Empowering water quality management in Lamtakhong river basin, Thailand using WASP model

Abstract

This research aimed at empowering local authorities on water quality management in the Lamtakhong river basin, Thailand with the assist of a water quality model, namely Water quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP). Organic overcapacity and consequent dissolved oxygen depletion was recently the primary water quality issue of the river. WASP was successfully calibrated and validated using collected monthly hydrologic and water quality data from the year 2008 to 2009. The model was found to be capable of capturing variation and predicting the concentrations of dissolved oxygen for the river system. With the aid of the WASP simulation model, it was demonstrated that "business-as-usual" will seriously impact water quality in the future, causing dissolved oxygen levels to approach zero in some areas downstream. The model results were used in local communities hearing campaign in upstream, middle-stream and downstream communities to raise public awareness. Consensus was reach that household pollution reduction was needed and 5% should be a starting point. Pollution reduction of 5-20% will help improve water quality somewhat. However, a substantial 50% reduction in pollution would considerably improve the water quality of the river. © 2013 Maxwell Scientific Organization.