Changes in water quality of a small urban river triggered by deep drainage of a construction site

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the monitoring of the selected physicochemical properties of the Jasień River waters (in Łódź, the third biggest city of Poland) and their changes under the influence of drainage of a railway station Łódź Fabryczna construction site. Even 25 years ago the Jasień River was a receiver for the sewage from the Łódź textile factories. The drainage of the excavations and disposal of the water into the Jasień River was started on January 2014 and changed stable hydrological, physical and chemical regime of the river once again. In a consequence, average monthly flows exceeded the Jasień River flow in its upper section by six times, and at the beginning by even ten times. Chloride concentration was systematically growing over the study period. This growth and higher water pH were probably associated with increasing level of contaminants in the discharged water and its gradually decreasing uptake. Average annual water temperature increased and a decrease in its amplitude was observed. The annual conductivity and pH patterns became more uniform and the changes in pH followed a clear trend of monthly changes. Water turbidity increased by two times and during summer floods this parameter was often even a few times higher than before the drainage commenced. Chlorides improved water conductance and sodium and potassium increased basicity.

Diurnal Variations of the Basic Physico-Chemical Characteristics of a Small Urban River – The Sokołówka in Łódź – A Case Study

“…Similar results have been obtained for other watercourses (Bourg, Bertin 1996, Barringer et al 2008, it should therefore be assumed that this is not a change characteristic of Sokołówka but that it is typical of rivers carrying heavily polluted waters; • Changes to the natural diurnal rhythm (Wilcock et al 1998) has not been noted for the oxygen dissolved in water. These results were also obtained in other quasi-natural and contaminated streams (Bourg, Bertin 1996, Kayombo et al 2002, Barringer et al 2008, Bartnik, Moniewski 2016. It can therefore be assumed that the pollution load on the watercourse changes the level of oxygen concentration in water, without changing its daily fluctuations; • Variability of the hourly values of the tested characteristics in particular days depends to a large extent on the value of the analysed feature.…”

“…Other daily variability is also reported, with minima in the morning and afternoon peaks (Bourg, Bertin 1996, Wilcock et al 1998, Kayombo et al 2002, Barringer et al 2008. This variability was also noted for another watercourse in Łódź city -the Jasień river (Bartnik, Moniewski 2016). Such variability is similar to the course of maximum concentrations of oxygen dissolved in the waters of Sokołówka, and is often multimodal in character.…”

“…(Ciupa 2009), the period (season of the year) when the water surges are formed (Suzuki 1984 and, the length of the period in-between the water surges (Piñol et al 1992), intensity of precipitation (Kostrzewski et al 1992), snow cover chemistry (Suzuki 1995), the topographic and geological features of the catchment together with its cover (Ciupa 2002;Ciupa 2009), as well as the mechanism of water circulation (Bonell 1993). Especially noteworthy are the changes and variability of the physicochemical characteristics of river waters under particularly strong anthropogenic pressure, notably in urbanized areas (Ciupa 2014;Bartnik, Moniewski 2016). We consider urban areas to be so strongly transformed that we usually do not pay attention to certain regularities in the day-and-night and seasonal course of their physicochemical properties (Hessen 1997;Bartnik, Moniewski 2015), focusing only on long-term tendencies associated with the changes in their quality (Gutry-Korycka 1993;Czaja 1999;Gutry-Korycka 2003;Bartnik 2017).…”

Reintroduction of Groenlandia densa (L.) Fourr. – experiences and suggestions

“…The consequences resulting from the drastic reconstruction of the river basin from springs to estuaries of the watercourses include strong hydrological imbalances in catchment areas of springs disturbing the stability of flows, intensification of droughts or floods with disastrous economic and social consequences. These changes also have a decisive impact on the conservation status of biodiversity in all groups of systematic water organisms and water or water-dependent natural habitats (Schütz 1995;Bornette & Puijalon 2011;Bartnik & Moniewski 2016;Bonisławska et al 2017;Pawlaczyk 2017).…”

Journal of Water and Land Development

“…A lot of publications have been devoted to the study on the water body oxygen regime, in which special attention is paid to seasonal changes of DO [BARTNIK, MONIEWSKI 2016;OSADCHYI 2006;OSADCHYI, OSADCHA 2007]. The researchers note that oxygen concentrations can vary significantly in surface waters, from 0 to 14 mg•dm -3 .…”