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Developing Nonpoint‐Source Suspended Solids Control Strategies Using Multimedia Watershed Management Modeling
Author(s) -
Lai Y.C.,
Kao C.M.,
Surampalli R.Y.,
Lin C.E.,
Wu C.Y.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143010x12681059116455
Subject(s) - environmental science , suspended solids , total suspended solids , nonpoint source pollution , watershed , hydrology (agriculture) , drainage basin , water quality , geographic information system , environmental engineering , land use , water resource management , sewage treatment , wastewater , geography , remote sensing , chemical oxygen demand , ecology , engineering , civil engineering , geotechnical engineering , cartography , machine learning , computer science , biology
Kaoping River Basin is the largest and most intensively used river basin in Taiwan. In this study, 14 types of land‐use patterns in the basin are classified with the aid of the Erdas Imagine process (Erdas, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia) and ArcView geographic information system (GIS) (ESRI, Redlands, California). Results from GIS identification and field verification indicate that orchard gardens, rice paddies, and sugarcane fields dominate the farmland areas in the basin. Investigation results indicate that nonpoint‐source (NPS) pollution has significant contributions to the suspended solids load to the Kaoping River during the wet season. The average suspended solids concentrations increased from below 64 mg/L in dry seasons to more than 1700 mg/L in wet seasons. The Integrated Watershed Management Model (Systech Engineering, Inc., San Ramon, California) was applied to simulate the water quality and evaluate the NPS suspended solids load to the river. Modeling results show that forestation and land‐use management are feasible best management practices for NPS suspended solids reduction.