Metals, nutrients and total suspended solids discharged during different flow conditions in highly urbanised catchments |
| |
Authors: | Hayden J Beck Gavin F Birch |
| |
Institution: | (1) Environmental Geology Group, School of Geosciences, Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia |
| |
Abstract: | Stormwater discharged from highly urbanised catchments on the southern shore of Sydney estuary, Australia, has been identified
as the primary source of contaminants responsible for ecological degradation and reduction in recreational value of the waterway.
Effective management of this pollution requires knowledge of contaminant loads associated with various stormwater flow conditions
in three highly urbanised catchments in Sydney estuary catchment. The majority (>90%) of metal (Cu, Pb and Zn) and total suspended
solid annual loads were contributed during high-flow conditions (>50 mm rainfall dayt1), whereas ≤55% of TN and ≤21% of total phosphorus were contributed to annual loading by dry weather base-flow conditions.
All flow conditions posed an in-stream ecological threat because contaminant concentrations exceeded water quality guidelines
for all analytes measured, except Pb. Irregular, temporal variability in contaminant concentrations associated with base-flow
(within day and amongst days), high-flow (amongst events) and irregular discharges indicated that contaminant contributions
in stormwater were strongly controlled by human activity in the three catchments. Significant variation in contaminant concentrations
under all flow conditions revealed unique chemical signatures for each catchment despite similarities in land uses, location
and geology amongst catchments. These characteristics indicate that assessment and management of stormwater pollution needs
to be conducted on an individual-catchment basis for highly urbanised regions of Sydney estuary catchment. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|