Civil Research Group
The Warwick Water &
Environmental
Resources research
group integrates the
themes of water
engineering, the
environment and
sustainability. The
group focuses on
research in
identifying and
quantifying the fates
of both soluble
pollutants and
contaminated fine
sediments within
rivers, urban
drainage systems
and the coastal
environments.
The Warwick Water Research Group
www.warwick.ac.uk/go/warwickwater
Prof. Ian Guymer, Dr. Jonathan Pearson, Dr. Klaus Richter
Warwick Water is a world class centre for research into
water engineering, the environment and sustainability. The
group focuses on research in identifying and quantifying the
fates of both soluble pollutants and contaminated fine
sediments within rivers, urban drainage systems and the
coastal environment.
Vehicles and highway-maintenance activities produce a
number of environmental contaminants from highways
which can enter watercourses via rainfall runoff. A project
entitled Accumulation and Dispersal of Suspended Solids in
Watercourses, is investigating these concerns through
experimental monitoring over a number of years for selected
fieldwork sites across the UK.
More frequent storms, increased development and improved
environmental legislation necessitate the need to improve
our understanding of Mixing and Transport in Urban
Drainage Systems. A number of projects are assessing how
urban drainage structures influence the mixing and transport
processes in drainage systems.
Projects specifically focussed to improve the understanding
and technical descriptions of the dispersal of neutrally
buoyant pollutants have been conducted in both Nearshore
and Estuaine environments. The nearshore zone experiences
pollutant loading through both the shoreline and seaward
boundaries. From the seaward boundary, pollutant loading
is transported landward towards the surfzone wave activity.
From the shoreline boundary, runoff pollution, which can
contain faecal indicator bacteria and human viruses can
drain into the surfzone. Consequently, pollution can
congregate in the nearshore region. The long term aim of
these studies are to predict the transport and dilution rates
of neutrally buoyant pollutants & chemicals, given the
bathymetry and incident wave conditions.
www.warwick.ac.uk/go/warwickwater