VALIDATION OF A HYDROLOGIC MODEL FOR TRANSPORT OF CHEMICALS IN RIVERS

摘要

Hydrologic Transport Assessment System (HYTRAS) is a software package that models contaminant transport in rivers and streams, including volatilization, adsorption/desorption, sedimentation, settling, and resuspension. Biodegradation, photolysis, and any other process that can be modeled using a first-order decay constant can be included as well. HYTRAS originally modeled the transport of radionuclides and has recently been expanded to include transport of chemicals. The transport of chemicals has been validated using data from an accidental release of the chemicals disulfoton and thiometon into the Rhine River in 1986. For these chemicals, sorption is not an important process. For the range of measured flow velocities, HYTRAS was found to bound the peak arrival times. For the range of measured degradation rates, HYTRAS was found to bound the peak concentrations within 400 km of the source and bound the peak concentrations within a factor of two out to 700 km.