Snowmelt and Growing Season Phosphorus Flux in an Agricultural Watershed in South-Central Alberta, Canada

2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 402-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald R. Ontkean ◽  
David S. Chanasyk ◽  
D. Rodney Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Total Phosphorus ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Agricultural Watershed ◽  
Return Flow ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Dissolved Phosphorus ◽  
Spring Runoff ◽  
South Central ◽  
Creek Watershed

Abstract A three-year study was conducted to examine the spatial and temporal variability of phosphorus concentrations and mass loads within four sub-basins in the Crowfoot Creek watershed in southern Alberta, Canada. Monitoring was carried out at the inflows and outflows of the four sub-basins from mid-March until the end of October in 1997 to 1999. Data were collected on flow, total phosphorus (TP) and total dissolved phosphorus (TDP). The TP and TDP concentrations increased and were greatest during spring snowmelt and rainfall runoff events. Median TP concentrations varied from 0.022 to 1.141 mg L-1 and median TDP concentrations varied from 0.005 to 1.031 mg L-1. Within the sub-basins, phosphorus concentrations generally increased between inflow and outflows. The presence of grassland and well-developed crop cover adjacent to the watercourses generally resulted in a greater proportion of TDP in runoff. The proportion of TP as TDP varied from 31 to 97% and appeared to be affected by the timing of the storm and antecedent moisture conditions of the soil. The proportion of phosphorus exported during events made up from 1 to 83% of the total phosphorus load during the post-spring runoff period. Phosphorus concentrations exceeded Alberta surface water quality guidelines most of the time; however, the addition of irrigation return flow water generally improved water quality in Crowfoot Creek.

Enhanced Prairie Wetland Effects on Surface Water Quality in Crowfoot Creek, Alberta

2003 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald R. Ontkean ◽  
David S. Chanasyk ◽  
Sandi Riemersma ◽  
D. Rodney Bennett ◽  
Jerry M. Brunen
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Nutrient Status ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Prairie Wetland ◽  
Spring Runoff ◽  
Creek Watershed ◽  
Decomposition Of Organic Matter ◽  
Waterfowl Habitat

Abstract A three-year study was conducted to examine the effects of a prairie wetland enhanced for waterfowl habitat on surface water quality in the Crowfoot Creek watershed in southern Alberta, Canada. Monitoring was carried out at the Hilton wetland from mid-March to the end of October in 1997 to 1999 at two inflow sites and one outflow site. Data were collected on flow, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), total suspended solids (TSS), and fecal coliform (FC) bacteria. Nutrient concentrations were highest in the spring, and decreased during the remainder of the monitoring period each year. Nutrient concentrations did not change significantly within the wetland due to the form of nutrient, reduced retention times for nutrient uptake, and the addition of nutrients to the water through sediment release and decomposition of organic matter. The wetland acted as both a source and a sink for nutrients, depending on flow volumes. TSS concentrations decreased significantly from inflow to outflow, indicating sedimentation occurred in the wetland. FC bacteria levels were lowest in the spring and increased during the post-spring runoff (PSRO) period. FC bacteria counts decreased significantly within the wetland throughout the entire year. The Hilton wetland was effective in reducing the amounts of TSS and FC bacteria exported from the wetland; however, there was no significant change in nutrient status.

Assessment of Freshwater Inflow and Water Quality for an Urbanized, Subtropical Estuary (Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida, USA)

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-31
Author(s):  
Christopher Buzzelli ◽  
Zhiqiang Chen ◽  
Peter Doering ◽  
Amanda Kahn
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Total Nitrogen ◽  
Total Phosphorus ◽  
Suspended Solids ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Total Suspended Solids ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Freshwater Inflow ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Palm Beach County

Abstract Coastal water bodies are impacted by watershed alterations, increased population density, modifications to inlets and shorelines, climatic periodicity, and increases in external material loads. Estuaries such as Lake Worth Lagoon (LWL) in south Florida possess all these attributes. The LWL watershed extends from the southeastern portion of Lake Okeechobee through Palm Beach County, where it meets the lagoon. Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management recognizes the social and ecological importance of the ~36 km lagoon and aims to maintain suitable water and habitat quality for all stakeholders. Recent declines and shifts of seagrass distribution along the lagoon prompted a step toward better understanding the water quality patterns of the system. In support of these efforts, this study assessed bathymetry, inflow, flushing, and water quality attributes (chlorophyll a, salinity, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total suspended solids, turbidity) using data collected along a series of 14 midlagoon stations from 2007 to 2015. Salinity in the North Segment was higher and less variable because of proximity to Palm Beach Inlet. Although concentrations of chlorophyll a, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus correlated with freshwater inflow, turbidity and total suspended solids were not. Fast flushing of the lagoon on a scale of days likely precludes water quality issues common to many estuaries with higher resident times. However, the combination of landscape-scale water management, a shoreline that is almost 70% modified by hard structures, and changes in essential nearshore habitats, introduces new levels of uncertainty to both the understanding and management of LWL. From this study, increased knowledge of relationships among water quality parameters and their spatial and temporal variability in LWL provides points of reference from which targeted studies can be developed to explore links between environmental parameters and responses of key organisms in this unique system.

