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SWAT model is applied to simulate rainfall-runoff and pollutant loadings in the Nakdong River basin as the condition for extreme droughts and floods. The year 1994 and 2002 are chosen as the drought and flood year, respectively, through the analysis of past rainfall data for 30 years. The simulation results show decreases in both runoff and pollutant loadings for the drought year but increases for the flood year. However, the pollutant loadings on some upper sub-basins increase for drought year due to highly-regulated dam discharge and soil moisture change. Collectively, extreme droughts and floods have negative impacts on water quality, showing elevated SS loadings during wet season and concentrated T-P concentrations during low flow season. The extent of these impacts is highly influenced by antecedent dry days and precipitation patterns.

In situ particle size spectra are obtained from two sequent cruises in order to evaluate the physical consequences of suspended particulate matters caused by episodic storm runoff from the Santa Ana River watershed, an urbanized coastal watershed. Suspended particles from various sources including surface runoff, near-bed resuspension, and phytoplankton are identified in empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis and an entropy-based parameterization (Shannon entropy). The first EOF mode is associated with high turbidity and fine particles as indicated by the elevated beam attenuation near the Santa Ana River and Newport Bay outlets, and the second EOF mode explains the suspended sediment dispersal and particle coarsening at the near-surface plume. Chlorophyll particles are also distinguished by negative magnitudes of the first EOF mode, which is supported by the relationship between fluorescence and beam attenuation. The integrated observation between the first EOF mode and the Shannon entropy index accentuates the characteristics of two different structures and/or sources of sediment particles; the near-surface plumes are originated from runoff water outflow, while the near-bottom particles are resuspended due to increased wave heights or mobilizing bottom turbidity currents. In a coastal pollution context, these methods may offer useful means of characterizing particle-associated pollutants for purposes of source tracking and environmental interpretation.

To evaluate the effect of the 4 major rivers restoration project in the Nakdong River to water quality of the river, the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) and Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP), are applied in series. Results showed overall decrease in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) concentrations and increase in chlorophyll-a concentrations, while total nitrogen and total phosphorous concentrations did not show significant changes, relatively. Decrease in BOD 5 concentrations seems to be influenced by an increased hydraulic residence time, which may allow more time for the degradation of organic material. Changes in Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration, due to the project were more significant for the upper stream areas that show relatively low Chl-a concentration ranges (less than 20 g/L). After the introduction of the Geumho River in the middle part of the Nakdong River, rapid growth of phytoplankton was observed. However, in this middle part of the Nakdong River, the ratio of Chl-a concentration change are less significant, compared to the upper stream areas, due to the project. In the lower stream area, Chl-a concentration decreased after the project. This seems to be resulted from the decreased light availability, due to increased depth, while the nutrient concentrations have been high enough to support phytoplankton growth.

Field studies were carried out to investigate seasonal and bay-wide variations in the particle size distributions (PSDs) and settling velocities of suspended particles in Newport Bay, the second largest tidal embayment in southern California. Maximum Entropy Classification (MEC) of the data identified three PSD groups: (1) suspended particles with a single mode around 10–20 μm (Group 1), (2) suspended particles with a single mode similar to Group 1, but shifted to smaller particle sizes (Group 2), and (3) suspended particles with a coarse mode at around 100 μm (Group 3). The three PSD groups have distinct seasonal and spatial patterns, and different size-settling velocity relationships, consistent with the hypothesis that Newport Bay longitudinally fractionates allochthonous particles from its tributaries by both size and settling velocity, and generates large and fast settling autochthonous particles, probably in the form of biological debris. Particle concentrations in Groups 1 and 2 are significantly correlated with fecal indicator bacteria, suggesting possible linkages between fecal pollution and particle transfer in this tidal embayment.

