Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2413-z
Application of Qual2Kw model as a tool for water quality
management: Cértima River as a case study
B. Oliveira & J. Bola & P. Quinteiro & H. Nadais &
L. Arroja
Received: 28 January 2011 / Accepted: 14 October 2011 / Published online: 3 November 2011
# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
Abstract Modelling can be a useful management tool
because models allow the understanding of water
body response to different pollution pressure scenar-
ios which may help on the decision-making process
and in prosecuting the Water Framework Directive
objectives. This study aims to evaluate the usage of
simple water quality models (Qual2Kw) applied to
small river basins in order to better understand the
response of a river to different loads of nitrogen and
phosphorus. Qual2Kw model was applied to Cértima
River (Portugal), a small river that ends in a shallow
lake called Pateira Fermentelos and represents a very
important ecosystem to the local community. Along
its pathway, Cértima River has a significant enrich-
ment in nutrients due to agriculture, livestock,
domestic sewage and industrial effluents discharged
into the river. In case of nitrogen, the highest loads are
from domestic (44%) and diffuse (35%) sources. The
main sources of phosphorous are domestic (46%),
livestock (24%) and diffuse sources (20%). Cértima
River is strongly enriched with nutrients, and neither
nitrogen nor phosphorous is limiting the algal growth.
According to the criterion of Dodds et al. (Water Res,
32(5):1455–1462, 1998), the river is classified as
B. Oliveira (*) : J. Bola : P. Quinteiro : H. Nadais :
L. Arroja
CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies,
Department of Environment and Planning,
University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago,
3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
e-mail: bruna.oliveira@ua.pt
eutrophic. By comparing in stream measurements
with Qual2Kw simulations, it can be concluded that it
would be necessary to decrease the actual pollutants
loads of nitrogen and phosphorous 5 and 10 times,
respectively, in order to change Cértima River
classification from eutrophic to mesotrophic.
Keywords Modelling . Qual2Kw . Nutrients .
Pollution . Cértima basin
Introduction
Water is a natural resource which availability is
dependent on its quantity and quality. In order to
satisfy the spatial and temporal human demands on
water, it is necessary to evaluate the available
freshwater resources and to know the pollutant loads
generated on each river basin. In the last decades, the
deterioration of inland and coastal waters has been
drastically increased due to anthropogenic discharges
of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous to
water courses.
The European Directive 91/676/EEC of 12
December 1991 (The Council of the European
Communities 1991b), concerning agricultural sour-
ces, and 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 (The Council
of the European Communities 1991a), concerning
urban wastewater, refer the affluent loads of nitrogen
and phosphorous to water courses, while the Europe-
an Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 (Water
6198
Framework Directive, WFD; The European Parlia-
ment and The Council 2000) refers an integrated
approach to the problem of eutrophication. It is
essential to characterize the trophic status of surface
waters in order to achieve the objectives defined in
WFD.
Each river has a different self-depuration capacity
which makes necessary to know the pollutant loads
from different sources that the river is able to receive
without deteriorating its original characteristics.
Mathematical modelling is a useful tool to validate
the estimations of pollutant loads into an aquatic
environment, to establish cause–effect relations be-
tween pollution sources and water quality and also to
assess the response of the aquatic environment to
different scenarios. The simulations results are a
useful management tool that can assist policy makers
in determining realistic strategies that take into
account the basin specific conditions and also in
predicting the effect of accidental discharges or
additional pollutant loads.
This study intends to evaluate the usage of simple
water quality models applied to small river basins and
the variations and trends in water quality as a
consequence of different nitrogen and phosphorous
loads. Some works were done with the Qual2K model
to simulate the water quality of rivers and watersheds
using biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (Xiaobo et
al. 2008), nitrogen, phosphorus and chemical oxygen
demand (COD) (Fan et al. 2009; Grabiç et al. 2011)
loads. The works lead to the conclusion that the
model can provide the basic knowledge for a water
quality assessment even when the monitoring data are
insufficient. Other authors also used the model
Qual2K to test water quality management strategies
(Grabiç et al. 2011; Lin et al. 2010) concluding that
the model could form a basis for the management of
water quality issues.
Kannel et al. (2007) used the Qual2Kw to model
water quality in the Bagmati River in Nepal. The
model represented the field data quite, and the
sensitivity analysis showed that the model was highly
sensitive for water depth and moderate to point
sources flow, total nitrogen (TN), BOD and nitrifica-
tion rate. The model was applied to simulate various
water quality management strategies during critical
period to maintain the targeted water quality criteria.
