Investigating the use of the artificial sweetener acesulfame to evaluate septic system inputs and their nutrient loads to streams at the watershed scale

Oldfield, Lauren E.; Roy, James W.; Robinson, C. E.

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124918

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…We found that septic plumes contributed 3.8% of TN (2% of TP) to lake loading. Other studies have indicated that septic systems are important nutrient sources, , yet they are rarely accounted for and commonly overlooked. The pathway proportions from the point sources are 4.1% for TN and 16.8% for TP, demonstrating that more efforts could reduce phosphorus loads in the Great Lakes from these sources.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Important Role of Overland Flows and Tile Field Pathways in Nutrient Transport

Wan,

Kendall,

Martin

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution is of great concern to aquatic life and human well-being. While most of these nutrients are applied to the landscape, little is known about the complex interplay among nutrient applications, transport attenuation processes, and coastal loads. Here, we enhance and apply the Spatially Explicit Nutrient Source Estimate and Flux model (SENSEflux) to simulate the total annual nitrogen and phosphorus loads from the US Great Lakes Basin to the coastline, identify nutrient delivery hotspots, and estimate the relative contributions of different sources and pathways at a high resolution (120 m). In addition to in-stream uptake, the main novelty of this model is that SENSEflux explicitly describes nutrient attenuation through four distinct pathways that are seldom described jointly in other models: runoff from tile-drained agricultural fields, overland runoff, groundwater flow, and septic plumes within groundwater. Our analysis shows that agricultural sources are dominant for both total nitrogen (TN) (58%) and total phosphorus (TP) (46%) deliveries to the Great Lakes. In addition, this study reveals that the surface pathways (sum of overland flow and tile field drainage) dominate nutrient delivery, transporting 66% of the TN and 76% of the TP loads to the US Great Lakes coastline. Importantly, this study provides the first basin-wide estimates of both nonseptic groundwater (TN: 26%; TP: 5%) and septic-plume groundwater (TN: 4%; TP: 2%) deliveries of nutrients to the lakes. This work provides valuable information for environmental managers to target efforts to reduce nutrient loads to the Great Lakes, which could be transferred to other regions worldwide that are facing similar nutrient management challenges.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Important Role of Overland Flows and Tile Field Pathways in Nutrient Transport

Wan,

Kendall,

Martin

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…The latter can be especially important in more sparsely populated areas without centralised wastewater treatment and with shallow water tables. While recent studies have demonstrated the potential of soil and groundwater to receive dissolved pollutants such as nutrients or artificial sweeteners from septic tank-based effluent (Tamang et al 2022;Oldfield et al 2020), studies focused on MnPs have yet to be conducted. The aforementioned input and vectors of MnPs into aquifers are important because the presence of plastic particles has been confirmed in source waters of several drinking water treatment plants, raising concern whether current conventional treatment technologies can satisfactorily remove plastic particles (Pulido-Reyes et al 2019).…”

Section: Sources and Amounts Of Micro And Nanoplastics In Agriculture...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics and nanoplastics in agriculture—A potential source of soil and groundwater contamination?

Moeck

Davies

Krause

et al. 2022

Grundwasser - Zeitschrift der Fachsektion Hydrogeologie

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An overview of the current state of knowledge on the pollution of agricultural soils with microplastic and nanoplastic (MnP) particles is provided and the main MnP sources are discussed. MnP transport mechanisms from soil to groundwater, as well as the potential impact of MnPs on soil structure are considered, and the relevance of co-contaminants such as agrochemicals is further highlighted. We elaborate on why MnPs in soil and groundwater are understudied and how analytical capabilities are critical for furthering this crucial research area. We point out that plastic fragmentation in soils can generate secondary MnPs, and that these smaller particles potentially migrate into aquifers. The transport of MnP in soils and groundwater and their migration and fate are still poorly understood. Higher MnP concentrations in agricultural soils can influence the sorption behavior of agrochemicals onto soil grains while attachment/detachment of MnPs onto soil grains and MnP-agrochemical interactions can potentially lead to enhanced transport of both MnP particles and agrochemicals towards underlying groundwater systems.

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“…UN-Habitat and the WHO (2021) estimated that 24% of domestic wastewater generated worldwide flowed into a septic tank. Past studies have found that septic systems can be potentially significant sources of nutrients to groundwater and/or surface waters (Oldfield et al 2020;Buszka and Reeves 2021;Robertson et al 2021;Rakhimbekova et al 2021;Herren et al 2021;Digaletos et al 2023). Groundwater beneath drainfield trenches tends to be mostly nitrate and may be removed by denitrification beneath and/or hydrologically down-gradient from a drainfield.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Nitrogen Treatment by an In-stream Bioreactor in a Watershed Served by Septic Systems

Iverson,

Humphrey,

O’Driscoll

et al. 2024

Environ. Process.

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Septic systems are potentially significant sources of nitrogen to groundwater and surface water. In-stream practices, such as in-stream bioreactors (IBRs), that promote or enhance nitrogen treatment are promising solutions to reduce nitrogen loads to nutrient-sensitive water. More work is needed to evaluate the efficiency of IBRs in new applications, such as residential sub-watersheds with a high-density of septic systems. The goal of this study was to quantify nitrogen treatment by an in-stream bioreactor (IBR) during baseflow conditions. The IBR was constructed in March 2017 when approximately 1 m of streambed sediment was excavated and backfilled with 0.75 m of woodchips capped by 0.2 m of rotary-kiln, expanded slate and boulder-sized riprap. Samples were collected monthly from July 2017 – March 2019 including IBR inflow, monitoring ports within the IBR, groundwater seeps draining to the IBR, and IBR outflow. Water samples were analyzed for total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), nitrate, ammonium, dissolved organic carbon, chloride, and nitrate isotopic fractionation. The IBR reduced the median concentration of TDN and nitrate by 40% and 77%, respectively. The median mass removal of TDN and nitrate was 26 and 5.2 g day− 1, respectively. Nitrogen-chloride ratios and isotopic fractionation data suggest that denitrification was likely a predominant nitrogen reduction mechanism. In addition to nitrogen treatment, the IBR provided other benefits by improving erosion control, streambank stabilization, and increased bank-full storage from 6 m3 to 19.2 m3. Results indicated that the IBR improved water quality and other residential sub-watersheds with septic systems would benefit from similar practices.

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Investigating the use of the artificial sweetener acesulfame to evaluate septic system inputs and their nutrient loads to streams at the watershed scale

Cited by 13 publications

References 40 publications

Important Role of Overland Flows and Tile Field Pathways in Nutrient Transport

Important Role of Overland Flows and Tile Field Pathways in Nutrient Transport

Microplastics and nanoplastics in agriculture—A potential source of soil and groundwater contamination?

Quantifying Nitrogen Treatment by an In-stream Bioreactor in a Watershed Served by Septic Systems

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