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A technique to minimize uncertainties in load duration curves (LDCs) for water quality-impaired ungauged sites
Citation:
Mohamoud, Y. AND S. Motamarri. A technique to minimize uncertainties in load duration curves (LDCs) for water quality-impaired ungauged sites. Presented at American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) - World Environmental & Water Resources Congress 2013, Cincinnati, OH, May 19 - 23, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
Invited presentation at American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) - World Environmental & Water Resources Congress 2013
Description:
For many water quality-impaired stream segments, streamflow and water quality monitoring sites are not available. Lack of available streamflow data at impaired ungauged sites leads to uncertainties in total maximum daily load (TMDL) estimation. We developed a technique to minimize uncertainties in the load duration curve (LDC) approach – which is a duration curve TMDL approach. The uncertainties in the LDC approach stem from inaccuracies that result from techniques that are used to estimate streamflow for ungauged water quality-impaired stream segments. We present a time series separation technique (TSST), which separates streamflow series into magnitude (flow duration curve- FDC) and time-sequence components to estimate streamflow for ungauged sites. Although LCD is widely used for TMDL development, its suitability for TMDL applications depends on availability of streamflow series data. With TSST’s ability to estimate streamflow for ungauged impaired stream sites, uncertainties associated with the LCD approach can be reduced.
