Research to help sea life

Photo: The Canadian Press

File photo of algae bloom off the Florida coast.

Engineers at UBC Okanagan have come up with guidelines that they say can better protect aquatic life from suffocating algae blooms and save millions of dollars a year.

In a study, the engineers developed design guidelines for wastewater systems that tailor the design of specialized filters, called fluidized bed reactors, to local conditions and help prevent phosphorous deposits from forming in wastewater systems or escaping into the environment. Phosphorus promotes oxygen-depleting algae blooms.

“If left unchecked, phosphorus can cause significant environmental damage and millions of dollars in additional maintenance costs for large wastewater plant operators, such as municipalities,” said Joshua Brinkerhoff, assistant professor of engineering. “These are consequences we obviously want to avoid and the design guidelines developed in this research can help us to do that.”

The guidelines allow designers to account for differing wastewater rates and quality found in different geographic regions, as the chemical makeup and amount of wastewater varies with geography and city size.