A Review of Surface Water Quality Models

Table 1

Main surface water quality models and their versions and characteristics.

Models	Model version	Characteristics
Streeter-Phelps models	S-P model [13]; Thomas BOD-DO model [14]; O’Connor BOD-DO model [15]; Dobbins-Camp BOD-DO model [16, 17]	Streeter and Phelps established the first S-P model in 1925. S-P models focus on oxygen balance and one-order decay of BOD and they are one-dimensional steady-state models.
QUAL models	QUAL I [11]; QUAL II [18]; QUAL2E [19]; QUAL2E UNCAS [19]; QUAL 2K [20, 21]	The USEPA developed QUAL I in 1970.; QUAL models are suitable for dendritic river and non-point source pollution, including one-dimensional steady-state or dynamic models.
WASP models	WASP1-7 models [22, 23]	The USEPA developed WASP model in 1983.; WASP models are suitable for water quality simulation in rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal wetlands, and reservoirs, including one-, two-, or three-dimensional models.
QUASAR model	QUASAR model [11, 24, 25]	Whitehead established this model in 1997. QUASAR model is suitable for dissolved oxygen simulation in larger rivers, and it is a one-dimensional dynamic model including PC_QUA SAR, HERMES, and QUESTOR modes.
MIKE models	MIKE11 [22]; MIKE 21 [26]; MIKE 31 [27]	Denmark Hydrology Institute developed these MIKE models, which are suitable for water quality simulation in rivers, estuaries, and tidal wetlands, including one-, two-, or three dimensional models.
BASINS models	BASINS 1 [11, 28]; BASINS 2 [11, 28]; BASINS 3 [11, 28]; BASINS 4 [28]	The USEPA developed these models in 1996. BASINS models are multipurpose environmental analysis systems, and they integrate point and nonpoint source pollution. BASINS models are suitable for water quality analysis at watershed scale.
EFDC model	EFDC model [29, 30]	Virginia Institute of Marine Science developed this model. The USEPA has listed the EFDC model as a tool for water quality management in 1997. EFDC model is suitable for water quality simulation in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, and wetlands, including one-, two-, or three-dimensional models.