You are here:
CALIBRATION AND EVALUATION OF A MERCURY MODEL FOR A WESTERN STREAM AND CONSTRUCTED WETLAND
Citation:
BROWN, S., L. SAITO, C. D. KNIGHTES, AND M. GUSTIN. CALIBRATION AND EVALUATION OF A MERCURY MODEL FOR A WESTERN STREAM AND CONSTRUCTED WETLAND. WATER, AIR, AND SOIL POLLUTION. Springer, New York, NY, 182(1-4):275-290, (2007).
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of this task is to develop, support and transfer a wide variety of tools and mathematical models that can be used to support watershed and water quality protection programs in support of OW, OSWER, and the Regions.
Description:
Numerous studies have shown that Steamboat Creek in Nevada is highly contaminated with mercury, with aqueous mercury concentrations more than two orders of magnitude greater than nearby mountain streams. One objective of this study was to determine if the new Spreadsheet-based Ecological Risk Assessment for the Fate of Mercury (SERAFM) model could be calibrated to the concentrations of unfiltered and dissolved total mercury, and unfiltered and dissolved MeHg in the water column for a reach on SBC and a related constructed wetland mesocosm for different seasons and residence times. SERAFM is a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency steady state, single segment, mass balance mercury model that has been applied to lakes, and this study also examined the model's applicability for modeling an arid flowing water environment in different seasons. The average combined error between observed and model-estimated mercury concentrations was 12 percent and 17 percent for the reach and mesocosm, respectively. Some recommendations are proposed that may allow SERAFM to better model flowing systems.