Understanding the impact of acid deposition on Chao Phraya River water quality through runoff modeling and community surveys | |
| Author | Phantira Saphankaew |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-22-09 |
| Subject(s) | Acid deposition--Thailand--Chao Phraya River Water quality--Thailand--Chao Phraya River Runoff--Models--Thailand--Chao Phraya River |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Air pollution is commonly known as one of sources of pollutant loads contributed to the surface water. Atmospheric acidic wet and dry deposition can deliver pollutant loads directly to surface water and indirectly by stormwater runoff. Acidic pollutants can have impact on surface water by degrading water quality. This study was the first attempt to demonstrate the integration between air modeling and water modeling to study impacts of atmospheric acid deposition on water surface quality in the Chao Phraya River. Simulated wet and dry deposition fluxes by WRF-CAMx modeling from a parallel study for 2018 were used as input for a water quality model (SWMM) to simulate pollutant loads to an urbanized subcatchment of the Chao Phraya River. A survey was conducted to get information of the local people’ perception on the impact of acid deposition on the Chao Phraya River water quality. This study reveals that in the dry season, the river water had higher concentrations of nitrate, sulphate and ammonium than the wet season, suggesting less dilution due to less precipitation in the dry season. The SWMM simulation results for the study urbanized subcatchment of the Chao Phraya River in BMR to show that approximately 81.6 percent of nitrate load, 97.3 percent of sulfate load and 11.4 percent of ammonium load from atmospheric acid deposition were become stormwater runoff into the subcatchment. The preliminary results of SWMM simulation suggested that the atmospheric deposition constituted about 20-30% of the measured nitrate and 15% of the measured ammonium concentrations in the river. 99 respondents which are 56 agricultural farmers, 18 aquacultural farmers, 1 fisherman, 9 officers, 4 self-employed people, 6 students and 5 not working people were interviewed to obtain their perception about acid deposition and water quality change for this study. Perception of local people on the water quality change and impact varied with the population groups but most of respondents (91% of 99 interviewees) knew that acid deposition can affect river quality. Overall, 21% responded that they agreed with the presence of water pollution in the river in last 5 years. On the impact of water quality on agriculture, 15 % respondents answered their yield quantity was decreased and 15% respondents answered that the disease of agriculture crop was increased. Above 32% responded that they had agriculture economic loss due to water quality change. For local people’s perception on impact of water quality on aquaculture, 12% respondents answered that the yield was decreased but 9% answered that the aquaculture disease was increased. About 16 % responded that they had aquaculture economic loss due to water quality change. This study only used a simplified application of SWMM and with a focus only on the atmospheric acid depositions. To improve the results, the water quality modelling should also consider other sources discharging pollutants into the subcatchment, the nutrient uptake by plant, as well as the key inhibiting factors of the runoff. The EMC used for the model calibration should be obtained from a long-term monitoring program. The river water quality monitoring should include sulfate, an important constituent of acid deposition. |
| Year | 2022 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Xue, Wenchao;Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh (Co-Chairperson) |
| Examination Committee(s) | Ekbordin Winijkul;Ho Huu Loc |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Scholarships |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2022 |