Watershed/nearshore water quality management system

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Our waterways are affected by contaminants entering primarily from municipal and industrial effluents and bacterial contamination, often high enough to close public swimming areas. Together these contaminatt sources affect and limit our water consumption, recreational use and condition of natural habitats.Thorough analysis of pollutant transport in surface waters is critical as 75% of drinking water is acquired from surface water supplies, i.e., lakes, creeks, rivers, reservoirs etc. The objective of this proposal is the development of a Watershed/Nearshore Water Quality Management System in order to achieve acceptable nearshore water quality and safe drinking water (water intake design guidelines and standardization processes) by:(a) estimating the pollutographs at the basin outlets to the lake under extreme and climate change scenarios by using GIS-based distributed hydrological model with radar precipitation data(b) verifying the 3D hydrodynamic/pollutant transport lake model with field and remote sensing data(c) assessing the benefits of abatement options related to infrastructure in terms of relocation and interception of source discharges in the neashore areas between Niagara and Kingston in Lake Ontario.(d) assessing the impact of accidental spills from nuclear power plants to water drinking intakes and(e) achieving forecasted pollutant plume movement from point and non-point pollutant sources by using the forecasted meteorological patterns as input to the model.The novelty of this proposal resides with: (a)the accurate estimation of point and non-point pollutant source loading to near-shore area by using detailed watershed data and (b) the calibration and verification of a 3D pollutant transport model that in combination with forecasted weather data will provide reliable forecasts for the movement of accidental spills from nuclear power plants, storm sewers and by-passes from wastewater plants. This will provide advanced warning for action to be taken in order to protect the public's recreational activities and drinking water supply.