A PC-Based Integrated Water Quality Impact and Analysis System

Swanson, J. Craig; Howlett, Eoin; Mendelsohn, Daniel L.; ,

A PC-Based Integrated Water Quality Impact and Analysis System

by J. Craig Swanson, Applied Science Associates, Inc, Narragansett, United States,
Eoin Howlett, Applied Science Associates, Inc, Narragansett, United States,
Daniel L. Mendelsohn, Applied Science Associates, Inc, Narragansett, United States,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Estuarine and Coastal Modeling

Abstract:

An integrated water quality model system (WQ Shell) has been developed for the PC. The system is designed to provide an easy-to-use graphical interface which integrates geographical and environmental data, hydrodynamic and water quality model data and impact analysis. The system will run on a 386/486 platform, running DOS version 3.0 or later, with VGA graphics and a mouse. The software is composed of four components; a geographical information system (GIS), an environmental data system (EDS), a pollutant transport model (PTM) and an impacts analysis package (IAP). The GIS allows the user to display natural resources (beaches, shellfish areas, etc.) and engineered structure locations (outfalls, intakes, etc.) on a screen showing the region of interest. The EDS component allows the user to input a model grid and hydrodynamic data. The PTM calculates the fate of a chosen constituent. Pollutant source strengths as functions of space and time can also be input. Various graphical outputs are available to display hydrodynamic model current vectors and surface elevations. The graphical output also displays pollutant transport model result either by concentration levels or pollutant particle trajectories. The IAP component allows the user to visually examine impacts of the pollutant distribution. This includes generating overlays of pollutant levels in relation to natural or engineered resources; or before and after displays of pollutant levels in response to mitigative measures. Analysis products such as area exceeding a given concentration versus time are also possible. The software has been designed in an open format to interface with a variety of hydrodynamic and pollutant transport models. The range of models foreseen encompasses box model approaches with simplified conservation equations to full, time dependent, three-dimensional models on a variety of grid formats.

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