River Water Quality Models: Spatio-Temporal Dissolved

Oxygen Modeling Approach

M.G.A. Jayamanjula Somadasa1), 2), Seo Jin-Ki1) and Joon Ha-Kim1), *
1) Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwanju Institute of Scinence and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 500-712, Korea.
2) Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty Of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya 20400, Sri Lanka.
* Corresponding Author: email: joonkim@gist.ac.kr

Abstract
Successful river water quality modeling requires the specification of an appropriate model structure and process formulation. Use of water quality models
plays an important role in river water quality management. From a systems analysis viewpoint the Dissolved Oxygen and Biological Oxygen Demand
(DO-BOD) relationship is a particular example of a general situation which needs to be modeled. This study was conducted to generate a computer model
based on one dimensional convective diffusion equation with cross-sectional area, velocity and dispersion varying with downstream distance. An explicit
finite difference scheme is used to develop the solution algorithm. The developed computer model will be applied to the YS reservoir for model
verification and can be used to predict the dissolve oxygen variation due to the application of organic pollutant in any river system.

Introduction
The
number
of
Yeong-San watershedindustries in the YS
watershed is over 1000
and they are mostly
machinery,
metal,
Yellow
Sea
East chemical and food.
Sea

South Sea

Urbanization

Due to disposing of
wastewaters, industrial,
domestic
and
agricultural into rivers
there
may
be
undesirable changes not
only in flora and fauna
but also in the whole
watershed
like
eutrophication.
Method

Methods include data

mining and monitoring
of the YS watershed,
data
analysis
and
parameter
estimation
and develop a computer
based DO-sag model. In
situ water sampling
experiments
were
conducted
for
110
sampling
locations
from the outlet of
(YS embankment) towatershed
Dam Yang-dam for
consecutive two days in every week along
the

main stream of the watershed. Out of them an

optimized 71 sampling locations were selected
for further studies. The results of in-situ
experiments reveals that water quality
indicated by BOD in YS reservoir was always
remained over class IV (applicable to
agricultural water) or Class V (applicable to
industrial water) based on the river water
quality criteria
of
the
Ministry of
Environment in Korea. Experimental results
show that the BOD concentration in YS
reservoir is almost twice that of the upper
stream of YS reservoir.

The unsteady one-dimensional convective

diffusion equation which can be used to
derive the longitudinal variation of mass
concentration along the river reach with
cross-sectional area, velocity and dispersion
varying with distance downstream can be
expressed
in
the
following
partial
differential equation in general.

Hence BOD concentration and the DO

concentration for river water quality can be
expressed in the following one-dimensional
form.

The majority of these changes are brought into

by the discharge of the organic matter (BOD)
causing a reduction in the concentration of the
dissolved oxygen (DO) which is the dominant
parameter leads for a balance river natural
system. This study is conducted to generate one
dimensional spatio-temporal computer model
based on the numerical approach of the DO-Sag
model among the number of models available
related to the BOD-DO relationship. the
unsteady one-dimensional convective diffusion
equation is used to derive the longitudinal
profile of DO concentration along the river
reach.

14

BOD/DO Concentration (mg/L)

The area of land that catches water from

precipitation and drains or seeps into a
natural water container such
as marsh, river, lake, estuary,
Stream and groundwater
called a watershed.
Yeong-San watershed is
one of the four largest
watersheds in Korea.
It is encompassed by a vast agricultural area
(1000 Km2). Although it has a short main
stream length (130Km) and slow urbanization,
water quality of YS reservoir is worse relative
to the others.

12
10
8
6
4

Average BOD
Concent rat ion
Average DO
concent rat ion

2
0
0

6
8
Sampling Station

10

12

14

16

Average BOD & DO Variation for May 2005

Mean of BOD Concentration
(mg/L)
Upper stream of YS reservoir 6.04+ 8.07 (n=260)
YS Reservoir

11.66+ 6.87 (n=75)

Comparison of BOD Concentration between YS

reservoir and upper stream of it.

Result

AC
AC
E
UAC S
t
x
x
x

AL AL UAL
E
(K 1 K 3 )AL ALa

t
x
x
x
AD AD UAD
E
K 1 AL K 2 ADs AD AB

t
x
x
x

Among the available numerical schemes

Explicit Finite Difference Scheme is applied
to solve the developed numerical set of
equations.

The developed one dimensional PDEs for

BOD and DO concentrations are solved by
using explicit finite difference scheme for each
mesh point (Sampling Location) to obtain the
BOD and DO concentrations at next time step.
ALi,n1

k
k (K 1 K 3 )

ALi,n h Ei,nGR(i) Ei1,nGR(i 1)

2
1

k (K 1 K 3 ) k U(i 1) U(i)

U(i) U(i 1)
*
*

AL
(i)

AL
(i

1)

ALa

2
2
2

ADi,n 1

k
k K 2

1 2 AD i,n h E(i) GR d (i) E(i 1) GR d (i 1)

k U i 1 U i

1
U i U i 1 AD *
*

AD i,n

i 1,n
2
2
k K 2 h

2 k K1

ALi,n ALi,n1 k K 2 ADs k ABi

Conclusion
Developing a river water quality model must be based on a logical development of the elements in the model. The model will vary, due to local
conditions and the models purpose. Hence considering all the criteria an extensive water quality model should be developed to investigate the effect of
all the undergoing river processes. The model developed in this study will be helpful to implement the dissolved oxygen concentration variation not
only on a spatial concentration but also on temporal variation too. The computer model which will generate by using this model can be used to predict
the spatio-temporal variation of the most of the river water quality parameters by using advance computer programs. The advantage of this model is you
can amend or remove any process without disturbing the other process because all the incorporated processes are on an individual basis. This model can
be applied to any watershed to obtain spatio-temporal variation of the dissolved oxygen concentration.

Future Research Works

The computer model generated in this study will be applied to the real world example, i.e YS reservoir, for model verification in future studies. And
this will also be applied to the Maha-Oya River in Sri Lanka after advance studies.

Acknowledgement
This Study was supported by UNU-GIST Joint Program on Science and
Technology for Sustainability