Thermal Plume Modelling
An application was made to use water abstracted from the Manchester Ship Canal (MSC) as a coolant in a bespoke thermal exchange system for Media City, a major new development at Salford Quays which hold the new BBC studios. APEM investigated the potential impacts of the proposed scheme on water quality and the subsequent knock-on effects to the ecology in the MSC. The thermal discharge plume was modelled using a combination of techniques including specialist dispersion modelling software (eg. CORMIX and Mass Flux far field analysis) and the potential impacts to the water quality and ecology assessed. The subsequent report was accepted by the Environment Agency and an abstraction license granted.
