LAUSR

AbstractField studies, modeling, and the design of two major outfalls to discharge domestic wastewater from Buenos Aires, Argentina, into the Rio de la Plata are described. Extensive data were gathered from current profilers, Lagrangian drifters, meteorological stations, and water column profiling. The river is essentially freshwater and is the main water source for the city; it is tidally dominated, shallow, and well-mixed vertically. The data were used to develop a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the river that closely simulated its major features. The wastewater disposal strategy and special design and modeling considerations of the outfalls and diffusers are discussed. The tidal currents will recirculate the wastewater back and forth over the diffuser several times before it is flushed away by the mean river flow. Because of the shallow water and low flushing currents, it is not possible to achieve the high near-field dilutions typical of deep-water marine outfalls, and other design constraints ...