A Basic Water Quality Model for the River Neckar: Part 2 -model-based analysis of the oxygen budget and scenarios

In this paper the Basic Water Quality Model (BWQM) for the central part of River Neckar is used to analyse the oxygen budget and to assess the potentials of various measures to prevent or mitigate critical dissolved oxygen (DO) declines. It is shown that the oxygen budget is mainly governed by phytoplankton dynamics. The excessive growth of algae and the sudden break down of the resulting algal blooms may cause episodic DO depressions. Therefore, to stabilise the oxygen budget in a sustainable way, eutrophication has to be controlled within the central part of River Neckar and the upstream regions. The only feasible way to reach this goal appears to be a further drastic reduction of phosphorus emissions. In addition, it is indispensable to hold the very high standards of biochemical oxygen demand and ammonium retention at the wastewater treatment plants. A worse performance of the treatment plants would dramatically aggravate critical DO declines which may be caused by algae dynamics. As long as the oxygen budget is not completely stabilised, weir and turbine aeration can be used to mitigate DO depressions. It could be shown that the potentials of these measures suffice to keep DO at a tolerable level. However, due to the long travel times in River Neckar, it is important to start aeration up to several days before the DO minimum is reached.