Author(s): Yoann Cartier; Arthur Guillot-Le Goff; David Metivier; Brigitte Vincon-Leite; Sebastien Boyaval; Remi Carmigniani

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Keywords: Water quality; River; Inverse modeling; Combined sewer overflow

Abstract: Rivers are biodiversity hotspots and provide many ecosystem services. However, in urban areas, they are contaminated by multiple sources including combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The relationship between CSO discharge and river contamination is poorly understood because of a lack of high-frequency measurements. We present a methodology to determine the quantity of contaminants released by individual CSOs from hourly water quality measurements in the Seine River in Paris. A 1D river model is validated to represent the actual transport of bacteria in rivers. Furthermore, feasibility of an inverse method, to retrieve the cause (CSO discharge) from the consequence (bacterial concentration in river) is established. To our best CSO and water quality data., knowledge, this is the first study investigating inverse modeling based on real It is a first step towards identifying most contamination sources and guiding decision-making for mitigation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64697/iahr.proc.hic2026.279

Year: 2026