Particle size spectra of suspended sediment eroded from the Santa Ana River, a human-impacted urban river in southern California are investigated to consider fractal behaviors in suspended sediment transport. Widespread urbanization has fueled hydrological change of the watershed over four decades, showing significant increases in storm water runoff with decreases in instantaneous suspended sediment concentration. In-site observation of particle size distributions (PSDs) during three storm studies reveals two transport regimes (flow-controlled or bedcontrolled) depending on whether average particle size increase (flow-controlled) or decrease (bed-controlled) with flow rate. Despite their complexity, the observed PSDs exhibit power-law mass-size statistics, and satisfy fractal (power-law) scaling in a very robust manner. The evolution of PSD to a stable form with asymptotic behavior in suspended sediments suggests that shedding of suspended sediments in urban watershed environment system has its o...

In this study, the watershed and water body models were linked for the simulation of the Nakding river flow. This is a pre-step study for the estimation of the effect of the flow and water quality on the climate change. For models of watershed and river flow, the SWAT and EFDC were used, respectively. The runoff discharge at each boundary points for the simulation of the river flow was provided from the drainage basin model. The calculated runoff discharge by the SWAT model was compared with the measured data of the Ministry of Environment at 13 locations along the Nakdong river and 30 locations along the tributary streams. The computed water discharge was shown to be similar with the measured data. For the model calibration and verification, % difference, NSE, and were computed. The computed % difference was within 15% except of a few points. The NSE and were also within a fair level. The Nakdong river flow of 2007 was simulated by using the EFDC model. The comparison with the measured data showed that the model reflected the actual values of low and high flow well. Also, it was confirmed that the acceleration and deceleration in the curved areas were appropriately simulated. The movement of dye injected at the upstream boundary was simulated. The result showed that the arrival time up to the estuary dam was computed to be about 65 days.

In this paper we present a quantitative sanitary survey of the Middle Santa Ana River, in southern California, utilizing a variety of source tracking tools, including traditional culture-dependent fecal markers (Enterococcus and Escherichia coli by IDEXX), speciation of enterococci isolates, culture-independent fecal markers (human-specific HF183 Bacteroides and Enterococcus by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, qPCR), and chemical markers of sewage and wastewater (nutrients, enantiomeric fraction (EF) of propranolol and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid). To facilitate comparison of these different methods, data are interpreted in a loading (i.e., mass per time) framework that enables a quantitative apportionment of fecal markers and nutrients to specific source waters in the Middle Santa Ana River. Multiple lines of evidence support the hypothesis that Enterococcus in the Middle Santa Ana River originates primarily from in situ growth in streambed sediments, not from significant and persistent sources of untreated human waste. The EF of propranolol of tertiary treated wastewater effluent is in the range (0.42 to 0.71) previously reported for raw sewage, making EF of propranolol an unsuitable marker for fecal pollution, at least at this site. The human fecal marker HF183 Bacteroides was detected at a few sites, although not in a source of disinfected and tertiary treated wastewater effluent. Based on the results presented here and prior experience at other sites in southern California, HF183 Bacteroides would appear to be a candidate marker of fecal contamination for inland waters, although more qPCR measurements in disinfected wastewater effluent are needed to account for variations due to treatment plant performance and other factors. More generally, our results support the notion that regrowth of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in river sediments may lead to a decoupling between FIB and pathogen concentrations in the water column and thus limit the utility of FIB as an indicator of recreational waterborne illness in inland waters.

The contribution of freshwater discharge to fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) impairment of an estuarine environment can be approximated from simple, two end-member mixing models using salinity as a tracer. We conducted a yearlong time series investigation of Newport Bay, a regionally important estuarine embayment in southern California, assessing the concentrations of FIB, specifically Escherichia coli and enterococci bacteria, and salinity. In total, eight within-bay stations and one offshore control site were sampled nearly once per week and the three tributaries draining into Newport Bay were sampled approximately daily. Using salinity as a conservative tracer for water mass mixing and determining the end-member values of FIB in both the creek sites and the offshore site, we created a linear, two end-member mixing model of FIB within Newport Bay. Deviations from the mixing model suggest either an additional source of FIB to the bay (e.g. bird feces, storm drain discharge) or regrowth and/or die-off of FIB within the bay. Our results indicate that salinity mixing models can be useful in predicting changes in FIB concentrations in the estuarine environments and can help narrow the search for sources of FIB to the bay and enhance our understanding of the fate of FIB within the bay.

