A b s t r a c t

Management of river salt loads in a complex and highly regulated river basin such as the San Joaquin River Basin of California presents significant challenges for current Information Technology. Computerbased numerical models are used as a means of simulating hydrologic processes and water quality withinthe basin and can be useful tools for organizing Basin data in a structured and readily accessible manner. These models can also be used to extend information derived from environmental sensors within existing monitoring networks to areas outside these systems based on similarity factors – since it would be cost prohibitive to collect data for every channel or pollutant source within the Basin. A common feature of all hydrologic and water quality models is the ability to perform mass balances. This paper describes the use of a number of state-of-the-art sensor technologies that have been deployed to obtain water and salinity mass balances for a 60,000 ha tract of seasonally managed wetlands in the San Joaquin River Basin of California.