A river water quality model integrated with a web-based geographic information system.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Water Resource Management
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Background:

• Mathematical models for river water quality assessment face limitations in data preparation and output interpretation.
• Existing models struggle with practical application in environmental management and risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a WWW-GIS-based river simulation model, GIS-ROUT, by integrating ArcIMS (Web-GIS) with the ROUT river model.
• To predict chemical concentrations in rivers across the continental US receiving wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges.
• To improve spatial data organization, analysis, and visualization for environmental exposure and risk assessments.

Main Methods:

• Linked ArcIMS (Web-GIS) with the ROUT river model to create GIS-ROUT.
• Calculated WWTP chemical loadings based on per capita disposal and population served.
• Incorporated user-defined treatment-type removal rates to determine effluent concentrations.
• Modeled over 360,000 km of rivers, accounting for dilution and first-order chemical loss.

Main Results:

• GIS-ROUT successfully predicts chemical concentrations in rivers receiving WWTP discharges.
• The model integrates spatial data, WWW, and river modeling for comprehensive analysis.
• Results can be viewed on interactive maps, tables, and distribution charts.

Conclusions:

• The integration of spatial data, GIS, WWW, and modeling in GIS-ROUT overcomes previous limitations.
• GIS-ROUT facilitates coordinated environmental exposure and risk assessments among geographically dispersed scientists and managers.
• This approach enhances the practical application of river water quality models in environmental management.