Abstract
I have briefly reviewed the research progress made in practical environmental evaluation models for lakes and reservoirs since 1970’s and summarized the relation between practical demand and model modification. Vertically one dimensional models for the prediction of water temperature in reservoirs were developed during the first stage of the model development. Practical demand for the appropriate management of dam reservoirs stimulated the development of these models. Also developed were turbidity models for reservoirs during this stage. As ecological modeling, eutrophication models were developed to assess the water quality control plan. Since practical models must be operated to predict for the period of years, complexity of the models have been determined by the capacity of computer at the time of development. Thus, though model structure of eutrophication models have been similar, division of components have been progressed following the development of computers. Recent practical water quality models for lakes and reservoirs contain a number of parameters of which values must be determined arbitrarily. The number of these parameters are increasing. I pointed out it is important to develop the appropriate method to determine parameter values during model calibration to take advantage of the recent detailed models. Also, acquisition of precise field data for input data is important. For the future direction of practical environmental models for lakes and reservoirs, I emphasized the necessity of the development of the structurally dynamic ecological model to deal with the environmental change of large degree, coupling of water quality model and sediment model, and the development of habitat model to better assess the environmental impact of human activities.
