RiverSpill: A National Application for Drinking Water Protection

RiverSpill is a geographic information system-based software package that calculates time-of-travel and concentration of contaminants in streams and rivers. The purpose of RiverSpill is to serve as a tool for response, planning, and training for the protection of the nation’s surface drinking water from deliberate (homeland security) threats. RiverSpill uses real-time stream flow data, a hydrologically connected stream network, and the locations and populations served by each public, surface drinking water intake. Accidental water contamination events such as spills from transportation infrastructures (highway, railroad, and pipeline), wastewater treatment plants, and hazardous materials storage sites may also be simulated. RiverSpill contains a comprehensive database of potential constituents of concern and their chemical or biological attributes. Spills may be modeled as either instantaneous or continuous events. Times-of-travel and concentration curves calculated with RiverSpill have been compared with those measured in several streams and rivers using dye. The dye measurements have been used to evaluate and calibrate RiverSpill to specific rivers.