Influence of Reservoirs on the Concentration of Nutrients in the Water of Mountain Rivers

Abstract

Abstract:The aim of the analysis was to demonstrate the role of reservoirs in shaping nutrient content (nitrates NO3 -and phosphates PO4 3-as well as ammonia NH4 + ) in the waters of mountain rivers. Three Carpathian rivers with reservoirs in their courses were selected for the study: the Ropa River (Klimkowka reservoir), the Dunajec River (the Czorsztyn-Sromowce Wyzne reservoir complex) and the Raba River (Dobczyce reservoir). The basic criteria for the selection of the study objects for the investigation were: similar hydrological regime of the rivers and diverse parameters and functions of the storage reservoirs. The analysis of nutrient concentration was based on a long-term series of measurements (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013). The reservoirs investigated generally contribute to an increase in nitrates in the rivers flowing below the reservoirs in particular months. The role of reservoirs in shaping phosphate and ammonia levels was not as evident as in the case of nitrates. The reservoirs are merely one of numerous factors that contribute to nutrient levels in the water of the mountains rivers. In the light of the analysis of nutrient concentrations in the surface water tested, it may be concluded that the reservoirs do not cause a clear and permanent deterioration of river water quality.

Impact of Cedzyna Reservoir on Selected Physicochemical Parameters of River Water Quality (Swietokrzyskie Mountains, Poland)

“…Similar values and seasonal dynamics of nitrate retention were found in the study of dam reservoir on the Por river [27]. The results from larger reservoirs on mountain rivers are not so explicit and indicate seasonal changes in reservoirs' capacity to retain nitrate [28]. Other ions for which the annual reduction amounted to 10-20 % were chlorine and sodium.…”

Determination of Changes in the Quality of Surface Water in the River—Reservoir System

“…The authors note that high-frequency data provide deeper insights into the dynamics of the river-reservoir ecosystem. Effective management of surface waters is based primarily on a range of consistent data relating to their quality [3,23]. The water quality index (WQI) is the basic tool for rapid transfer of information to water resource managers.…”

Hydrochemical differentiation of selected reservoirs in Carpathian Mts. and Eastern European Lowland

“…These values are similar to those recorded in other mountain areas (Stuchlík, Hořická, Prchalová, Křeček, & Barica, 1997;Romanescu et al, 2016). It should be noted that in the Polish Carpathians the annual nitrate content in reservoirs decrease in the last years mainly due to increase of grassland area at the expense of cultivated land and dynamic development of sanitary infrastructure (Kijowska-Strugała et al, 2016).…”

“…The concentration dynamics of water chemical elements in reservoir changes on a daily (Jekatierynczuk-Rudczyk, Gorniak, Zielinski, & Dziemian, 2002) and an annual basis (Li, Ye, & Zhang, 2017;Pawar & Shembekar, 2012) and depends on the hydrometeorological conditions (Major & Cieśliński, 2017). Analysis of the chemistry of reservoir water is mainly aimed at discerning the temporal and spatial dynamics of concentrations of the individual chemical constituents and of the physicochemical parameters (Kennedy & Walker, 1990;Kijowska-Strugała, Wiejaczka, & Kozłowski, 2016;Wiejaczka, Prokop, Kozłowski, & Sarkar, 2018). Several studies concerned factors affecting the chemical composition of reservoir water and determined its quality for the habitat conditions of aquatic organisms (Hou et al, 2016;Savichev & Matveenko, 2013).…”