Distribution of Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4013, "Prediction of traveltime and longitudinal dispersion in rivers and streams," by Harvey E. Jobson

In Reply Refer To:                                    April 25, 1996
Mail Stop 415



OFFICE OF SURFACE WATER TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM NO. 96.06

Subject:  Distribution of Water-Resources Investigations Report 
          96-4013, "Prediction of traveltime and longitudinal
          dispersion in rivers and streams," by Harvey E. Jobson

The possibility of a contaminant being accidentally or intentionally 
spilled upstream from a water supply is a constant concern to municipal 
and industrial water supplies and users.  The Water Resources Division 
has addressed these concerns by conducting tracer studies to quantify 
traveltime and longitudinal dispersion in many streams and rivers.

The purpose of this memorandum is to announce and distribute a number of 
copies of the subject report which provides methods to estimate (1) the 
rate of movement of a contaminant through a river reach, 2) the rate of 
attenuation of the peak concentration of a conservative contaminant 
with time, and (3) the length of time required for the contaminant plume 
to pass a point in the river. The report compiles the results of many of 
the U.S. Geological Survey tracer studies and applies the concepts 
presented by Kilpatrick (Techniques of Water Resources Investigations 
Book 3, Chapter A-20) to provide a method of making reasonable 
predictions quickly at locations where little data are available. 
Although the accuracy of the predictions can be greatly increased by 
performing time-of-travel studies on the river reach in question, the 
emphasis of this report is on providing methods for making estimates 
where few data are available.



                                  Thomas H. Yorke
                                  Chief, Office of Surface Water

Attachment

WRD Distribution: A, B, AH, PO

NOTE:  THIS MEMORANDUM IS BEING REISSUED AS OSW TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM 
NO. 96.06 AND SHOULD REPLACE THE ORIGINAL 96.05 WITH LIKE SUBJECT.  
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS PLEASE CALL THE OFFICE OF SURFACE WATER AT 703/
648-5301.