Field studies were conducted to characterize the concentration vs streamflow relationships (or "flow fingerprints") of fecal pollution and suspended solids in stormwater runoff from the Santa Ana River watershed, the largest watershed in southern California. The concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria and F+ coliphages (viruses infecting E. coli) exhibit little-to-no dependence on streamflow rates, whereas the concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS) exhibit a very strong (power-law) dependence on streamflow rates. The different flow fingerprints observed for fecal pollutants, on one hand, and TSS, on the other hand, reflect different sources and transport pathways for these stormwater constituents. The flow-independent nature of fecal indicator bacteria and F+ coliphages is consistent with the idea that these contaminants are ubiquitously present on the surface of the urban landscape and rapidly partition into the surface water as the landscape is wetted by rainfall. The flow-dependent nature of TSS, on the other hand, is usually ascribed to the shear-induced erosion of channel bed sediments and/or the expansion of drainage area contributing to runoff. The apparent ubiquity of fecal indicator bacteria and F+ coliphages, together with the very high storm-loading rates of fecal indicator bacteria and the low detection frequency of human adenovirus and human enterovirus, suggest that fecal pollution in stormwater runoff from the Santa Ana River watershed is primarily of nonhuman waste origin.

Field studies were conducted to assess the coastal water quality impact of stormwater runoff from the Santa Ana River, which drains a large urban watershed located in southern California. Stormwater runoff from the river leads to very poor surf zone water quality, with fecal indicator bacteria concentrations exceeding California ocean bathing water standards by up to 500%. However, cross-shore currents (e.g., rip cells) dilute contaminated surf zone water with cleaner water from offshore, such that surf zone contamination is generally confined to5 km around the river outlet. Offshore of the surf zone, stormwater runoff ejected from the mouth of the river spreads out over a very large area, in some cases exceeding 100 km2 on the basis of satellite observations. Fecal indicator bacteria concentrations in these large stormwater plumes generally do not exceed California ocean bathing water standards, even in cases where offshore samples test positive for human pathogenic viruses (human adenoviruses and enteroviruses) and fecal indicator viruses (F+ coliphage). Multiple lines of evidence indicate that bacteria and viruses in the offshore stormwater plumes are either associated with relatively small particles (53 microm) or not particle-associated. Collectively, these results demonstrate that stormwater runoff from the Santa Ana River negatively impacts coastal water quality, both in the surf zone and offshore. However, the extent of this impact, and its human health significance, is influenced by numerous factors, including prevailing ocean currents, within-plume processing of particles and pathogens, and the timing, magnitude, and nature of runoff discharged from river outlets over the course of a storm.

In southern California, storm water runoff from urban watersheds impacts coastal water quality. At the present time, coastal water quality impairments are usually managed through the development and implementation of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) plan, for which waste load allocations (WLA) and load allocations (LA) are developed, respectively, for the primary point and non-point sources of pollution in the watershed. The WLA and LA values are developed after weighing different pollutant source management scenarios, typically with the help of a distributed model of the watershed — for example, the geographical information system (GIS) model called BASINS. Because of challenges associated with this approach, we explore an alternative paradigm for modeling pollutant flow out of large watersheds that we term top-down , as opposed to the bottom-up approach employed by distributed models described above. In this alternative approach, the emphasis is on developing scaling relationships for pollutant loading rates that apply at the scale of large sub-drainages and the watershed as a whole. These scaling relationships could, in principle, be used for engineering calculations (e.g., for the design phase of storm water treatment facilities), to assess the contribution of individual watersheds to coastal pollution, and as a benchmark against which distributed models can be compared and tested. To this end, a series of studies were carried out at three sites in the Santa Ana River watershed, a large urban watershed encompassing in southern California. From the data, fecal indicator bacteria loading rates appear to scale as a power law with volumetric flow in a manner that varies by site, but is robust within, and between, storms at a single site. The physical basis for these scaling relationships, as well as the relationship between contaminants and particles eroded during storm events, are explored and developed.