Review of Reservoir Water Quality Monitoring and Modelling

Reservoir water quality assessment is important for decision makers to manage the water quality in the reservoir and downstream. Integration of reservoir water quality monitoring and modelling could provide better information for water quality assessment. The purpose of this study is to review the development of reservoir water quality models and monitoring network designs. Various mathematical models like CE-QUAL-W2, MIKE, WASP, and EFDC have been developed in the literature in order to simulate water quality in a reservoir. The capabilities and limitations of different models are presented and illustrated in this paper. Several studies may be found in the literature for selection of water quality variables, design of sampling locations to monitor reservoir water quality, and identification of sampling frequencies. Generally, the optimal design of monitoring networks would reduce the fiscal burden of long term stewardship and improve the understanding of reservoir operators on the water quality that is delivered to downstream, while allowing stakeholders to select, understand, and balance their design objectives. This research could aid the decision makers to directly select the reliable reservoir water quality models and appropriate approaches for optimal design of monitoring networks to save millions of dollars that are currently spent on sampling redundant data.