The Role of Headwater Streams in Downstream Water Quality1

Abstract: Knowledge of headwater influences on the water‐quality and flow conditions of downstream waters is essential to water‐resource management at all governmental levels; this includes recent court decisions on the jurisdiction of the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) over upland areas that contribute to larger downstream water bodies. We review current watershed research and use a water‐quality model to investigate headwater influences on downstream receiving waters. Our evaluations demonstrate the intrinsic connections of headwaters to landscape processes and downstream waters through their influence on the supply, transport, and fate of water and solutes in watersheds. Hydrological processes in headwater catchments control the recharge of subsurface water stores, flow paths, and residence times of water throughout landscapes. The dynamic coupling of hydrological and biogeochemical processes in upland streams further controls the chemical form, timing, and longitudinal distances of solute transport to downstream waters. We apply the spatially explicit, mass‐balance watershed model SPARROW to consider transport and transformations of water and nutrients throughout stream networks in the northeastern United States. We simulate fluxes of nitrogen, a primary nutrient that is a water‐quality concern for acidification of streams and lakes and eutrophication of coastal waters, and refine the model structure to include literature observations of nitrogen removal in streams and lakes. We quantify nitrogen transport from headwaters to downstream navigable waters, where headwaters are defined within the model as first‐order, perennial streams that include flow and nitrogen contributions from smaller, intermittent and ephemeral streams. We find that first‐order headwaters contribute approximately 70% of the mean‐annual water volume and 65% of the nitrogen flux in second‐order streams. Their contributions to mean water volume and nitrogen flux decline only marginally to about 55% and 40% in fourth‐ and higher‐order rivers that include navigable waters and their tributaries. These results underscore the profound influence that headwater areas have on shaping downstream water quantity and water quality. The results have relevance to water‐resource management and regulatory decisions and potentially broaden understanding of the spatial extent of Federal CWA jurisdiction in U.S. waters.     

Resolution and Analysis of Spatial Variations and Patterns in an Urban Lake with Rapid Profiling Instrumentation

Rapid response vertical profiling instrumentation was used to document spatial variability and patterns in a small urban lake, Onondaga Lake, associated with multiple drivers. Paired profiles of temperature, specific conductance (SC), turbidity (T_n), fluorometric chlorophyll a (Chl_f), and nitrate nitrogen (NO₃^?) were collected at >30 fixed locations (a “gridding”) weekly, over the spring to fall interval of several years. These gridding data are analyzed (1) to characterize phytoplankton (Chl_f) patchiness in the lake's upper waters, (2) to establish the representativeness of a single long‐term site for monitoring lake‐wide conditions, and (3) to resolve spatial patterns of multiple tracers imparted by buoyancy effects of inflows. Multiple buoyancy signatures were resolved, including overflows from less dense inflows, and interflows to metalimnetic depths and underflows to the bottom from the plunging of more dense inputs. Three different metrics had utility as tracers in depicting the buoyancy signatures as follows: (1) SC, for salinity‐enriched tributaries and the more dilute river that receives the lake's outflow, (2) T_n, for the tributaries during runoff events, and (3) NO₃^?, for the effluent of a domestic waste treatment facility and from the addition of NO₃^? solution to control methyl mercury. The plunging inflow phenomenon, which frequently prevailed, has important management implications.     

Sources and Transport of Phosphorus to Rivers in California and Adjacent States,U.S., as Determined by SPARROW Modeling

The SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression on Watershed attributes) model was used to simulate annual phosphorus loads and concentrations in unmonitored stream reaches in California, U.S., and portions of Nevada and Oregon. The model was calibrated using de‐trended streamflow and phosphorus concentration data at 80 locations. The model explained 91% of the variability in loads and 51% of the variability in yields for a base year of 2002. Point sources, geological background, and cultivated land were significant sources. Variables used to explain delivery of phosphorus from land to water were precipitation and soil clay content. Aquatic loss of phosphorus was significant in streams of all sizes, with the greatest decay predicted in small‐ and intermediate‐sized streams. Geological sources, including volcanic rocks and shales, were the principal control on concentrations and loads in many regions. Some localized formations such as the Monterey shale of southern California are important sources of phosphorus and may contribute to elevated stream concentrations. Many of the larger point source facilities were located in downstream areas, near the ocean, and do not affect inland streams except for a few locations. Large areas of cultivated land result in phosphorus load increases, but do not necessarily increase the loads above those of geological background in some cases because of local hydrology, which limits the potential of phosphorus transport from land to streams.     

预测沉积物-水微宇宙系统中化学品浓度变化的多介质模型

沉积物-水微宇宙系统是经济合作发展组织(Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development,OECD)颁布的化学品测试准则中推荐的试验系统之一,可用来测试化学品对底栖生物的慢性毒性。为了在试验前对化学品的浓度变化进行预测,进而确定试验方法,以摇蚊慢性毒性试验系统为例,采用环境多介质模型的建模方法,构建了一种可通过化学品理化性质和试验系统参数,对化学品在沉积物-水试验系统中浓度变化进行预测的模型。结合试验数据和文献资料,给出了模型中试验系统参数的推荐取值,并使用Matlab软件中的Simulink工具对模型进行编程和求解。以此模型为基础,给出了模型在3个方面的应用,即预测蓄积时间、预测平衡时间以及拟合试验数据。对80种已有或假想化学品的蓄积时间和平衡时间进行了计算,得出的范围分别为1~204 d和1~73 d。此外,适当修改模型结构和模型参数,也可将其应用于其他暴露场景中。但使用模型对化学品浓度进行预测时发现,模型仅对沉积物中化学品浓度的预测结果较为准确,而对水中化学品浓度的预测结果与实测值相差1~2个数量级。模型对浓度的预测精度未来仍需进一步提高。上述研究结果完善了沉积物-水微宇宙系统试验方法。     

