This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Brad Finney, Humboldt State University and Dr. Bruce Beck, Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. The investigators will carry out a joint study on the viability of using operational control for river basin water quality management with the Bedford Ouse river (U.K.) serving as a case study. The Bedford Ouse is the major river in one of the largest river basins in England. The river currently has a potentially serious nitrate problem, with observed concentrations frequently exceeding the World Health Organization standard for potable water use. This situation may be aggravated by the wastewater discharge from the new city of Milton Keynes at the headwaters of the catchment. A dynamic river basin simulation model will be completed that includes influent to the treatment plant, treatment plant operation, nonpoint catchment runoff to the river, river water quality simulation and potable water treatment plant performance. System identification and parameter estimation will be addressed using recent advances in recursive time series algorithms. The simulation model will be used to identify and examine operational strategies for reducing the effect of the treatment plant on downstream water users. The model will provide a practical working tool for improved management of the Bedford Ouse. The study will produce improved methodologies for river water quality basin management, will result in increased undrstanding of the use of system identification procedures, and will examine how a river basin institutional structure much different than that practiced in the U. S. can encourage more efficient river water quality management.