Gardner et al. (2007) constructed a Qual2K water
quality model to better understand the water quality
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
issues in Rio Blanco watershed in Jalisco, Mexico.
The results of the model were limited by the lack of
data needed for input into the Qual2Kw, and the
model results did not necessarily represent the exact
conditions present in the river, yet the model was
considered beneficial in showing what information
needs to be gathered to use Qual2Kw to model water
quality issues in the studied river. Azzellino et al.
(2006) used the same model for apportionment of
pollutant sources in a watershed located in Northern
Lombardy, Italy, concluding that the model provides
results that are of key relevance for the integrated and
sustainable management and protection of European
freshwater resources.
In this sense, Qual2Kw model was applied to
Cértima River (a small river basin in Portugal) in
order to give a simple representation to the extensive
and complex variables that govern the overall quality
of the watercourse. The model was firstly calibrated
using data measured at Cértima River on March 2008,
and then the model was validated with data from
January 2008. A sensitivity analysis was made to
quantify the error associated with the most important
parameters, considering March 2008 data. Finally,
nine scenarios were tested keeping the calibration
values as baseline and varying the nitrogen and
phosphorous loads. These scenarios were then com-
pared and evaluated so as to better understand the
trophic status of the river and its assimilative capacity,
including feasible water management practices to
improve Cértima River water quality.
Methodology
Description of Qual2Kw
The mathematical model used to evaluate the water
quality of the river was Qual2Kw. The model frame-
work and documentation are available for download
from the Washington State Department of Ecology at
www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/models.html. It is a
stationary and one-dimensional model that can be
applied when the flow and the pollution load into the
river remain approximately constant. The main
simulated parameters are dissolved oxygen (DO),
organic matter (as BOD5), algal biomass (as chloro-
phyll a), nitrogen compounds, phosphate compounds,
faecal coliforms and conservative compounds. The
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210 6199

simulated process attends to re-aeration, algal respira-
tion and growth, organic matter degradation, minerali-
zation, nitrification, denitrification, sedimentation and
benthic activity. Also, the main input data are geometric
properties of the river (including channel slope, channel
width, side slope and Manning roughness coefficient),
flow rate, pollutant loads and meteorological parameters
(Pelletier and Chapra 2008).
A real situation of a river can be represented more
closely using complex models. However, these are
usually reserved for larger (deep and wide) rivers
where the mixing patterns are complex and also
require large amount of data which usually are not
available and implies more costs. For modest man-
agement purposes, this one-dimensional model may
represent a good framework of water quality
modelling.
Study area
The Cértima River arises on the western slope of
Bussaco Mountain in the Centre of Portugal at an
altitude of 380 m and flows in a dominant northern
direction for about 45 km until draining on Águeda
River. In the last 5 km, the valley of the river opens
widely to form a shallow lake called Pateira
Fermentelos (Fig. 1). The Cértima basin has approx-
imately 535 km2 and has a Mediterranean climate
with strong influence from the Atlantic Ocean
(Cerqueira et al. 2005). According to the climatic
characterization made by Sena (2007), summers are
dry and hot, due to the effect of the Azores high-
pressure system, and winters are mild and wet, with
strong precipitation events, resulting from the passage
of frontal surfaces and depressions with Atlantic
origin. In a typical summer, the riverbed dries up for
a length of about 20 km from the spring.
The active population mainly works in the second-
ary and tertiary sectors being ceramics, wine produc-
tion and metal processing the most important
industries. In addition, agriculture in the basin is
mainly related with viticulture, rice and potatoes.
Table 1 summarizes the percentage of population
in the municipalities of the study area that has access
to water supply, sewerage systems and wastewater
treatment plants (WWTP). Those not included in this

Fig. 1 Cértima basin with

reference to calibration
points and contamination
point sources. 1 WWTP
Murtede (24.2 km); 2
WWTP Mealhada
(22.3 km); 3 CST Tamegos
(17.5 km); 4 WWTP
Mogofores (15.2 km); 5
WWTP Arcos (14.5 km); 6
WWTP Sangalhos
(10.3 km); 7 WWTP
Aguada de Cima (4.9 km);
8 CST Lavandeira 1
(0.3 km); 9 CST Lavandeira
2 (0.3 km); 10 CST Oliveira
do Bairro 1 (0.3 km); 11
CST Oliveira do Bairro 2
(0.3 km) (data from SNIRH
2010)
6200
Table 1 Percentage of population with access to public water supply, drainage systems and wastewater treatment units (INSAAR
2010)
Municipality Population Population’s density
(No. hab) (No. hab / km2)
Águeda 49,800 148.7
Anadia 31,353 145.0
Mealhada 22,264 200.8
Oliveira do Bairro 23,623 269.2
list may either use community septic tanks (CST),
individual septic tanks or reject their effluents directly
into the river.