我国黑土地农田土壤除草剂残留特征研究及展望

粮食安全是“国之大者”.东北黑土地作为我国重要的粮仓,是保障国家粮食安全的“压舱石”.但黑土地农田除草剂的长期高强度施用,导致除草剂在土壤中积累和迁移,影响土壤质量、作物产量和品质,阻碍黑土地可持续利用和农业可持续发展.解决黑土地农田除草剂残留问题,既要从源头管控除草剂的施用,也要掌握除草剂的残留特征、时空演变和驱动因素,才能做到科学防控、精准施策.系统总结了我国黑土地农田除草剂的施用状况和存在的问题,全面梳理了除草剂的残留现状,指出了当前在黑土地农田除草剂残留特征、空间分布和污染诊断等研究上的不足,提出了我国黑土地农田除草剂残留诊断与风险管理研究思路与重点方向,为保障我国黑土地农田土壤健康、粮食安全和生态系统安全提供科技支撑.     

感潮河网溢油归宿的数值模拟研究

基于拉格朗日油粒子模型、溢油风化模型以及三维水动力、泥沙和吸附质模型构建了溢油双层数学模型.模型不仅能够模拟油膜的运动轨迹、岸边吸附与冲刷、油品性质变化过程,而且通过耦合泥沙吸附及沉积动力学过程,能够更加客观地模拟溢油从水体向底泥环境的迁移过程,更全面地反映溢油在环境中的归宿.此外,本文以假设溢油事故为背景,模拟和分析了洪、枯季节条件下珠江广州段溢油事故对河网陆地边界、河网水质及底泥环境的影响.     

Environmental Persistence of Chemicals

- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/espr2006.01.008 Background The hazard criterion of persistence as it applies to chemicals in the environment is reviewed and discussed. This quantity can not be measured directly in the environment, thus it must be estimated using models that synthesise information on chemical half-lives and partitioning properties, the nature of the environment and how the chemical is released into the environment. Main Features It is suggested that the preferred criterion is the average residence time of the chemical in the environment, i.e. conceptually the sum of the life-times of all molecules (attributable only to losses by degrading reactions) divided by the number of molecules. If all chemical fate processes are first order, this persistence is independent of the quantity of chemical introduced and whether introduction is steady- or unsteady-state in nature. It is shown that in a multimedia environment persistence is affected not only by degradation kinetics, but also by mode-of-entry and partitioning. For screening level purposes a Level II equilibrium model may be adequate but a Level III model is generally preferable for estimating the average persistence. If a distribution of persistences is required a dynamic Level IV model must be used. Discussion The implications for regulating chemicals on the basis of persistence are discussed. Conclusion It is concluded that the preferred strategy is to use Level II, III, and IV models and that the use of only degradation kinetics or media-specific half-lives can be misleading and uneconomical.     

单体同位素技术在有机环境污染中的研究进展

高分辨率色谱 同位素比值质谱(GC IRMS)技术的不断发展,使单体有机化合物的稳定同位素分析方法(CSIA)日趋成熟,并广泛应用于环境有机污染研究领域,成为有机污染物的来源判识和污染过程示踪的有力工具。目前的研究,主要集中在GC IRMS样品前处理技术、物理化学过程所导致的同位素分馏、不同有机化合物在生物降解过程中的同位素分馏过程诸方面,并初步应用于一些受污染环境的评价中。     

二氯苯在土壤中的迁移行为和生物降解

主要从挥发、吸附与解吸、渗滤三个方面介绍了二氯苯在土壤中的迁移行为以及生物降解过程。探讨了二氯苯的物化性质、三种同分异构体的构型、土壤特性、外界环境条件等因素对二氯苯迁移行为的影响,以及迁移行为与生物降解的相互关系;同时介绍了可降解二氯苯的微生物种类、二氯苯好氧生物降解机理、共代谢现象,以及实验室研究方法。这些研究对于受二氯苯污染的土壤的修复具有理论指导意义。     

鼎湖山锥栗种子扩散过程中死亡因素分析

研究了锥栗(Castanopsischinensis)种子扩散过程中死亡的主要因素。实验分为无处理组、鸟类取食组、排除鸟类取食组、排除哺乳动物组和种子袋法。结果表明,扩散前种子主要受栗实象甲(Curculiodavidi)取食和病原体感染,其取食率在鼎湖山3种林型之间显示了较大差异。排除实验的研究表明,锥栗种子在扩散后承受啮齿类、鸟类等动物取食和病原体感染致死的巨大压力,其中无覆盖处理实验组的种子取食平均比例高达93.3%,鸟类对种子取食率约为80%,排除鸟类实验组中的种子平均取食率为92.4%,非哺乳动物对种子的取食在3个林型有差异,但不是显著性的。因此,巨大的种子死亡或丧失是锥栗自然更新率非常低的主要原因。