Thermal Discharges

Power stations and industrial facilities use large quantities of water to cool down production processes, and discharge much of the water back into rivers, lakes and bays at higher temperatures. This large temperature difference can destroy vegetation, increase algae growth, deplete oxygen and eliminate micro-organisms on which fish feed.

The principal environmental legislation which covers thermal discharges in Ireland is the EC (Quality of Salmonid Waters) Regulations 1988.

Services
MarCon has considerable experience in the application of both steady state mixing zone models and detailed three dimensional hydrodynamic numerical models of water flow and heat exchange to assess the impact of thermal plumes from discharge of cooling water on the marine environment.

We work with both commerical and government agencies to determine whether there is compliance with Ireland's legislation.