Simulating Turbidity Removal at a River Bank Filtration Site in India Using SCS-CN Approach

Abstract

Use of the Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) approach is very popular among hydrologists. Despite this, its applications in water quality modeling have been very limited. For the first time, the present work explores the potential of the SCS-CN approach in water quality modeling of the river bank filtration process using a theoretical framework. The approach relates the curve number (CN) with the filtration/kinetic coefficient and the input applied to the system. The approach is tested for its effectiveness using the field data collected at the river bank filtration site at Haridwar, India. The CN is found to be dependent on travel time between source water and the abstraction well in addition to the influent concentration. For very low or very high values of influent concentration, the curve number exhibits an asymptotic variation approaching 100 and 0, respectively. Using the data on source water quality and the travel time, it is possible to compute the curve number and, subsequently, the filtrate quality at an abstraction well.