Water quality of the lower Columbia River basin; analysis of current and historical water-quality data through 1994

A computer program based on expert system software was developed and proposed as a prototype model for water management to control eutrophication problems in receiving water bodies (Suzuki etal., 1988). The system has several expert functions: 1. data input and estimation of pollution load generated and discharged in the river watershed; 2. estimation of pollution load run-off entering rivers; 3. estimation of water quality of receiving water bodies, such as lakes; and 4. assisting man-machine dialog operation. The program can be used with MS-DOS BASIC and assembler in a 16 bit personal computer. Five spread sheets are utilized in calculation and summation of the pollutant load, using multi-windows. Partial differential equations for an ecological model for simulation of self-purification in shallow rivers and simulation of seasonal variations of water quality in a lake were converted to computer programs and included in the expert system. The simulated results of water quality are shown on the monitor graphically. In this study, the expert system thus developed was used to estimate the present state of one typical polluted river basin. The river was the Katsura, which flows into Lake Sagami, a lake dammed for water supply. Data which had been actually measured were compared with the simulated water quality data, and good agreement was found. This type of expert system is expected to be useful for water management of a closed water body.

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Making Sense of Water Quality: Multispecies Encounters on the Mystic River

Worldviews Global Religions Culture and Ecology ◽

10.1163/15685357-01702006 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 150-160 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Caterina Scaramelli

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Laboratory Data ◽

Quality Data ◽

Human Beings ◽

Water Lily ◽

Water Quality Data ◽

Water Flows ◽

Making Sense ◽

Quality Of Water

This paper takes water quality as an ethnographic subject. It looks at how water quality monitors in Boston make sense of the quality of water through mundane engagement with three non-human beings who they encounter during their monitoring activities: herring, bacteria and water lily. Each of these organisms suggests a different understanding of water quality for the monitors and poses a dilemma. Water quality monitors who contribute to the production of water quality data come to know water quality as through direct interactions with these beings, mediated by both sensorial experience and laboratory data. These experiences, at the same time, confuse and redraw relationships between science, water flows, non-human vitality, including that of invasive species, and people.

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Nutrient water quality of the Wye catchment, UK: exploring patterns and fluxes using the Environment Agency data archives

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-7-722-2003 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 7 (5) ◽

pp. 722-743 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

H. P. Jarvie ◽

C. Neal ◽

P. J. A. Withers ◽

A. Robinson ◽

N. Salter

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Sewage Treatment ◽

Quality Data ◽

Agricultural Activity ◽

Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽

Water Quality Data ◽

Climatic Fluctuations ◽

Mass Load ◽

Environment Agency

Abstract. Water quality data, collected by the Environment Agency in England and Wales over 10 years (1991 – 2000) were used to examine the spatial distribution of nutrient pollution risk and for assessing broad-scale spatial and temporal variability in nutrient fluxes across the Wye catchment. Nutrient water quality across the upper and middle Wye catchment, and along the main River Wye, is generally very good. However, the main areas of concern lie in the small tributaries in the south and east of the catchment, which have lower dilution capacity and high agricultural and effluent inputs, and where mean Total Reactive Phosphorus (TRP) in some cases exceed 1 mg-P l-1. Indeed, mass load calculations have demonstrated that the lowland south and east portion of the catchment contributes more than 85% of the whole-catchment TRP and more than 78% of nitrate (NO3‾) loads. Ratios of NO3‾:Ca were used to fingerprint different water-types across the catchment, linked to weathering and agricultural activity. The Wye catchment has been subject to two major sets of perturbations during the study period: (i) climatic fluctuations, with a drought during 1995-6, followed by a subsequent drought-break in 1997/8, and extreme high river flows in the autumn/winter of 2000/2001, and (ii) introduction of tertiary P-treatment at major sewage treatment works in the catchment. The implications of these perturbations for the nutrient water quality of the Wye catchment are discussed. Recommendations are made for more targeted monitoring to directly assess diffuse source nutrient contributions. Keywords: nutrients, phosphate, phosphorus, nitrate, nitrogen, river, Wye, PSYCHIC, Defra

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