The simulation of an Australian reservoir using a phytoplankton community model: protech

Abstract

The freshwater phytoplankton model protech was adapted to simulate an artificially destratified reservoir located in the Southern Hemisphere. The chosen site for validation was a drinking supply reservoir (Myponga reservoir, South Australia), which has a history of nuisance algal blooms and is regularly dosed with CuSO 4 to control algal growth. An aerator is used at Myponga to limit stratification and two raft-mounted mechanical surface mixers (hereafter referred to as surface mixers) have been deployed to limit the growth of undesirable algae. New subroutines were incorporated into protech to simulate CuSO 4 dosing and the surface mixers. The validation of protech against field data from Myponga reservoir, for the period 1 September 1999 to 1 September 2000, was successful and demonstrated that protech is readily adaptable to simulate different latitudes and to simulate highly managed water bodies.