Estimating water pollution risks arising from road accidents

This paper is aimed to introduce some ways of assessing water pollution hazards led by the leakage or splashing of hazard materials on the road transportation. Such goods under transportation may include liquids under traffic in tanks or barrels,or hazardous freight packed in individual containers as part wagon loads. For any type of spill,the estimation has to be done with their pollution risks (and the consequential damage) likely to be brought to the quality of the water in the local. The frequency calculation demands information about the vehicular flow of special types and the actual loads,their accident rate and the probability that an average accident may result in the spill with the accident rates on different roads also taken into consideration. What is more important,the accidents should be further characterized by:(1) the peak concentration of a special reach (2) the length of time required for the contaminant plume to pass a point in the river (3) the length of the contaminant plume. To assess such consequential damage to the aquatic environment,the size and importance of the polluted water should also be included. Due to the complicated nature of the topic,this paper can just serve as an outline of the subject calling for more thorough studies. However,it is still a valuable practice,when determining the priorities for the sake of water source protection,selection and optimization of the traffic route selection.