The stretch of Cértima River subjected to model-
ling begins at Pampilhosa and extends until Perrães.
The tributaries were indirectly introduced through
increases in the main stream flow since no data were
available on water flow and quality. The modelled
stream has 25.7 km and was divided in four segments
with less than 8 km each and similar geometric and
physical properties. Each segment was sub-divided
into 500-m intervals which formed the base grid to
solve the differential equations of the model.
According to Silva (2008), the channel slope varies
between 0.003 and 0.0008, the trapezoidal cross
section has a side slope varying between 0.35 and
0.25 and the channel width varies between 2 and 8 m,
from headstream to downstream. It was assumed a
Manning roughness coefficient of 0.04 (Pelletier and
Chapra 2008).
Contamination sources
According to the Portuguese Inventory System of
Water Supply and Wastewater (SNIRH 2010), in 2007
there were six WWTP and five CST discharging their
effluents along the river (Fig. 1). Data about these
units were obtained from INSAAR (2010). The total
domestic pollution generated in the watershed was
estimated from the data of resident population, their
access to public drainage systems and considering a
typical composition of untreated domestic wastewater
of 60 gBOD5 hab−1 day−1, 90 gTSS hab−1 day−1, 8 gN
hab−1 day−1 and 1.5 gP hab−1 day−1 (Metcalf and Eddy
Inc 2003).
The inflow loads of BOD5, total suspended solids
(TSS), TN and total phosphorous (TP) to each
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
Population served with
Water supply Sewerage Wastewater treatment
systems (%) systems (%) plants (%)
90.0 73.0 63.0
100.0 40.0 42.0
100.0 100.0 100.0
97.0 84.0 72.0
WWTP and CST were estimated for 2007 using data
of population served by each of them and the per
capita parameters previously mentioned. At the
WWTP, the wastewater receives secondary treatment,
and at the CST, it only receives primary treatment. It
was also considered that none of the treatment units
applies auxiliary treatment to remove nutrients. For
WWTP 4, 5, 6 and 7, there were recorded data of
daily inflow and its composition. In order to estimate
the pollution load discharged into the river after
treatment, it was considered a TSS and BOD5
removal efficiency of 90% for the WWTP and 50%
for CST. To estimate TN and TP removal, it was
considered the amount used by microorganisms to
remove 90% or 50% of BOD5, respectively, for
WWTP and CST and a consumption ratio BOD5/N/
P of 100:5:1 (Metcalf and Eddy Inc 2003).
The estimated daily loads of BOD5, total N and
total P for each treatment unit are represented in
Fig. 2. Industries in Cértima basin may represent a
strong anthropogenic pressure on the aquatic envi-
ronment. For this work only, the licensed industries
discharging its effluent directly into the river were
considered. Data for those industries were obtained
from the Management of River Basin—Center
(ARH—C 2010) database, and their location was
associated to the centroid of the parish where they are
located. The loads discharged into the river were
estimated according to the effluent volume generated
at each unit and the wastewater emission limit values
imposed by the Portuguese authorities (BOD5 ≤
40 mg O2 l−1; COD≤150 mg O2 l−1; TSS≤60 mg l−1;
TP≤10 mg Pl−1; TN ≤15 mg Nl−1) through the
Decree-Law No. 236/98 of 1 August 1998 (Annex
XVIII) (Ministry of Environment 1998).
Piggeries, cattle and poultry farming units were
treated separately due to their specific characteristics.
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
Fig. 2 Daily flow and
BOD5, total N and total P
loads discharged into
Cértima River in 2007
The data used for estimating the pollution loads from
piggeries and cattle farming were from the Vouga
Watershed Plan (ARH—C 2002). In case of poultry
farms, data were obtained from Management of River
Basin—Center (ARH—C 2010), and a maximum of
six growth cycles per year was considered. To
estimate these loads, it was considered that the
effluent to be discharged into the river is treated to
meet the specifications of Decree-Law No. 236/98.
The loads from livestock units were introduced in the
model as homogeneously distributed along the
27.5 km.
There are various diffuse sources of pollution, but
on this study, it was only considered the export of
nutrients from soil to water resources. For its
quantification, the load of pollutants exported per
unit area (export rates) associated to each category of
land occupation was considered. The total pollutant
load affluent to a reference section was obtained by
Eq. 1 (Novotny 2003):
X 
CTi ¼ Cij  Aj ð1Þ
where CTi is the total load of pollutant i affluent to the
reference section, Cij is the load of pollutant i per unit
area and time for the soil category j (export rate) and
Aj is the soil area of j category. A digital map of land
6201
use CORINE Land Cover 2000 (Portuguese Environ-
mental Agency 2010) was used to determine the soil
occupation.
