An expert system aiding permit writers for point source discharges

An expert system based on VIMS (Virginia Institute of Marine Science) TPWQM (tidal prism water quality model) was developed for VPDES (Virginia Pollution Discharge Elimination System). The goal was to provide an easy-to-use tool for water quality management of small coastal basins and tidal creeks in Virginia. The expert system consists of two stand-alone, but sequentially connected, programs. 'Preprocessor for Geometry' takes user input of geometric and tidal information of a coastal basin and performs automatic model segmentation based on tidal prism. 'Preprocessor for TPWQM' calculates dissolved oxygen based on proposed point source discharge of organic carbon and nutrients. Input parameters, evaluated from the analysis of extensive data sets and previous model applications for small coastal basins in Virginia, were embedded into the TPWQM. The present version of the expert system was written for personal computers using the Windows 95/98 operating system.

An expert system aiding permit writers for point source discharges Conference Paper