Water quality modeling for a tidal river network: A case study of the Suzhou River

Combined with the basic characteristics of Suzhou plain river network, two modules are established, one of which is the hydrodynamic module using the water level node method involving gate operation, while the other is the water quality module based on the principle of WASP5 (water quality analysis simulation program5). These two modules were coupled and verified by the monitoring data of Suzhou River network. The results showed that calculation errors of NH4+-N and DO for the model were in the ranges of -15%-13% and -18%-16%, respectively. Despite of the deviations between the monitoring data and simulation result, the calculation accuracy of the model conforms to the practical engineering requirement. Therefore, the proposed coupling model may be useful for water quality simulation and assessment for river network under tidal influences.