Modeling of thermal pollution in the northern coastal area of the Persian Gulf and its economical and environmental assessment

摘要

The Persian Gulf is one of the aquatic ecosystems which has recently been faced with different pollutions. Cooling water discharges due to various industries such as power plants can cause important disorders on the present ecosystem balance and on aquatic creatures because of their high temperature. Thermal pollution leads to their migration, creates a potential for new coming species which in turn can thoroughly change the marine ecosystem feature. In this research, thermal pollution due to the Bandar Abbas Thermal Power Plant (BATP) development plan was modeled using MIKE21 software. In order to avoid a decrease in the power plant efficiency in the development plan, the distance between the inlet and outlet was determined by comparing the results of different scenarios and economical aspects. After determining the distance between the inlet and outlet, the water temperature in the coastal area was compared with the standards of the Iranian Department of the Environment (DOE). The model results show that the water temperature, in Bandar Abbas coastal area, exceeds the permissible limit (3℃) at a distance equal to 200 m from the discharging location, and in order to reduce its harmful impacts, some suggestions are made to reduce the associated thermal pollution.