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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #361606

Research Project: Strategic Investigations to Improve Water Quality and Ecosystem Sustainability in Agricultural Landscapes

Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research

Title: Numerical modeling of flow and sediment in Pelahatchie Bay and its upland watershed

Author
item CHAO, XIAOBO - University Of Mississippi
item Bingner, Ronald - Ron
item ZHANG, YAOXIN - University Of Mississippi
item Witthaus, Lindsey
item JIA, YAFEI - University Of Mississippi

Submitted to: International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE)
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/3/2018
Publication Date: 1/27/2019
Citation: Chao, X., Bingner, R.L., Zhang, Y., Yasarer, L.M., Jia, Y. 2019. Numerical modeling of flow and sediment in Pelahatchie Bay and its upland watershed. International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE). 1-7.

Interpretive Summary: Construction sites can produce a significant amount of sediment flowing into downstream streams and waterbodies. Within the uplands of the Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson, Mississippi, the Pelahatchie Creek Watershed contains a significant number of construction sites and developed area, producing a lot of runoff carrying sediment and associated pollutants that discharge into the Pelahatchie Bay area of the reservoir. In addition, nutrients and other pollutants also flow into Pelahatchie Bay from the upstream agricultural areas of Pelahatchie Creek.

Technical Abstract: Pelahatchie Bay located in the northeast of Jackson, the capital city of Mississippi. Its upland watershed, Mill-Pelahatchie Creek Watershed contains a high percentage of construction sites and developed area, causing a lot of sediment and associated pollutants to discharge into the bay through runoff. In addition, sediment, nutrients, and other pollutants may also flow into Pelahatchie Bay from the upstream Pelahatchie Creek. In this study, the Annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source (AnnAGNPS) pollutant loading watershed management model, developed at the USDA ARS, National Sedimentation Laboratory (NSL), are applied to simulate the loads of runoff and sediment from the upland watershed. The simulated results are used as boundary conditions for CCHE, a free surface flow, sediment and water quality model developed at the National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering (NCCHE), to simulate flow, sediment and water quality processes in Pelahatchie Bay. The concentration distributions of sediment and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), and their variations in time due to the influences of upland loading and wind, are simulated. The model results are compared with field measurements, and good agreements are obtained.