scholarly journals Assessment of the Impact of Forestry and Settlement-Forest Use of the Catchments on the Parameters of Surface Water Quality: Case Studies for Chechło Reservoir Catchment, Southern Poland

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Bogdał ◽  
Andrzej Wałęga ◽  
Tomasz Kowalik ◽  
Agnieszka Cupak
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Total Phosphorus ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Forest Use ◽  
The Impact

The aim of the study was to determine the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on the values of 22 quality indicators of surface waters flowing out of two small catchments differing in physiographic parameters and land use, in particular forest cover and urbanization of the area. The research was carried out in the years 2012–2014 at four measurement-control points located on the Chechło river and the Młoszówka stream (Poland), which are the main tributaries of the retention reservoir. Basic descriptive statistics, statistical tests, as well as cluster analysis and factor analysis were used to interpret the research results. The water that outflowed from the forestry-settlement catchment of the Młoszówka stream contained higher concentrations of total phosphorus, phosphates, nitrite, and nitrate nitrogen and salinity indicators than outflow from the Chechło river. Water from the Młoszówka stream was characterized by more favourable oxygen conditions. Higher oxygen concentration in the catchment influenced a large slope of the watercourse and thus higher water velocity, which is promoted by the mixed process. In the case of the forest catchment of the Chechło river, the water quality was generally better than in the Młoszówka stream, mainly in cases of total suspended solids TSS, total phosphorus TP, phosphates PO43−, total nitrogen TN, nitrite N–NO2−, nitrate N–NO3−, and salinity parameters. Despite it being a short section of the river taken into the study, favourable self-purification processes like mixed, nitrification, and denitrification were observed in its water. The research shows that forest areas have a positive effect on the balance of most substances dissolved in water, and natural factors in many cases shape the quality and utility values of surface waters on an equal footing with anthropogenic factors. In the case of a large number of examined parameters and complex processes occurring in water, the interpretation of the results makes it much easier by applying multivariate statistical methods.

Water quality impacts of irrigation return flow on stream and groundwater in an intensive agricultural watershed

2018 ◽  
Vol 630 ◽  
pp. 859-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngyun Park ◽  
Yongje Kim ◽  
Seung-Ki Park ◽  
Woo-Jin Shin ◽  
Kwang-Sik Lee
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Agricultural Watershed ◽  
Return Flow ◽  
Irrigation Return Flow

scholarly journals Moving toward Sustainable Irrigation in a Southern Idaho Irrigation Project

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1441-1449
Author(s):  
David L. Bjorneberg ◽  
James A. Ippolito ◽  
Bradley A. King ◽  
S. Kossi Nouwakpo ◽  
Anita C. Koehn
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Total Phosphorus ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Furrow Irrigation ◽  
Snake River ◽  
Return Flow ◽  
Irrigation Development ◽  
Irrigation Project ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Irrigation Return Flow

HighlightsPrivate and public irrigation development was important for expanding agricultural production in the western U.S.The Twin Falls Canal Company is an excellent example of a successful Carey Act project.Cooperative efforts during the last 30 years have dramatically improved the water quality of irrigation return flow.Electricity generated by six hydroelectric facilities improves the sustainability of the irrigation project.Abstract. Private and public irrigation development projects were fundamental to bringing irrigation to arid regions of the western U.S. The Twin Falls Canal Company in southern Idaho provides a case study of private and public irrigation development because the project was developed by private investors under the Carey Act and receives a portion of its irrigation water supply from U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs. The project survived initial financial struggles and waterlogged soil to focus on sustaining crop production by reducing chronic furrow irrigation erosion and nutrient losses in irrigation return flow. Average sediment loss from the project was 460 kg ha-1 in 1970. A cooperative effort by the canal company, state and federal agencies, and farmers improved water quality by installing sediment ponds on fields, applying polyacrylamide with furrow irrigation, converting from furrow to sprinkler irrigation, and constructing water quality ponds on irrigation return flow streams. From 2006 to 2018, more sediment and total phosphorus flowed into the watershed than returned to the Snake River, and the project removed 13,000 Mg of sediment and 30 Mg of total phosphorus from the Snake River each year. However, nitrate-N from subsurface drainage was lost at 10 kg ha-1 each year, or 800 Mg year-1, for the entire watershed. While sediment and phosphorus concentrations in irrigation return flow have decreased, these concentrations were still greater than the irrigation water, indicating that more can be done to reduce the project’s influence on water quality in the Snake River. Keywords: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sediment, Soluble salts, Water quality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document