible to accurately observe the effects caused by the floods from the town of Torrent to the vicinity of the Albufera. The viewer is available at https://www.icman.csic.es/gade/ and is open access for the general public as well as for experts and authorities.
The ICMAN-CSIC team has collaborated with researchers from the Eduardo Torroja Institute of Construction Science (IETcc-CSIC) in advising the Military Emergency Unit (UME) of the Ministry of Defense on the situation of possible damage to buildings and infrastructures in the affected areas. Likewise, the IETcc-CSIC mobile laboratory has been used to extract samples of concrete and masonry, and non-destructive measuring equipment for the evaluation of some properties of concrete.
In addition to this work, CSIC has provided advice on the identification of possible locations for sludge stockpile areas, according to the best geological conditions of the terrain. In addition, it is carrying out physicochemical and pathogen analyses of sludge and dust samples from the dried sludge. In addition, it has also provided support by moving a mobile air quality unit.
CSIC has successfully tested thickening materials in flooded garages in Massanassa and Sedaví. The National Center for Metallurgical Research (CENIM) and IETcc have tested absorbent polymers mixed with modified clay to facilitate sludge extraction. The thickening compounds, which absorb large amounts of water, increased the viscosity of the sludge, allowing it to be removed mechanically and preventing it from being discharged into rivers and ravines.
In addition to these initiatives, on November 9 the CSIC joined the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI), the command center that manages the response to the emergency caused by the DANA in the Valencian Community. The aim of this measure is to coordinate with the emergency managers the technical scientific advice already being provided by the institution's specialists in various fields and to offer support for new needs that may arise.
CIDE Communication
