Estimation Suspended Solids Concentration of the Doam Reservoir under Dry and Wet Weather Conditions

BACKGROUND: The Doam watershed in Korea has been managed for the reduction and the prevention of non-point source pollution since 2007. Especially, the water quality of the Doam reservoir is a primary issue related to the Doam dam reoperation. We have carried out the modeling to evaluate the water quality based on suspended solids (SS) of the Doam watershed and the Doam reservoir. Two powerful hydrological and water quality models (HSPF and CE-QUAL-W2) were employed to simulate the combined processes of water quantity and quality both in the upland watershed of the Doam reservoir and the downstream waterbody. METHODS AND RESULTS: The HSPF model was calibrated and validated for streamflow and SS. The CE-QUAL-W2 was calibrated for water level, water temperature, and SS and was validated for the only water level owing to data lack. With the parameters obtained through the appropriate calibration, SS concentrations of inflow into and in the Doam reservoir were simulated for three years (2008, 2004 and 1998) of the minimum, the average, and the maximum of total annual precipitation during recent 30 years. The annual average SS concentrations of the inflow for 2008, 2004, and 1998 were 8.6, 10.9, and 18.4 mg/L, respectively and those in the Doam reservoir were 9.2, 13.8, and 21.5 mg/L. CONCLOUSION(s): The results showed that more intense and frequent precipitation would cause higher SS concentration and longer SS's retention in the reservoir. The HSPF and the CE-QUAL-W2 models could represent reasonably the SS from the Doam watershed and in the Doam reservoir.