Chloride in precipitation and streamwater for the upland catchment of river severn, mid‐wales; some consequences for hydrochemical models

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Abstract
Variations in the concentration of Cl in rainfall and stream runoff are presented for two catchments in the Hafren forest of mid‐Wales, Great Britain. Despite the large fluctuations in rainfall concentrations, Cl in the streamwater remains relatively constant. Using the two‐reservoir Birkenes model, an attempt was made to simulate observed Cl in streamwater. The original model was unable to reproduce the observations and several modifications are suggested to provide better simulations. The resulting model is not the only one capable of reproducing the observations; other hydrochemical models will most probably also achieve this although emphasis will in each case be placed on different aspects. In this paper, it is suggested that the stochastic properties of water movement and chemical processes can account for the streamwater chemistry responses observed. On the catchment scale these processes will lead to an apparently deterministic behaviour that may well be described by simple relationships.