Modeling Contaminant Spills in the Truckee River in the Western United States

Abstract

Originating at Lake Tahoe, the Truckee River provides 85% of drinking water for the Reno/Sparks metropolitan area. Major highways and a railroad run adjacent to the river, which increases risk of a contaminant spill into the river that could have detrimental effects on drinking water supplies. A one-dimensional solute transport model (OTIS) was applied to the Truckee River. Data from dye studies on the river were used to determine a relationship to estimate dispersion coefficients for the Truckee River and calibrate the model. Two sizes of hypothetical contaminant spills from 9 locations under 13 flow scenarios were simulated. Travel times to the first water intake for a train spill of 130,000 L ranged from 3 to 46 h and maximum simulated concentrations of a conservative water soluble contaminant at the intake ranged from 340 to