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Updated: May 26, 2026

Continuous Hydrologic and Water Quality Monitoring of Vernal Ponds
Published on: November 13, 2017
Calibration of a simple model for waste stabilisation pond performance in seasonal climates
S Heaven1, A M Salter, D Clarke
1University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. sh7@soton.ac.uk
Abstract:
The paper describes the calibration of a model for waste stabilisation pond (WSP) performance in seasonal climates, based on the use of readily available climate data sets. Calibration data were taken from a wide geographical area of Canada and the USA, including coastal and moderately seasonal sites. Good agreement with measured values was shown using a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) decay constant of 0.3 day(-1) for facultative ponds and 0.07-0.1 day(-1) for storage/maturation ponds with a temperature-related Arrhenius constant of 1.05, and a fixed BOD decay constant of 0.007 day(-1) at water temperatures below 0 °C. The results suggested that such models could potentially be used as the basis for WSP design guidelines tailored to a wide range of climatic conditions.
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