UDC at work with KIT and ICL team on litter transport in urban drainage
Over the next few weeks, our partners at Universidade da Coruña and CITEEC will finalise their fourth Transnational Access — a research proposal from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), in collaboration with Imperial College London, on Inception of Transport of Litter Under Pluvial Conditions.
Urban environments are hotspots for plastic litter, yet we still lack a clear understanding of how these pollutants begin their journey into urban drainage systems. This experimental campaign aims to address this knowledge gap.
KIT MSc student Saifei He is investigating the mobilisation of plastic bags during rainfall events at the BLOCK platform and rain simulator at UDC.
KIT’s Mário Franca and ICL’s Daniel Valero have provided guidance and worked as liaison with UDC staff. Using camera systems and velocimetry analysis algorithms, the team has been tracking the initiation of movement and early transport dynamics of plastic litter across varying (1) rainfall intensities, (2) runoff conditions, and (3) surface characteristics in different configurations.
The project will improve our understanding of plastic conveyance in urban systems and could lead to more effective strategies to intercept these pollutants before they reach water bodies. Potential applications in public policy and water management and planning are very relevant. The campaign will end in mid-November, and the user group and UDC teams will work together on disseminating and publishing the results as early as possible.