The simulation of an Australian reservoir using a phytoplankton community model: protech

The freshwater phytoplankton model protech was adapted to simulate an artificially destratified reservoir located in the Southern Hemisphere. The chosen site for validation was a drinking supply reservoir (Myponga reservoir, South Australia), which has a history of nuisance algal blooms and is regularly dosed with CuSO4 to control algal growth. An aerator is used at Myponga to limit stratification and two raft-mounted mechanical surface mixers (hereafter referred to as surface mixers) have been deployed to limit the growth of undesirable algae. New subroutines were incorporated into protech to simulate CuSO4 dosing and the surface mixers. The validation of protech against field data from Myponga reservoir, for the period 1 September 1999 to 1 September 2000, was successful and demonstrated that protech is readily adaptable to simulate different latitudes and to simulate highly managed water bodies.