Dr. Nigel Quinn, PE

Lawerence Berkeley National Laboratory

“Water Quality Forecasting in the San Joaquin River Basin”

In the San Joaquin Valley, efforts are being made to restore wetland ecosystems in the Grasslands Water District near Los Banos, CA through seasonally managed flooding designed to simulate the once natural flooding that sustained the area.  For these wetlands, the assimilative capacity of the nearby San Joaquin River is a key indicator of the health of the ecosystem.  Tributary runoff and agricultural discharge can introduce pollutants mostly in the form of salt and overwhelm a rivers assimilative capacity.  In an effort to manage runoff and discharge into the San Joaquin River, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) with a compliance deadline set for 2014 has been established for the San Joaquin River Basin.  This TMDL limits the allowable salt load stakeholders can release through a single downstream compliance point near Vernalis, CA.  In this study, historical salt load trends were looked at to determine if TMDL objectives could be met.

Aiding in water management decisions are water quality forecast models such as SJRIODAY, which is the current model in use by the California Department of Water Resources for forecasting daily salinity concentrations. A newer model called WARMF is anticipated to phase out the SJRIODAY model with its enhanced capability to simulate watershed processes.  A comparison of the two models was conducted over a six-week period to determine forecast accuracy of flow and electric conductivity (EC).  With an improved model, forecasted salt load allocations with increased accuracy can be disseminated to local stakeholders and aid in compliance efforts.

Taiki attends Los Medanos College where he maintains a 3.3 GPA.  He plans on transferring to California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo or San Jose State University and majoring in Civil Engineering. His ultimate goal is to obtain a Masters Degree.