GQC upgraded a hazardous spill model for the Ohio River.

Environmental Modeling

Environmental Modeling: Creating and running computer models of environmental processes.

· Upgraded a hazardous spill model for the Ohio River, and linked it to ArcView GIS. The upgrade consisted of the installation and integration of various computer based technologies to capture and process the water quality information: stream flow and water quality model, Geographic Information System, and several EPA databases.

· Designed and developed a Graphic User Interface (GUI) for communication among the three computer-based technologies of GIS, Database and Water Quality Modeling Used this application to analyze an aqueous Nitrogen spill on the Ohio River.

· Ongoing EPA project to provide Modeling Support for Watershed Research Activities for its Water Supply and Water Resources Division.

· Use of BASINS Program for conducting case studies for the Little Miami River Basin, Mill Creek, and Cuyahoga watersheds. Studied the Permit Compliance System data organization in BASINS and investigated the algorithm for updating the parameter loadings values.

· Using BASINS 2.0, GQC delineated a sub-watershed to define the major contributing area to streamflow into Big Walnut Creek. GQC updated the weather data file to include data for a more recent period, 2000-2001, using WDMUtil version 2.0. The weather data sets for 2000-2001 were downloaded from NCDC web site. Finally, GQC compared the simulated hydrograph with actual real-time USGS flow data for the Big Walnut Creek station available in the USEPA NRMRL GIS laboratory.

· Investigation and installation of over twenty-five models related to water quality, spill analysis, urban and agricultural watershed analysis for use in the EPA GIS lab. A part of this task effort involved the design of a decision framework for the selection of a model. Specific features of the framework include constituents modeled, time-scale, spatial dimensionality, ease of use, software requirements, supporting agency (if any), input requirements, model output, and GIS interface capabilities.

· Designed a Water Quality Models Database to store water quality modeling software information that can be queried for selecting an 'appropriate' model for a given modeling application.

· Water Quality Monitoring - Analysis of water quality data at stations along the Ohio River maintained by ORSANCO. Implementation of Flows Database and Bacteria Database as well as performance of fish tissue analysis.

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