A reduced-order based CE-QUAL-W2 model for simulation of nitrate concentration in dam reservoirs

•This study presents a new method for water quality modeling in dam reservoirs.•We proposed a reduced-order model (ROM) to simulate nitrate in Karkheh Reservoir.•Novelty of this methodology is beyond just an application to water resources.•Results showed the ROM simulated nitrate variations in the reservoir, accurately.

SummaryWhen the number of computational grids increases, water quality simulation complexities arise. Therefore, using a reduced order framework to express the variations of the objective parameter may facilitate the simulation task and also the interpretation of computational results. In this regard, a new reduced-order approach was proposed to link a water quality simulator model (CE-QUAL-W2, W2) with a data reduction technique (proper orthogonal decomposition, POD). The W2 model simulated spatio-temporal variations of nitrate in the Karkheh Reservoir, Iran. Thereafter, the POD model reduced the dimensions of simulated nitrate in the computational grids. The performance of the developed reduced-order model (ROM) results was evaluated through the comparison of the regenerated nitrate data by the model, and the simulated ones by W2. Findings indicated that the first four modes among 1825 computed ones by ROM conserved approximately over 91% of the nitrate variations. It means that the ROM was capable of showing the spatio-temporal variations of nitrate in the reservoir using the first few modes. Finally, confirmation of ROM indicated that the error of order of magnitude was less than 0.001, for nitrate ROM to regenerate nitrate data using 100 basis functions.