A practical demonstration in modelling diclofenac and propranolol river water concentrations using a GIS hydrology model in a rural UK catchment.
An existing GIS hydrology water quality model, LF2000-WQX, was applied to predict the concentrations of the pharmaceuticals diclofenac and propranalol in catchments. As a practical exercise the predominantly rural Tamar (UK) catchment was chosen. Consumption, excretion, and fate data were used to estimate the pharmaceutical input load for the model. The predicted concentrations throughout most of the catchment were 1 ng/L or less under low flow (90th percentile) conditions. However, at a few locations, downstream of small sewage treatment plants, concentrations above 25 ng/L were predicted. This exercise shows that it is relatively straightforward to predict the concentrations of new and emerging organic microcontaminants in real catchments using existing GIS hydrology water quality models. Further testing will be required to establish their accuracy.
Johnson
A C
AC
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) Wallingford, Benson Lane, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB, UK. ajo@ceh.ac.uk <ajo@ceh.ac.uk>
Keller
V
V
Williams
R J
RJ
Young
A
A
D003198:Computer Simulation; D004008:Diclofenac / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011433:Propranolol / Q000032:analysis*; D045483:Rivers; D012722:Sewage; D006113:United Kingdom; D014872:Water Movements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D018508:Water Purification
D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D004008:Diclofenac; D011433:Propranolol