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Water Quality Modeling on Truckee River system: WARMF and TRHSPF

Water Quality Modeling

The City of Reno, City of Sparks, Washoe County, and Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA) are leading a formal review of the current Nevada water quality standards (WQS) for nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the Truckee River, focusing on sections of the river downstream of East McCarran Blvd. As part of the State's WQS Triennial Review process, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) has agreed to consider any third-party proposed revisions to the water quality standards in an effort to ensure that any future Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) reviews are based on the most appropriate, site-specific water quality standards. To support the WQS and TMDL reviews, two water quality modeling tools (WARMF and TRHSPF) were applied to simulate watershed processes, stream hydrology and river water quality. The use of the models will help ensure that any proposed nutrient water quality standards reflect the site-specific response of the Truckee River to nutrient loads and provide protection of the beneficial uses.

Model calibration and confirmation were previously conducted for both models and focused on time periods through 2002 (TRHSPF) and 2004 (WARMF). Detailed descriptions of both models can be found in the original calibration reports (see Systech 2007 and LimnoTech 2008 below). A recent effort was undertaken to conduct an additional model confirmation exercise extending the simulation time periods of both models through 2008. A model update report provides a brief overview of each model, a summary of previous calibration and confirmation efforts, and a description of recent model update efforts including database extension and results from model simulations (see LimnoTech 2013 below).

AttachmentSize
MODELS_1_WARMF_Calibration_Report_2007.pdf2.75 MB
MODELS_2_TRHSPF_CalibrationVerificationReport_2008.pdf3.62 MB
MODELS_3_TruckeeR_WQ_ModelUpdates_Jul2013.pdf22.18 MB