Modeling of Regionalized Emissions (MoRE) into Water Bodies: An Open-Source River Basin Management System

An accurate budget of substance emissions is fundamental for protecting freshwater resources. In this context, the European Union asks all member states to report an emission inventory of substances for river basins. The river basin management system MoRE (Modeling of Regionalized Emissions) was developed as a flexible open-source instrument which is able to model pathway-specific emissions and river loads on a catchment scale. As the reporting tool for the Federal Republic of Germany, MoRE is used to model annual emissions of nutrients, heavy metals, micropollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and certain pharmaceuticals. Observed loads at gauging stations are used to validate the calculated emissions. In addition to its balancing capabilities, MoRE can consider different variants of input data and quantification approaches, in order to improve the robustness of different modeling approaches and to evaluate the quality of different input data. No programming skills are required to set up and run the model. Due to its flexible modeling base, the effect of reduction measures can be assessed. Within strategic planning processes, this is relevant for the allocation of investments or the implementation of specific measures to reduce the overall pollutant emissions into surface water bodies and therefore to meet the requirements of water policy.