Water Quality Modeling of Rivers and Lakes

Oxygen depletion, eutrophication, acidification, toxic pollution, poor hygienic state, salinity, and excess suspended matter are among the issues usually included in the concept of water quality problems. This report focuses on inland surface waters, namely on rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, to each of which the problem categories listed above are relevant. The variety of problems, the multidisciplinarity among water quality experts, the wide spectrum of societal water needs, together with the high diversity of computational approaches presently available contribute to the present situation in which applicable methodology is developing from a variety of fronts and directions, among which dynamical, partial differential equation models were taken here in focus. Transport, flow and reaction equations for shallow water bodies are reviewed for 1 and 2-dimensional cases, including an introduction to and illustration of a selection of numerical techniques. Four case studies on eutrophication modeling, and a review and discussion on the application of decision support systems on water quality management are presented thereafter