Diffuse pollution is very irregular throughout the
year and, as a consequence, for each month, it has
been calculated a percentage of the annual load. This
percentage was a function of the ratio between the
observed average monthly precipitation and the
average annual precipitation. The loads from diffuse
sources introduced in the model were 84% of the
calculated load to the entire Cértima basin because
this is the approximate percentage corresponding to
the study area.
Table 2 resumes the estimates of the total pollution
load generated in Cértima basin. In the case of
domestic loads, the values refer to the sum of treated
and untreated effluents. Analysing the nitrogen loads,
the overwhelming contribution of domestic and
diffuse sources is evident. Likewise, phosphorus
derives mainly from domestic, cattle farming and
diffuse sources. The high contribution of diffuse
sources both to nitrogen and phosphorous loads is
mainly due to the crops and rice fields.
In order to make the division of nitrogen and
phosphorous in its different forms, it was considered
that the untreated domestic sewage has 60% of
ammonia, 40% of organic N, 70% of inorganic P
and 30% of organic P, and the industrial sewage has
6202
Table 2 Total pollution load
generated in Cértima basin Source BOD5
(ton year−1)
Domestic 668.9
Industry 31.3
Piggeries 22.4
Cattle farming 103.1
Poultry 35.8
Diffuse – –
pollution
Total 861.5
60% of ammonia, 40% of organic N, 50% of
inorganic P and 50% organic P (Metcalf and Eddy
Inc 2003). As there is a great diversity in industry
typologies, different distributions of nitrogen and
phosphorous were tested, and the results showed no
significant differences in the final result. In case of
livestock units, it was considered a composition of
60% ammonia, 40% organic N, 60% inorganic P and
40% organic P (Cosma et al. 2003). For diffuse
pollution, the considered distributions were 5% of
ammonia, 70% organic N, 25% of nitrate, 20%
inorganic P and 80% organic P (Coelho et al. 2007).
The pollutant loads from diffuse domestic sources
and from industries were homogeneously introduced
in the model as diffuse sources according to the
municipality where they were generated:
& Mealhada, 25.7–21.5 km
& Anadia, 21.5–8.7 km
& Oliveira do Bairro e Águeda, 8.7–0.0 km
Monitoring stations
The network of the National Institute of Water for
monitoring the water quality in the modelled stretch
consists in three stations (Fig. 1): Ponte Canha (since
2001), Perrães (since 2001) and Pampilhosa (since
2002). The parameters monitored are available at
SNIRH (2010).
The Pampilhosa station is classified as reference
station. However, the Cértima River crosses the
municipality of Pampilhosa before reaching this
station being vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures.
Ponte Canha station is downstream the urban areas of
Mealhada and Anadia and an important industrial
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
TSS Total N Total P
(ton year−1) (ton year−1) (ton year−1)
989.9 153.4 27.3
46.9 11.7 2.3
33.5 3.4 1.1
1,272.5 42.9 14.0
53.7 13.4 2.7
122.5 11.5
2,396.5 347.3 58.9
area. Perrães station is located before Pateira
Fermentelos in the final segment of Cértima River.
Among the monitored parameters, ammonium
(NH4), COD, BOD5, TP, orthophosphate (P2O5),
nitrate (NO3), nitrite (NO2), DO (milligrams O2 per
litre), pH, TSS (milligrams per litre) and temperature
(degree Celsius) were selected to assess the water
quality of the river with particular attention to
nutrients. Despite the fact that the selected parameters
are monitored at the three stations, the data obtained
between the beginning of operation and the year of
2008 (inclusive) cannot be used for modelling
purposes because the monitoring stations do not
operate in continuous mode. In addition, the samples
are not collected at the same date at the three stations,
and the analysed parameters are not always the same
for each sample.
Despite this, data collected at each station were
analysed as a whole and also in subgroups based on
their monthly and annual distribution. The rejection of
outliers was made by the method proposed by Grubbs
(1948) for a confidence level of 95%. It should be
noted that at Ponte Canha and Perrães, the data for
COD and orthophosphate are limited to 2008. From a
univariate statistical analysis, it was observed that pH
and temperature distributions are almost symmetric
while the other parameters have asymmetric distribu-
tions. It is natural that the most of the parameters
present asymmetric distributions because this study
makes use of surface water samples collected in
different seasons of the year and over several years
and possibly with different anthropogenic pressures.
