Water Quality Management Scenarios for the Love River in Taiwan

The Love River with a length of 16 km along the main stream and a catchment area of 62 km2 is an urban-type tidal stream and its estuary locates at the Kaohsiung Harbor in southern Taiwan. The majority of municipal wastewater directly discharged into the Love River, resulting in deterioration of water quality, especially the low dissolved oxygen (DO) problem. The Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program/Eutrophication (WASP/ EUTRO) model was applied to simulate the fate and transport of pollutants in the Love River. The results showed spatial distributions of electrical conductivity (EC), suspended solids (SS), carbonaceous biological oxygen demand (CBOD5), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and DO were well reproduced by the mass transport model. A comparison between calculated results and field data shows a reasonable agreement. The study demonstrates simulation analysis using WASP is promising for water quality managements of an urban-type river.