Model description

MONERIS is a nutrient emission model to be used for regional, national and international studies of water quality in catchment areas. It was developed at IGB-Berlin, to address three goals:

    • Identification of the sources and pathways of nutrient emissions at the analytical unit (smallest calculation unit) level
    • Analysis of the transport and the retention of nutrients in river systems
    • Provision of a framework for examining management alternatives (scenarios)

In order to reach "an acceptable chemical state of water condition" by 2015 as required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD, European Parliament and Council of the European Union 2000) there must be catchment-based approaches for recording the present state of load, and for the development of guidelines.

MONERIS is a very flexible system, and is therefore most suitable to cover these demands, and to support analysis at a variety of scales.

Nutrient emissions of point and diffuse sources into surface waters are evaluated in the model. Point data (e.g. waste water treatment plants), areal information (e.g. soil data), and administrative information (like statistical data for districts), are integrated. The application of geographic information systems (GIS) is essential. Modelling scenarios allows calculation of the efficiency of management measures for reaching prescribed water quality standards (such as target concentrations of surface water quality). The MONERIS approach provides an assignment of the measures applied to the analytical units.

In the model, suitable measures are pre-defined which can be implemented by the user, either as single or combined measures. The measures can be based on analytical units or cover larger areas. Therewith, the resulting effect of measures on loads in the catchment can be tested. By integrating numerous of possible components into the system, complex analysis of effects of measures can be obtained in a short time.

Here you find the Moneris Manual (version 2.14.1vba).

The model was developed in the Department of Limnology of Shallow Lakes and Lowland Rivers, at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany (IGB-Berlin). Since its inception in 1999 MONERIS has been applied to numerous European river systems (for example the Axios, Danube, Daugava, Elbe, Odra, Po, Rhine, Vistula, see BEHRENDT et al., 1999; 2003a; 2003b; SCHREIBER et al., 2005a; BEHRENDT & DANNOWSKI, 2005), the whole of Germany (BEHRENDT et al., 2000; VENOHR ET AL., 2008a, b), and river catchments in Canada (VENOHR et al., 2010), Brazil (VON SPERLING & BEHRENDT, 2007) and China (XU PENGZU, 2004).

Diagram

Publications

Behrendt, H., Huber, P., Kornmilch, M., Ley, M., Opitz, D., Schmoll, O., Scholz, G. and Uebe, R. (1999): Nutrient emissions into river basins of Germany. – Federal Environmental Agency Report 23/2000, UBA-FB 99-087/e

Behrendt, H., Bach, M., Kunkel, R., Opitz, D., Pagenkopf, W.-G., Scholz, G. and Wendland, F. (2003):Nutrient emissions into river basins of Germany on the basis of a harmonized procedure. – FederalEnvironmental Agency Report 82/2003, UBA-FB 000446, Berlin, Germany.

Behrendt, H. and Dannowski, R. (2005): Nutrients and heavy metals in the Odra River system. Weißensee Verlag, Berlin, 353pp.

Fuchs, S., Scherer, U., Wander, R., Behrendt, H., Venohr, M., Opitz, D., Hillenbrand, T., Marscheider-Weidemann, F., Götz, T. (2010): Berechnung von Stoffeinträgen in die Fließgewässer Deutschlands mit dem Modell MONERIS – Nährstoffe, Schwermetalle und Polyzyklische aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe, Umweltbundesamt, Dessau-Roßlau, 221S.

Schreiber, H., Behrendt, H., Constantinescu, L.T., Cvitanic, I. Drumea, D., Jabucar, D., Juran, S., Pataki, B., Snishko, S. and Zessner, M. (2005a): Nutrient Emissions from Diffuse and Point Sources into the River Danube and its main Tributaries in the Period 1998-2000. – results and problems. Water Science and Technology 51(3-4), pp. 283-290.

Venohr, M. (2006): Modellierung der Einflüsse von Temperatur, Abfluss und Hydromorphologie auf die Stickstoffretention in Flusssystemen. Berliner Beiträge zur Ökologie 14, Weißensee Verlag, Berlin, 193 S

von Sperling, D.L. & Behrendt, H. (2007): Application of the Nutrient Emission Model MONERIS to the Upper Velhas River Basin, Brazil. In: Gunkel, G. and Sobral, M. (eds), Reservoirs and River Basins Management: Exchange of Experience from Brazil, Portugal and Germany, Universitätsverlag, TU Berlin, S. 265-279.

Xu P. (2004): Nutrient Emissions into the Taihu Lake from the Southern Catchments. Report, DAAD, 28 pp.

Link to publication