Figure 3 presents the monthly variation of the
temperature at each station which influences the
processes occurring in the river.
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210 6203
Fig. 3 Average monthly
variation of temperature
(degree Celsius) recorded at
each monitoring station
(SNIRH 2010)

Fig. 4 Comparison between the monthly average variation of per cubic metre) and the monthly average precipitation
ammonia (milligrams N-NH4 per cubic decimetre), nitrate (millimetres) recorded at Oliveira do Bairro between 1989 and
(milligrams N-NO3 per cubic decimetre), total P (milligrams P 2008 (SNIRH 2010)
per cubic decimetre) and orthophosphate (milligrams P-P2O5
6204
Table 3 Dodds et al. (1998)
suggested boundaries for trophic Variable (units)
classification of streams
TN (mg l−1)
TP (mg l−1)
Nitrogen and phosphorous are the main nutrients
which can cause eutrophication as a consequence of
its accumulation in the aquatic environment. In order
to better understand the precipitation influence on
NH4, NO3, TP and P2O5 concentration on Cértima
River, Fig. 4 shows their average monthly variation.
As can be seen, NH4, TP and P2O5 concentrations are
the lowest in high precipitation periods, and the
opposite occurs to NO3. The highest concentrations
in dry months are possibly consequence of the
decreased flow in conjunction with the constant loads
into the river, namely domestic sources, because the
existing WWTP do not remove nitrogen nor phos-
phorous compounds. During the first months of
precipitation, the high concentrations seem to remain
apparently due to diffuse sources. According to these
records, Ponte Canha has the highest contamination
with nitrogen and phosphorous. The use of fertilizers
in the agriculture fields are probably the source of the
high concentration of nitrate recorded at Perrães. At
the studying area, fertilization is usually done in April
and October which justifies the higher concentrations
of nitrogen and phosphorous compounds in the
following months. According to the criterion of
Dodds et al. (1998) in Table 3, the stretch of Cértima
River downstream Ponte Canha is classified as
eutrophic throughout the year.
Flow rate
Runoff was estimated using the rational method that
takes into account precipitation data, the basin area
Table 4 Data for flow rate
calculations Model Flow rate at the headstream
(m3 s−1)
Calibration
Validation
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
Oligotrophic–mesotrophic boundary Mesotrophic–eutrophic boundary
0.7 1.5
0.025 0.075
and a runoff coefficient-dependent on soil type (Akan
and Houghtalen 2003):
Q ¼ 0:278  C  i  A ð2Þ
where Q is the runoff (cubic metres per day), C is the
runoff coefficient, i is the average hourly precipitation
(millimetres per hour) and A is the basin area (square
kilometres). The calculated values were compared
with the values measured by Silva (2008).
The flow rate considered at the headstream was
that given by Silva (2008). The additional flow along
the river was calculated for an area of 444.9 km2
between Pampilhosa and Perrães considering the
average hourly precipitation given by Silva (2008)
and the runoff coefficient of 0.057 for uncovered
surfaces (McCuen 1989). The resulting inflow is
given in Table 4 and was inserted in the model
evenly along the 25.7 km of the river.
Results and discussion
Model calibration
The calibration process aims to find values for the
model parameters that best fit the system to be
modelled. Qual2Kw may be calibrated by hand or
by internal genetic algorithm which calibrates the
model automatically based on a number of specified
stoichiometric rates and constants. In this case, it was
auto-calibrated using data for March 2008 measured
by Silva (2008) for Lagoa Seca (21.1 km), Ponte
Average precipitation Inflow
(mm h−1) (m3 s−1)
0.04 0.134 0.95
0.1 0.333 2.36
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210 6205

Table 5 Calibrated parameters for Cértima River

Parameter Value Units Min. value Max. value

Stoichiometry
Carbon 40 gC 30 50
Nitrogen 7.2 gN 3 9
Phosphorous 1 gP 0.4 2
Chlorophyll 1 gA 0.4 2
−1
ISS settling velocity 0.24696 m day 0 2
O2 re-aeration model Owens–Gibbs f (s uh)
Slow CBOD hydrolysis rate 0.25465 day−1 0 5
Slow CBOD oxidation rate 0.20485 day−1 0 0.5
−1
Fast CBOD oxidation rate 2.45565 day 0 5
Organic N hydrolysis rate 0.7866 day−1 0 5
Organic N settling velocity 0.73568 m day−1 0 2
Ammonium nitrification rate 8.3776 day−1 0 10
Nitrate denitrification rate 1.73692 day−1 0 2
−1
