Keywords

WASP, water quality, modeling, contaminants, surface water

Start Date

26-6-2018 10:40 AM

End Date

26-6-2018 12:00 PM

Abstract

Toxicant concentrations in surface waters and sediments are of environmental concern due to their potential impacts on ecological and human receptors. Numerical, process-based, mass balance models are one way to understand a system and its governing processes, assist in supporting management decisions, and evaluate different toxicant release scenarios. The US Environmental Protection Agency has developed and continues to improve the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP), which is one of the more widely used water quality models in the US and the world. WASP is a modeling framework with which the user can develop a water quality model for nutrients or toxicants over a range of complexities and temporal and spatial scales. With the release of WASP version 8, the architecture of the toxicant module has been updated to allow for an increased number of state variables, including chemical solutes, particulates, and nanomaterials; as well explicitly simulating pathogens, temperature, different classes of dissolved organic carbon, and salinity. This presentation will focus on the recent developments, including the revised WASP8 structure and interface and the advances in simulating different classes of toxicants in surface waters and sediments. Details will be given on the new structure for handling light intensity in stream segments, including the distinction of different wavelengths of light, and on simulating nanomaterials, different particle attachment processes, and handling the transformation and production of one state variable to another. A WASP8 example is presented for simulating chemical, nanomaterial, and solid concentrations in the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, USA.

Stream and Session

Stream D: Modeling Environmental Fate of Contaminants, Human Well-being and Public Heath

Session D3: Modelling Ecological Public Health Risks Across Scales

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Jun 26th, 10:40 AM Jun 26th, 12:00 PM

Simulating Toxicant Concentrations in Surface Waters and Sediments: Advances in the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP8)

Toxicant concentrations in surface waters and sediments are of environmental concern due to their potential impacts on ecological and human receptors. Numerical, process-based, mass balance models are one way to understand a system and its governing processes, assist in supporting management decisions, and evaluate different toxicant release scenarios. The US Environmental Protection Agency has developed and continues to improve the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP), which is one of the more widely used water quality models in the US and the world. WASP is a modeling framework with which the user can develop a water quality model for nutrients or toxicants over a range of complexities and temporal and spatial scales. With the release of WASP version 8, the architecture of the toxicant module has been updated to allow for an increased number of state variables, including chemical solutes, particulates, and nanomaterials; as well explicitly simulating pathogens, temperature, different classes of dissolved organic carbon, and salinity. This presentation will focus on the recent developments, including the revised WASP8 structure and interface and the advances in simulating different classes of toxicants in surface waters and sediments. Details will be given on the new structure for handling light intensity in stream segments, including the distinction of different wavelengths of light, and on simulating nanomaterials, different particle attachment processes, and handling the transformation and production of one state variable to another. A WASP8 example is presented for simulating chemical, nanomaterial, and solid concentrations in the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, USA.