FRAC-WECO - Flux-based Risk Assessment of the Impact of Contaminants on Water resources and Ecosystems

Context and objectives

The objective of Frac-Weco is to develop an integrated methodology contributing to a more comprehensive risk assessment of contaminated sites on water resources and ecosystems. The project combines on the one hand process studies contributing to a more comprehensive assessment and modelling of water and contaminant fluxes and of biogeochemical properties and toxicity of contaminants, on the other hand impact studies such as risk assessment methodologies so as to propose management tools and indicators for ranking contaminated sites in terms of risks and costs.
For determining the infiltration flux of water towards a groundwater body, water recharge has to be quantified, and an important factor determining the spatial variation in groundwater recharge is the distribution of different types of land-cover. In urban and industrial areas land cover is more complex and a lot of infrastructures make the surface impervious. In the project high-resolution satellite imagery is used to produce detailed land-cover information for the test sites. The land-cover information obtained from these data is used as input for surface water budgeting.

More info on Belspo Fedra database