Sed. denitrification transfer coefficient 0.2142 m day 0 1
Organic P hydrolysis rate 0.7369 day−1 0 5
Organic P settling velocity 0.03264 m day−1 0 2
Inorganic P settling velocity 0.0336 m day−1 0 2
Sed. P oxygen attenuation half sat constant 1.60952 mgO2 l−1 0 2
Phytoplankton
Maximum growth rate 1.768515 day−1 1.5 3
Respiration rate 0.28324 day−1 0 1
Death rate 0.58812 day−1 0 1
Nitrogen half sat constant 12.9765 mgN m−3 0 150
Phosphorous half sat constant 8.491 mgP m−3 0 50
Inorganic carbon half sat constant 4.77E−05 mol l−1 1.30E−06 1.30E−04
Light model Half saturation
Light constant 64.731168 langleys day−1 28.8 115.2
Settling velocity 1.31585 m day−1 0 5
Bottom plants
Growth model Zero order
Maximum growth rate 95.383 day−1 0 100
First-order model carrying capacity 77.3645 gD m−2 50 200
Basal respiration rate 0.010659 day−1 0 0.3
Photo-respiration rate parameter 0.292002 unitless 0 0.6
Excretion rate 0.248455 day−1 0 0.5
Death rate 0.458335 day−1 0 0.5
External nitrogen half sat constant 49.872 mgN m−3 0 300
External phosphorous half sat constant 94.326 mgP m−3 0 100
−1
Inorganic carbon half sat constant 3.39E−05 mol day 1.30E−06 1.30E−04
Light model Half saturation
Light constant 6.30244 langleys day−1 1 100
Ammonia preference 83.97388 mgN m−3 1 100
Subsistence quota for nitrogen 7.63738704 mgN gD−1 0.072 72
6206
Table 5 (continued)
Parameter Value
Subsistence quota for phosphorous 8.6790223
Maximum uptake rate for nitrogen 541.4865
Maximum uptake rate for phosphorous 157.118
Internal nitrogen half sat ratio 2.2144205
Internal phosphorous half sat ratio 4.250922
Nitrogen uptake water column fraction
Phosphorous uptake water column fraction
Detritus dissolution rate 2.44095
Detritus settling velocity 3.9578
Canha (13.1 km) and S. J. Azenha (7.5 km) and data
measured by SNIRH (2010) for Pampilhosa
(25.7 km) and Perrães (0 km).
As there are no data about the tributaries of
Cértima River, assumptions had to be made in order
to take into account the attenuation that the contam-
inants discharged on tributaries suffered previously to
reach the main stream. The distance between the exact
location of the point source number 1 in the tributary
and the end of Cértima River is 24.2 km. Having that,
for the simulations with Qual2Kw, it has been
considered that this point source was at a fictitious
location in the main stream that corresponds to
24.2 km. This is equivalent to assume that the
tributary has the same attenuation capacity as the
main stream. The same assumption has been made to
point sources number 8 to 11.
The input parameters for Qual2Kw were temperature,
pH, conductivity, DO, BOD5, TSS, NH4, NO3, total P,
average daily flow, depth profiles and flow velocity.
The model represents the field data quite well, and the
auto-calibrated parameters are shown in Table 5.
Model validation
In order to test the ability of the calibrated model to
predict water quality under different conditions, the
model was run using data of January 2008 (Silva 2008)
without changing the calibrated parameters. As can be
seen in Fig. 5, the model response for dissolved
oxygen was in good agreement with the data. The
Pearson’s correlation between the monitoring data and
the validation results for DO is 0.723, for TN is 0.955
and for TP is 0.978. Attending to this good
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
Units Min. value Max. value
mgP g−1 0.01 10
mg Ng−1 D−1 350 1,500
mg PgD−1 day−1 50 200
1.05 5
1.05 5
0 1
0 1
day−1 0 5
m day−1 0 5
agreement, the model can be used to test different
scenarios in a general strategy to understand the river
response to different nitrogen and phosphorous loads.
Sensitivity analysis
Sensitivity analysis is crucial to quantify the error
associated with the variation of the parameters of
greater importance and to evaluate the model robust-
ness. The sensitivity analysis was performed in order
to identify the parameters that have the most influence
on the model outputs. The analysis was made varying
only one parameter at a time. Table 6 summarizes the
tested parameters and the model results. Data for
March 2008 were considered as baseline.
It can be concluded that the model is most
sensitive to Manning coefficient, ammonium nitri-
fication rate, bottom plants maximum growth rate
and bottom plants death rate. These conclusions
are in accordance with the results obtained by
Kannel et al. (2007) for nitrification rate and flow
conditions. However, it seems that the forms on
which nitrogen appears are the most influenced.
