A review of hydrological/water-quality models

Abstract

Water quality models are important in predicting the changes in surface water quality for environmental management. A range of water quality models are wildly used, but every model has its advantages and limitations for specific situations. The aim of this review is to provide a guide to researcher for selecting a suitable water quality model. Eight well known water quality models were selected for this review: SWAT, WASP, QUALs, MIKE 11, HSPF, CE-QUAL-W2, ELCOM-CAEDYM and EFDC. Each model is described according to its intended use, development, simulation elements, basic principles and applicability (e.g., for rivers, lakes, and reservoirs and estuaries). Currently, the most important trends for future model development are: (1) combination models—individual models cannot completely solve the complex situations so combined models are needed to obtain the most appropriate results, (2) application of artificial intelligence and mechanistic models combined with non-mechanistic models will provide more accurate results because of the realistic parameters derived from non-mechanistic models, and (3) integration with remote sensing, geographical information and global position systems (3S) —3S can solve problems requiring large amounts of data.

Keywords

water quality models / applications / future trends

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (2013DFA11320).

Compliance with ethics guidelinesƒLiangliang Gao and Daoliang Li declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.ƒThis article is a review and does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg