UE ER field placement: hydrometry, hydrology, hydrochemistry

The status of a watercourse as defined by the WFD comprises two aspects: chemical and ecological. To define the ecological status, several parameters need to be taken into account, including those related to the volume of water (via flow measurement) in the watercourse. In this course, students will be required to carry out field or laboratory measurements to determine some of the key parameters used to determine the state of a watercourse or, more generally, those used in hydrological studies (flooding, resource assessment, etc.).

4 aspects will be covered:

- Hydrometry, using various gauging techniques (point-by-point method with electromagnetic current meter, ADCP, dilution method, float gauging, radar).

- Soil hydrodynamics, with the use of several infiltrometry methods to determine saturation conductivity, and the sampling of soil cylinders to determine soil porosity, dry density and water content after drying.

- Hydrochemistry, with :

• a field section (sampling and analysis with a multiparameter and a field spectrophotometer) for physico-chemical parameters (temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, TAC, PO4 and NO3, etc.)
• a laboratory part (analysis and quantification of 4-tert-octlyphenol in a surface water sample, using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS)) to determine the trace presence of emerging contaminants from the alkylphenol ethoxylate (APEO) family, compounds found in products such as detergents, emulsifiers and solubilizers.

- Hydrobiology, which takes into account the presence or absence of certain species: fish, invertebrates, macrophytes (aquatic plants) and diatoms (unicellular algae), with a view to determining specific indices (IPR, IBGN, IBMR, IBD) relating to the biological quality of the watercourse.

The overall aim of this course is to enable students to become autonomous in carrying out measurements in the field or laboratory (use of equipment, precautions to be taken, fields of validity, calibrations, accuracies, calculation of uncertainties, etc.) and in the subsequent processing of data. They will then be able to reinvest this know-how in the Project courses that follow in M2, then in their internship and professional life.

EU "water cycle

Continuous assessment 100

- a laboratory laboratory test report

- spreadsheet evaluation for processing flow and soil hydrodynamics data

- a CR for hydrochemical and hydrobiological analyses in the field