The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK

The Sweetbriar Brook, a small watercourse in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, in a mainly residential catchment, was studied. The scope was to characterise the water quality during low flow conditions and storms, by chemical analyses of dissolved oxygen, turbidity, metals, nutrients, oil and thermotolerant c...

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Autor principal: Krafft, Anna
Formato: Otro
Lenguaje:sueco
Inglés
Publicado: 2006
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/11886/
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author Krafft, Anna
author_browse Krafft, Anna
author_facet Krafft, Anna
author_sort Krafft, Anna
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description The Sweetbriar Brook, a small watercourse in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, in a mainly residential catchment, was studied. The scope was to characterise the water quality during low flow conditions and storms, by chemical analyses of dissolved oxygen, turbidity, metals, nutrients, oil and thermotolerant coliform bacteria, among others. A baseline series of analyses from five sampling points along the stream was undertaken during spring-summer 2005. One storm was sampled in short time intervals at the most downstream sampling point. Rainfall volumes and intensities were recorded nearby. The water quality at baseline conditions was generally good. One exception was thermotolerant coliforms, which were occasionally very high, posing a health risk to children playing in or near the water. Another exception was nutrients, especially phosphorus was exceeding guideline values at some locations. Iron occurred in elevated levels in the groundwater and seemed to dissolve in standing water with oxygen depletion. The runoff did generally not carry higher pollutant concentrations than expected for this catchment, except for coliforms, which were dramatically high in some samples. An interesting observation was that not only one first flush, carrying most pollutants, occurred, but subcatchments with different times of concentration gave rise to individual pollutant peaks. Flooding was a problem in this catchment, retro-fitting a sustainable urban drainage system is hence recommended. Sediment analyses of total zinc and thermotolerant coliforms were also undertaken, as a complement to the water analyses, showing relatively high zinc concentrations, increasing with depth. Coliforms were fewer than expected from the numbers in the water and demonstrated no consistency in sampling points or depths. No statistical tests were undertaken, as more sampling points and variables were prioritised over replicate samples. This is however a drawback in the interpretation and reliability of the results. More sampling, both chemical and biological, is needed to verify the results.
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spelling RepoSLU118862017-10-13T06:45:06Z https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/11886/ The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK Krafft, Anna Dept. of Soil Sciences Water resources and management The Sweetbriar Brook, a small watercourse in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, in a mainly residential catchment, was studied. The scope was to characterise the water quality during low flow conditions and storms, by chemical analyses of dissolved oxygen, turbidity, metals, nutrients, oil and thermotolerant coliform bacteria, among others. A baseline series of analyses from five sampling points along the stream was undertaken during spring-summer 2005. One storm was sampled in short time intervals at the most downstream sampling point. Rainfall volumes and intensities were recorded nearby. The water quality at baseline conditions was generally good. One exception was thermotolerant coliforms, which were occasionally very high, posing a health risk to children playing in or near the water. Another exception was nutrients, especially phosphorus was exceeding guideline values at some locations. Iron occurred in elevated levels in the groundwater and seemed to dissolve in standing water with oxygen depletion. The runoff did generally not carry higher pollutant concentrations than expected for this catchment, except for coliforms, which were dramatically high in some samples. An interesting observation was that not only one first flush, carrying most pollutants, occurred, but subcatchments with different times of concentration gave rise to individual pollutant peaks. Flooding was a problem in this catchment, retro-fitting a sustainable urban drainage system is hence recommended. Sediment analyses of total zinc and thermotolerant coliforms were also undertaken, as a complement to the water analyses, showing relatively high zinc concentrations, increasing with depth. Coliforms were fewer than expected from the numbers in the water and demonstrated no consistency in sampling points or depths. No statistical tests were undertaken, as more sampling points and variables were prioritised over replicate samples. This is however a drawback in the interpretation and reliability of the results. More sampling, both chemical and biological, is needed to verify the results. I detta projekt studerades det lilla vattendraget Sweetbriar Brook i Ampthill, Storbritannien. Vattenkvaliteten under låga flöden, samt vid regn, undersöktes med hjälp av kemiska analyser av bland annat löst syre, turbiditet, metaller, närsalter, olja och termotoleranta coliforma bakterier. Vattenprover togs vid fem punkter längs bäcken under våren och sommaren 2005. Ett regnväder provtogs kontinuerligt under korta tidsintervall vid provpunkten längst nedströms. Regnvolymer och -intensiteter registrerades också. Vattenkvaliteten under bakgrundsförhållanden var generellt god. Ett undantag var termotoleranta coliformer som tidvis var mycket höga och då utgör en hälsorisk för barn som leker i eller nära vattnet. Ett annat undantag var närsalter, särskilt fosfor översteg rekommenderade gränsvärden vid några provpunkter. Järn förekom i förhöjda halter i grundvattnet och verkade lösas ut i stillastående syrefattigt vatten. Avrinningen förde generellt sett inte med sig högre föroreningskoncentrationer än väntat för den här typen av avrinningsområde, med undantag för coliformer som förekom i dramatiska halter i vissa prov. En intressant observation noterades angående smutspulsfenomenet first flush, där den största delen av föroreningarna vanligen sköljs bort med den tidigaste avrinningen. I det här avrinningsområdet tycktes istället flera underavrinningsområden med egna smutspulser förekomma, som ger flera föroreningstoppar. Översvämning var också ett problem längs bäcken, därför rekommenderas implementering av ett system för lokalt omhändertagande av dagvatten. Sediment analyserades med avseende på total-zink och termotolernta coliformer som ett komplement till vattenproverna, och visade på relativt höga zinkkoncentrationer som ökade med djupet. De coliforma bakterierna var färre än väntat, jämfört med halterna i vattnet, och visade heller inga samband mellan provpunkter eller djup. Inga statistiska test genomfördes eftersom fler provpunkter och fler analysvariabler prioriterades högre än insamling av replikata prov. Detta är emellertid en svaghet i tolkningen och tillförlitligheten hos resultaten. Mer provtagning, både kemisk och biologisk, behövs för att verifiera dessa resultat. 2006-05-16 Other NonPeerReviewed application/pdf sv https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/11886/1/krafft_a_171013.pdf Krafft, Anna, 2006. The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK. UNSPECIFIED, Uppsala. Uppsala: (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Soil Sciences <https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/view/divisions/4023.html> urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-s-7788 eng
spellingShingle Dept. of Soil Sciences
Water resources and management
Krafft, Anna
The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK
title The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK
title_full The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK
title_fullStr The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK
title_full_unstemmed The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK
title_short The effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the Sweetbriar Brook, Ampthill, UK
title_sort effect of urban runoff on the water quality of the sweetbriar brook, ampthill, uk
topic Dept. of Soil Sciences
Water resources and management
url https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/11886/
https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/11886/