Attending to that, the scenarios evaluation will be
made considering TN in spite of NH4 and NO3
separately.
Scenario evaluation
Data for March 2008 were considered as baseline
conditions for scenarios evaluation as the model has
been calibrated for that month. According to the river
characteristics and location, it can be assumed that it
has no salinity, temperatures are between 14.5°C and
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
Fig. 5 Qual2Kw validation results for dissolved oxygen
(milligrams per litre), total nitrogen (micrograms per litre) and
total phosphorous (micrograms per litre)
16°C and so the DO on freshwater should be
approximately between 10.18 and 9.86 mg l−1 and
should not decrease below a safety threshold value of
4 mg l−1 (Metcalf and Eddy Inc 2003).
Attending to that, the scenarios resumed in Table 7
were simulated using the calibrated model in order to
evaluate the river response to different nitrogen and
phosphorous loads. Only scenarios of lower nitrogen
and phosphorous loads were simulated because the
6207
river is already eutrophic according to the criterion
presented in Table 3.
The model responses for Ponte Canha are pre-
sented in Fig. 6 and for Perrães in Fig. 7. These
locations were selected because Ponte Canha is
located approximately at the middle of the river
length and Perrães is near the end and also due to
the existence of monitoring data for these locations.
Despite the absence of data of chlorophyll a for the
calibration and validation of the model, the simu-
lations results for bottom algae (BA) are presented to
help understand the river response to different
nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations. In Figs. 6
and 7 has been drawn straight lines representing DO
minimum safety threshold (4 mg l−1) and TN
(1.5 mg l−1) and TP (0.075 mg l−1) maximum
concentrations for mesotrophic classification accord-
ing to the criterion in Table 3.
Analysing the simulations results, it is evident
that the river is saturated with nitrogen and
phosphorous. The contamination seems to be
higher at Ponte Canha than at Perrães possibly due
to the depurative capacity of the river. The simu-
lations show that the river behaviour is similar at both
locations.
In order to the river not to be classified as
eutrophic at Ponte Canha, the baseline load of TP
would have to be multiplied by a factor of 0.2 and the
baseline load of TN would have to be multiplied by
0.1. This means that the actual loads of TN and TP
(baseline conditions) would have to decrease five and
ten times, respectively.
When TN load is decreased, DO slightly
increases which may be justified by the decrease
of oxygen consumption by the nitrification pro-
cess. In these scenarios, the BA concentration
remains almost the same which means that
diminishing only the TN load would not affect
algae growth. However, when TP load decreases,
the DO and BA concentrations also decrease
which means that this nutrient highly affects algae
growth, i.e. phosphorous is the limiting nutrient.
The individual decrease of TN load does not seem
to affect TP concentration and vice versa. When
the loads of TN and TP are simultaneously
decreased, the river has a behaviour similar to
that when only TP is decreased but with smoother
decreases on DO and BA concentrations. For all
the tested scenarios, DO never drops below the
6208 Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210

Table 6 Sensitivity analysis results (the most influenced parameters are evidenced in bold)

Parameter Variation (%) DO BOD5 NH4 NO3 TP TSS

% of disturbance (considering March 2008 as baseline)

Manning coefficient 50.00 −2.47 −8.68 −28.80 8.84 1.75 −0.34

−50.00 8.05 10.73 27.31 −22.87 −1.72 0.55
Fast CBOD oxidation rate 50.00 −3.38 −13.05 −1.61 0.54 0.00 0.00
−50.00 4.27 12.42 2.22 −0.87 0.00 0.00
ISS settling velocity 50.00 −0.06 −0.03 −0.04 0.00 0.02 −9.85
−50.00 −0.02 0.01 0.03 −0.02 −0.04 9.37
Organic N hydrolysis rate 50.00 −0.18 0.00 1.03 0.45 0.01 0.00
−50.00 0.17 0.00 −1.18 −0.48 0.00 0.00
Organic N settling velocity 50.00 −0.65 0.01 3.37 1.91 −0.01 0.01
−50.00 0.99 0.01 5.46 −2.97 0.00 −0.01
Ammonium nitrification rate 50.00 −2.93 0.30 −38.77 11.05 −0.03 0.01
−50.00 5.29 −0.29 33.45 −34.86 0.07 −0.04
