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ESTIMATION OF THE ALLOWABLE POLLUTANT LOADING MARGIN OF SAFETY FOR THE WARTA RIVER IN POLAND

Primary Investigator: Dr. Charles S. Melching

Sponsor: National Research Council, Collaboration in Basic Science and Engineering (COBASE)

Duration: September 2001 to June 2002

Funding Level: $7,380

The following is the project summary on the National Academies web site:

Charles Melching of Marquette University and Marek Sowinski of the Institute for Environmental Engineering at Poznan University of Technology collaborated on a COBASE-supported project entitled “Estimation of the Allowable Pollutant Loading Margin of Safety for the Warta River in Poland.” Their primary goal was to develop a full proposal to NSF and its Polish counterpart. As a secondary goal, the scientists hoped to increase contact and establish relationships between Polish and American researchers and students via their respective visits.

Sowinski visited the Marquette campus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from October 21 to November 16, 2001. He used this time to discuss with Melching the details of the current pollution conditions and the water-quality model for the Wartra River. He also prepared English-translations of key documents and data for the Warta River and its water-quality model. These translations were greatly facilitated by his discussions with Melching and by the fact that the visit allowed him to focus all his energies on the work at hand; back home in Poznan he was simply too busy with his other obligations to devote time to such a task on his own.

Sowinski also found the time to take part in the Marquette Environmental Engineering Seminar series, October 30, 2001. His seminar, “Modeling of Flood Passage through the Wroclaw, Poland, Hydrotechnic System,” educated the students, faculty, and engineering professionals in attendance on flooding problems in Poland.

For the second visit on this project, Melching traveled to Poland to finalize the preliminary work that had been done toward writing the NSF grant proposal. He arrived in Poznan on May 21, 2002, and stayed for approximately three weeks. During that time, he prepared a draft proposal under extensive consultation with Sowinski, traveled to various institutions around the country to meet with other Polish colleagues and see their experimental facilities, and recruit future graduate students. While in both Poznan and Warsaw, he gave a seminar titled “Applications of Reliability Analysis in Water Quality Engineering.”

One of the more positive outcomes of the exchange were the connections that were established; while visiting the Warsaw University of Technology, Melching even discussed a potential proposal to the NATO Advanced Study Institute on the topic of water quality modeling uncertainty analysis and optimal parameter identification. He also plans to bring at least one Polish graduate student to Marquette in the fall of 2003, regardless of the outcome of any outside funding proposals. The opportunities for future collaboration were greatly increased with the completion of the NSF proposal. If it is funded, Melching and Sowinski believe that more doors will be open to them and those associated with them.

Note: A proposal was submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the spring of 2003, unfortunately it did not receive funding. A student from Poland, Ms. Anna Neugebauer, did come to Marquette in the fall of 2003.

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