Effects of Inorganic Nutrients and Dissolved Organic Carbon on Oxygen Demand in Select Rivers in Northenr Utah
Location
ECC 216
Event Website
http://water.usu.edu/
Start Date
4-3-2012 4:10 PM
End Date
4-3-2012 4:15 PM
Description
Excess nutrients have been associated with algal blooms and dissolved oxygen depletion in many water bodies, but linkages between nutrients and dissolved oxygen have been largely correlative. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is a regulated water quality parameter aimed at describing the amount of oxygen consumed during the decomposition of organic matter, but few studies in the nutrient criteria literature discuss effects of nutrients on BOD. Accordingly, we used factorial experiments to test the effect of inorganic nutrients (as N, P and N+P) and dissolved organic matter on BOD measurements in Utah streams. Preliminary results show that nutrient additions had little effect on BOD during winter months. During baseflow nutrients increased 24-hour BOD measurements by as much as 2 fold in reference sites, while BOD at sites below nutrient point sources tended to show less response to our experimental treatments. Our results suggest that BOD may be sensitive to nutrient inputs and our experimental approach could be used as one line of evidence to support nutrient criteria related to aquatic life uses.
Effects of Inorganic Nutrients and Dissolved Organic Carbon on Oxygen Demand in Select Rivers in Northenr Utah
ECC 216
Excess nutrients have been associated with algal blooms and dissolved oxygen depletion in many water bodies, but linkages between nutrients and dissolved oxygen have been largely correlative. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is a regulated water quality parameter aimed at describing the amount of oxygen consumed during the decomposition of organic matter, but few studies in the nutrient criteria literature discuss effects of nutrients on BOD. Accordingly, we used factorial experiments to test the effect of inorganic nutrients (as N, P and N+P) and dissolved organic matter on BOD measurements in Utah streams. Preliminary results show that nutrient additions had little effect on BOD during winter months. During baseflow nutrients increased 24-hour BOD measurements by as much as 2 fold in reference sites, while BOD at sites below nutrient point sources tended to show less response to our experimental treatments. Our results suggest that BOD may be sensitive to nutrient inputs and our experimental approach could be used as one line of evidence to support nutrient criteria related to aquatic life uses.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2012/Posters/22