The main objective of the Water Framework Directive in the European
countries is to achieve a "good status" of all the water bodies, in the
integrated management of river basins. In order to assess the impact of
improvement measures, water quality models are necessary. During the
previous decades the progress in computer technology and computational
methods has supported the development of advanced mathematical models
for pollutant transport in rivers and streams. This book is intended to
provide the fundamental knowledge needed for a deeper understanding of
these models and the development of new ones, which will fulfil future
quality requirements in water resources management. This book focuses on
the fundamentals of computational techniques required in water quality
modelling.
Advection, dispersion and concentrated sources or sinks of contaminants
lead to the formulation of the fundamental differential equation of
pollutant transport. Its integration, according to appropriate initial
and boundary conditions and with the knowledge of the velocity field,
allows for pollutant behaviour to be assessed in the entire water body.
An analytical integration is convenient only in one-dimensional approach
with considerable simplification. Integration in the numerical field is
useful for taking into account particular aspects of water body and
pollutants.
To ensure their reliability, the models require accurate calibration and
validation, based on proper data, taken from direct measurements. In
addition, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis are also of utmost
importance.
All the above items are discussed in detail in the 21 chapters of the
book, which is written in a didactic form for professionals and
students.
