A Risk Assessment Approach to Contaminant Emissions in Seaport Areas Using Mathematical Models

The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/CE) establishes a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. Therefore, European commercial ports are within the space scope of this Directive. For this reason, the Spanish National Ports Administration considered essential and urgent to have available some scientifically and technically robust tools that can contribute to port water management. These tools must be integrated in concordance with the underlying principles of the Directive. This philosophy has been reflected in the well-known Spanish standardisation programme in the field of ports (ROM Programme), under the denomination of “ROM 5.1. Quality of coastal waters in seaport areas”. One of the most important items established in this methodology is the evaluation and management of the environmental risks for port water bodies. The principal objective is to identify the source of pollution and to assess the incidence that each contaminant emission has in the quality of port waters. For estimating the consequences of the contaminant emissions a standard methodological procedure based on the use of mathematical models has been established. In this article the possible sources of uncertainty in the application of this methodology are analysed and some aspects related to the practical implementation of the proposed method are discussed