River ecosystem modelling: application of the PROSE model to the Seine river (France)

The Seine river crosses the most densely populated and industrialized area of France, Paris (16 million inhabitants), surrounded by fertile land with intensive agriculture. In the framework of a CNRS (Scientific Research National Center) research project, computer programs have been designed to tackle problems related to eutrophication, non-point pollution and the impact of sewage during dry or wet periods (urban runof and sewage network overflow). The PROSE software has been specially designed to simulate the behaviour of the most disturbed stretches of the Seine ecosystem on the last 300 kilometers of the river, upstream of the estuarine area. The 1-D hydraulic sub-model of PROSE is based on a finite difference solution of Saint-Venant equations solved with the Preissman scheme. It simulates steady state situations as well as highly transient situations such as fast changes in river discharge during rainy periods or dam motions. The biological sub-model is based on the RIVE model, describing the major processes in a river ecosystem: primary production, heterotrophic bacterial activity and organic matter decomposition, major nutrients species (nitrogen, phosphorus), nitrifying activity and oxygen balance. Water column and sediment variables are simulated. Most of the parameters have been estimated during laboratory experiments or field studies. Different situations observed between 1989 and 1991 allowed a detailed validation of the model. The model was then used to explore the reaction of the ecosystem (particularly its oxygen status) to changes in physical constrains (discharge, reoxygenation at darns) or in biological processes (release of microorganisms accompanying waste water discharge).