Numerical model of the salt-wedge reach of the Duwamish River estuary, King County, Washington

A numerical model of a salt-wedge estuary developed by Fischer (1974) has been expanded and used to calculate the distributions of salinity, temperature, chlorophyll a concentration, biochemical oxygen demand, and dissolved-oxygen concentration in the Duwamish River estuary, King County, Wash. The model was used to predict the dissolved-oxygen concentrations in the Duwamish River estuary when the Renton Treatment Plant sewage-effluent discharge is increased to its proposed maximum of 223 cubic feet per second. The computed monthly average dissolved-oxygen concentrations in the estuary decreased by a maximum of 2 milligrams per liter when compared with computations for the summer of 1971, when the effluent discharge averaged 37 cubic feet per second. The increase in effluent discharge is not expected to cause large changes in phytoplankton concentrations in the estuary. (Woodard-USGS)