Water Retention Measures as a Remediation Technique for CSO-Affected Watercourses

During heavy rainfalls, overflowing sewage water flows from the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) chambers and pollutes the Trnávka River in Trnava, Slovakia. This paper aims to propose water retention measures for the Trnávka River as a remediation technique for CSO-affected watercourses, which can contribute to the ‘flushing’ of the riverbed. During heavy rainfalls, the Trnávka River is polluted by solid, non-soluble materials, which produce unpleasant odors and are the subject of numerous complaints by citizens, particularly during low water levels. Three inflatable rubber weirs were designed, and their design was verified using a 1D numerical model of the Trnávka River. The simulations of the proposed measures performed in the HEC-RAS 5.0 software excluded the adverse effect of the backwater on the functioning of the CSO chambers in the city of Trnava during normal flow rates and confirmed that, even after installation of the weirs, the transition of the flood wave will pass in the riverbed, not causing the flooding of the adjacent area. The chemical–physical study of the Trnávka River confirmed our assumption that higher flow rates, which can be secured by the regulation of the proposed weirs, can contribute to the purity of the watercourse in the city of Trnava.