ABSTRACT
An intensive river water quality survey is conducted to collect field data that can be used to estimate the values of the river model parameters characterizing the river’s hydraulics and reaction kinetics. Without intensive water survey data, the values of these parameters have to be estimated on the basis of empirical formulas or laboratory data, which are less reliable and require further calibration. On the other hand, model parameters determined directly from intensive field survey remove most of the above weaknesses. This chapter first introduces the general procedures and techniques for planning and execution of intensive river water quality surveys. This chapter then discusses how to determine the values of river hydraulic parameters based on field survey data, i.e., river flow and velocity, time-of-travel, and longitudinal dispersion coefficient. The third section of this chapter discusses the determination of the values of river reaction parameters based on field survey data, including BOD deoxygenation coefficient, algal bioproductivity, and reaeration coefficient. Most of the presentation in this chapter is based on a case study of an intensive river survey of Canandaigua Outlet in Upstate New York.
