Hi fellow stuents and scientists,
I'm working on a small peatland (1.8 km2) with a stream traversed. The water quality was bi-weekly mointored at 10 sites in this 2 km stream. Water level and discharge was monitored at inlet and oullet as well. So we can say we don't lack data.
But since last year, beavers built a dam at outlet of this peatland, and the water level significantly increased. With this dam, the water didn't flow until the water level exceeded the dam height. So now I don't know how to model the discharge and water quality in this stream, because it is significantly different from a normal river, but more like a reservoir.
Can anyone give me suggestion on which model incorporates the dam construction, or how to model the in-stream water movement with this dam at outlet?
Thanks in advance!
Best, Songjun
You can try SWMM5 software, I used it in my research which is attached here
https://journals.utm.my/mjce/article/view/16216
you can try SWAT model.
The use of SWAT model has widely used for calculating several parameters of hydrology such as precipitation, surface run-off, evapotranspiration, groundwater flow infiltration and also water quality parameters such as sediment delivery, nutrient losses and pesticide losses inside watershed. SWAT model is built upon a continuous period model that surgery on
daily period for hydrological and water quality processes.
SWAT model needs to be calibrated since complicated in its environmental processes and a large number of input data for successfully applying hydrological model. You can also use SWAT-CUP for calobrating and validating the model.
Assuming your flow data is also bi-weekly, that can add to uncertainty. There may be other ways as suggested, but I would look at a variant of the water balance approach. Water input into dam minus water output from dam equals change in soil and surface water storage plus any evapotranspiration as well as deep seepage that isn’t measured at outlet. There are various models to help estimate ET. If you have detailed and much more frequent flow data, then you might be able to determine the storage of water factor during a flow generating storm preceded by low inflow period and no outflow. Collecting rainfall data probably also helpful. We would probably collect flow data at 15 minute intervals on a drainage this size, and vented transducers or unvented with barometric adjustment are fairly inexpensive, and if stable cross sections are selected, and stage discharge relationship developed, with the rain and storage capacity of the beaver dam, you would be in a good position with ET estimate to develop a spreadsheet that would help collect and present data which could be fashioned into a data driven, spreadsheet model based on the relationships and specific to the circumstances. I know, this sounds difficult. There is a difference most of the time between no data, some data and having sufficient data. As I have suggested to others at times, determine your study goals, consult a statistician to help design to meet your desired goal. It is not unusual to take a few bi-weekly samples to do a quick reconnaissance, but most hydrological simulation studies end up being quite detailed.
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