Prediction of Surface Water Quality by Artificial Neural Network Model Using Probabilistic Weather Forecasting

We developed an artificial neural network (ANN)-based water quality prediction model and evaluated the applicability of the model using regional probability forecasts provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration as the input data of the model. The ANN-based water quality prediction model was constructed by reflecting the actual meteorological observation data and the water quality factors classified using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for each unit watershed in Nam River. To apply spatial refinement of meteorological factors for each unit watershed, we used the data of the Sancheong meteorological station for Namgang A and B, and the data of the Jinju meteorological station for Namgang C, D, and E. The predicted water quality variables were dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), total phosphorus (T-P), and suspended solids (SS). The ANN evaluation results reveal that the Namgang E unit watershed has a higher model accuracy than the other unit watersheds. Furthermore, compared with Namgang C and D, Namgang E has a high correlation with water quality due to meteorological effects. The results of this study will help establish a water quality forecasting system based on probabilistic weather forecasting in the long term.