IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v30y2016i9d10.1007_s11269-016-1330-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Model Structure Uncertainty on Water Quality Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Thanh Thuy Nguyen

    (KU Leuven
    Water Resources University)

  • Patrick Willems

    (KU Leuven
    Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Abstract

Physically-based mathematical water quality models are known as potentially effective tools to simulate the temporal and spatial variations of water quality variables along rivers. Each model relies on specific sets of assumptions and equations to simulate the physico-biochemical processes, which influence on its simulation results. This paper aims to improve the insight in the uncertainties related to state–of–the–art river physico-biochemical water quality modelling. Sensitivity analysis is applied to the processes implemented in three most popular commercial software packages: MIKE11, InfoWorks RS and InfoWorks ICM. This is done for the Molse Neet river case study. Firstly, the physico-biochemical processes are screened to obtain a preliminary assessment on the critical processes and to determine the processes that require more detailed comparison. Then, local sensitivity analysis is carried out to specify the sensitive parameters and processes. Results show that the hydrodynamic results, heat transfer rate and reaeration simulations cause large differences in model simulation outputs for water temperature and dissolved oxygen concentrations. The ignorance of processes related to sediment transport, phytoplankton and bacteria has a significant influence on the higher values of organic matter and lower values of dissolved oxygen concentrations. The three models show consensus on the main pollutant sources explaining organic matter and nitrate concentrations, but disagree on the main factors explaining the DO concentrations.

Suggested Citation

  • Thanh Thuy Nguyen & Patrick Willems, 2016. "The Influence of Model Structure Uncertainty on Water Quality Assessment," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(9), pages 3043-3061, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:30:y:2016:i:9:d:10.1007_s11269-016-1330-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-016-1330-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-016-1330-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-016-1330-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Melina Kotti & Athanasios Vlessidis & Nicholaos Thanasoulias & Nicholaos Evmiridis, 2005. "Assessment of River Water Quality in Northwestern Greece," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 19(1), pages 77-94, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. X. Qin & G. Huang, 2009. "An Inexact Chance-constrained Quadratic Programming Model for Stream Water Quality Management," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(4), pages 661-695, March.
    2. Panagopoulos, Y. & Makropoulos, C. & Baltas, E. & Mimikou, M., 2011. "SWAT parameterization for the identification of critical diffuse pollution source areas under data limitations," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(19), pages 3500-3512.
    3. Agelos Papaioannou & Eleni Dovriki & Nikolaos Rigas & Panagiotis Plageras & Ioannis Rigas & Maria Kokkora & Panagiotis Papastergiou, 2010. "Assessment and Modelling of Groundwater Quality Data by Environmetric Methods in the Context of Public Health," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(12), pages 3257-3278, September.
    4. E. Güneş & İ. Talınlı, 2013. "A Site-Specific Index to Control the Total Effect of Point Sources Discharges and to Achieve ‘Good Chemical Status’ in Effluent Dependent and Effluent Dominated Water Bodies: Application on Ergene Riv," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 221-237, January.
    5. Ana Gomes & José Pires & Sónia Figueiredo & Rui Boaventura, 2014. "Optimization of River Water Quality Surveys by Multivariate Analysis of Physicochemical, Bacteriological and Ecotoxicological Data," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(5), pages 1345-1361, March.
    6. Alar Teemusk & Ülo Mander, 2011. "The Influence of Green Roofs on Runoff Water Quality: A Case Study from Estonia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(14), pages 3699-3713, November.
    7. Javier Paredes-Arquiola & Joaquín Andreu-Álvarez & Miguel Martín-Monerris & Abel Solera, 2010. "Water Quantity and Quality Models Applied to the Jucar River Basin, Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(11), pages 2759-2779, September.
    8. Ajit Singh & S. Ghosh & Pankaj Sharma, 2007. "Water quality management of a stretch of river Yamuna: An interactive fuzzy multi-objective approach," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(2), pages 515-532, February.
    9. Qing Gu & Yao Zhang & Ligang Ma & Jiadan Li & Ke Wang & Kefeng Zheng & Xiaobin Zhang & Li Sheng, 2016. "Assessment of Reservoir Water Quality Using Multivariate Statistical Techniques: A Case Study of Qiandao Lake, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-17, March.
    10. Zhihe Chen & Shuai Wei, 2014. "Application of System Dynamics to Water Security Research," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(2), pages 287-300, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:30:y:2016:i:9:d:10.1007_s11269-016-1330-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.