GIS Enviro99 - Water Quality

 
Center for Research in Water Resources
The University of Texas at Austin

Introduction

This module documents different methods for developing water quality models. Some of these methods can be used to calculate loads to a surface water body, and others can be used to monitor water quality changes within a water body, such as a river of bay. A load is the product of flow and concentration, and it refers to how much mass of a chemical enters a system in a specified amount of time. Loads to a water body can result from point sources such as industrial discharges or non-point sources such as agricultural runoff. Once the loads to a water body are known, then water quality models are used to determine concentration changes within the water body. Procedures which utilize a GIS have been developed for both type of load calculations and for water quality models. BALANCE is a University of Texas product which runs within ArcView and uses a finite differences algorithm to compute the mass balance constituents for each water segment. The EPA has developed a program called BASINS that connects ArcView with water quality programs such as QUAL2E and NPSM. BASINS also includes an extensive data set with river reaches, industrial facility locations, and discharge information. BASINS is available for free over the internet. The other projects and papers listed below provide additional information and procedures related to water quality. The Nonpoint Sources in Mission Basin exercise introduces how to calculate non-point runoff loads.

Resources on this CD

Documentation:
Exercises:
Student Projects:
Theses:
Presentations:
ArcView Extension:

Resources on the Internet

Primary Contact

Julie Kim
Center for Research in Water Resources
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712

E-mail: juki@mail.utexas.edu

These materials may be used for study, research, and education, but please credit the authors and the Center for Research in Water Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. All commercial rights reserved. Copyright 1999 Center for Research in Water Resources.