Nitrate denitrification rate 50.00 0.01 −0.10 −0.01 −0.23 0.00 0.00
−50.00 −0.03 0.10 −0.02 0.24 0.00 0.00
Sediment denitrification transfer coefficient 50.00 0.08 0.01 0.46 −7.16 0.00 0.00
−50.00 −0.09 −0.01 −0.54 6.90 0.00 0.00
Organic P hydrolysis rate 50.00 0.20 0.08 0.16 −0.04 −0.57 0.02
−50.00 −0.39 −0.14 −0.31 0.08 0.60 −0.06
Organic P settling velocity 50.00 0.07 0.03 0.01 0.00 −0.38 0.01
−50.00 −0.01 0.00 0.05 −0.03 0.34 0.00
Inorganic P settling velocity 50.00 −0.47 −0.14 −0.29 0.04 −1.20 −0.08
−50.00 0.41 0.12 0.14 0.01 1.20 0.06
Bottom plants maximum growth rate 50.00 18.82 4.84 18.02 −12.40 −7.31 2.01
−50.00 −29.76 −6.71 −15.08 4.21 12.87 −2.31
Bottom plants basal respiration rate 50.00 0.01 0.05 0.05 0.00 −0.05 0.01
−50.00 −0.11 −0.11 −0.26 0.08 0.15 −0.03
Bottom plants death rate 50.00 −3.06 3.64 −1.86 1.40 6.81 1.60
−50.00 3.92 −4.21 2.36 −2.16 −10.32 −2.08
Phytoplankton maximum growth rate 50.00 −0.06 −0.01 −0.03 0.00 0.04 −0.01
−50.00 −0.08 −0.03 −0.04 0.00 0.02 −0.02
Phytoplankton respiration rate 50.00 −0.16 −0.05 −0.11 0.02 0.04 −0.03
−50.00 −0.07 −0.02 −0.03 0.00 0.03 −0.01
Phytoplankton death rate 50.00 −0.16 −0.05 −0.11 0.02 0.04 −0.03
−50.00 −0.07 −0.02 −0.03 0.00 0.03 −0.01
Re-aeration rate 50.00 1.67 −0.35 −0.47 0.21 0.10 −0.05
−50.00 −2.94 2.44 3.45 −2.33 0.00 0.07

safety threshold of 4 mg l−1. Considering these Table 7 Nitrogen and phosphorous tested scenarios
results and the European WFD, the Portuguese water
authorities should implement management plans to Scenario Nitrogen Phosphorous
Multiplication factor of the baseline load
decrease the TN and TP loads discharges into Cértima
River basin, namely through nitrogen and phospho- N1; N2; N3 0.1; 0.2; 0.5 Equal to baseline
rous removal at the WWTP and through the adoption P1; P2; P3 Equal to baseline 0.1; 0.2; 0.5
of best practices on cattle farming and agricultural NP1; NP2; NP3 0.1; 0.2; 0.5 0.1; 0.2; 0.5
practices.
Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:6197–6210
Fig. 6 Scenarios results for DO, BA, TN and TP at Ponte
Canha
Fig. 7 Scenarios results for DO, BA, TN and TP at Perrães
6209
Conclusions
The main conclusions of this study are:
& Cértima River is enriched with nutrients. In
accordance with the Dodds et al. (1998) criterion,
the river is classified as eutrophic relatively to
total P in 75% of the recorded values at
Pampilhosa, 88% at Ponte Canha and 83% at
Perrães.
& Qual2Kw was calibrated, validated and a sensi-
tivity analysis was made for Cértima River. The
model represented the field data quite well.
& Qual2Kw accurately illustrates the dynamic evo-
lution of temperature, pH, conductivity, DO,
BOD5, TSS, TN and TP along the river.
& The model was applied to simulate different
scenarios of nutrients loads, and the results
showed that the river is saturated with nitrogen
and phosphorous and only decreasing five times
the TN load and ten times the TP load would
change the river classification from eutrophic to
mesotrophic.
& The Qual2Kw model results suggest that there is
no correlation between nitrogen and phosphorous
concentrations at Cértima River.
& The results suggest that neither nutrient is limiting
the algal growth which indicates that on baseline
conditions, the river is saturated with both
nutrients.
The sensitivity analysis allows to understand the
parameters to which the model is more sensitive and
more effort should be applied in order to precisely
determine those parameters. Furthermore, a more
complex sensitivity analysis procedure should be
applied taking into account the simultaneous variation
of some parameters in order to evaluate their
combined influence on the model outputs.
Qual2Kw can reasonably be applied to small
basins to evaluate the effects of different modifi-
cations in an aquatic environment. This mathemat-
ical model requires simple input parameters and so
it is a good framework to simulate the water
quality when monitoring data are scarce or when
the assessment does not require great precision.
The model is also flexible as it can be used
without knowing all the involved parameters
6210
because it assumes default values. However, the
quality of the model results is highly influenced
by the quality of the input data.
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