Impact of Point and Nonpoint Discharges on the Water Quality of a Reach of the Red River of the North

by Anil Peggerla,
G. Padmanabhan,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: North American Water and Environment Congress & Destructive Water

Abstract:

Projected increase of discharge of point and nonpoint-source effluents into rivers, make compliance with water quality standards increasingly difficult and necessitate controlling these discharges. Within the reach of the Red River of the North from Wahpeton, North Dakota to Georgetown, Minnesota, the single or combined effect of point and nonpoint-source discharges on the water quality of the river is not known. The Enhanced Stream Water-Quality Model, QUAL2E, is calibrated and verified to simulate and analyze the biochemical processes in the study reach which includes effluents from the wastewater treatment plants of Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN. For a low flow of 75 cfs and 1.3 milligrams per liter of total ammonia as nitrogen for both wastewater treatment plant effluents, river water quality standards could be maintained. However, in the case of higher concentrations of total ammonia as nitrogen in either of the effluents, river water quality standards could not be maintained.

Subject Headings: Water quality | Water discharge | Rivers and streams | Effluents | Wastewater treatment plants | Water treatment plants | Standards and codes | United States | North Dakota | Minnesota

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