Sources and fate of nutrients in a subtropical reservoir

Burford, Michele A.; Green, Susanne Kathrin; Cook, Andrew J.; Johnson, Suzanne A.; Kerr, Jason G.; O’Brien, Katherine R.

doi:10.1007/s00027-011-0209-4

Cited by 58 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Cyanobacterial phytoplankton blooms, including toxic species, taste and odor problems, aquatic weed growth and invasion of pest fish are key issues for many of the region's reservoirs. Further, the reservoirs receive high sediment and nutrient loads from catchments during episodic, high-magnitude inflow events [21], which can, at times, disrupt water treatment processes and impose significant additional costs on potable water supply.…”

Section: Water Quality and The Ecology Of Reservoirsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reducing loads of nitrogen and phosphorus from catchments [25,26,69] Taste and odour compounds Reducing loads of nitrogen and phosphorus from catchments [70] Poor water quality Best land management practices; Reducing loads of nutrients and sediment from catchments [21,23,31] [19,68] Macroinvertebrate and native fish diversity decline…”

Section: Examples Of Science Underpinning the Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Best land management practices; Reducing loads of nutrients and sediment from catchments [21,23,31] Some of the recommended mitigation measures for SEQ, however, still await full implementation. Additional research and modeling to quantify the optimal size, intensity and spatial arrangement of restoration that will produce the desired improvements in water quality, ecosystem health and ecosystem service delivery for the lowest total cost [18,19] is still required, as is the commitment to invest in regional-scale implementation.…”

Section: Examples Of Science Underpinning the Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Science to Support Management of Receiving Waters in an Event-Driven Ecosystem: From Land to River to Sea

Leigh

Burford

Connolly

et al. 2013

Water

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Managing receiving-water quality, ecosystem health and ecosystem service delivery is challenging in regions where extreme rainfall and runoff events occur episodically, confounding and often intensifying land-degradation impacts. We synthesize the approaches used in river, reservoir and coastal water management in the event-driven subtropics of Australia, and the scientific research underpinning them. Land-use change has placed the receiving waters of Moreton Bay, an internationally-significant coastal wetland, at risk of ecological degradation through increased nutrient and sediment loads. The event-driven climate exacerbates this issue, as the waterways and ultimately Moreton Bay receive large inputs of nutrients and sediment during events, well above those received throughout stable climatic periods. Research on the water quality and ecology of the region's rivers and coastal waters has underpinned the development of a world-renowned monitoring program and, in combination with catchment-source tracing methods and modeling, has revealed the key mechanisms and management strategies by which receiving-water quality, ecosystem health and ecosystem services can be maintained and OPEN ACCESS

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Section: Water Quality and The Ecology Of Reservoirsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Examples Of Science Underpinning the Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Examples Of Science Underpinning the Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Science to Support Management of Receiving Waters in an Event-Driven Ecosystem: From Land to River to Sea

Leigh

Burford

Connolly

et al. 2013

Water

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“…These results further illustrates the importance of the sediment loading from Gregor's Creek to the Upper Brisbane catchment, as this appear to dominate the system with predicted sediment inflows 3 orders of magnitude larger than that of Cressbrook Creek (Table 3). An additional point of interest is the discrepancy between predicted Upper Brisbane inflows of 1 830 000 ML (Table 2) and combined stream discharge from monitoring stations (Table 3) [16], resulting in this one event corresponding to over 80 years of mean loading rates. In addition, sediment bulk density may be used to estimate the loss of water storage capacity due to this inflow event and this loss is estimated to range from 3 000 to 42 000 ML.…”

Section: Wivenhoe Dam Case Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme rainfall and drinking water quality: a regional perspective

et al. 2012

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Record high, extreme rainfall intensities were observed in South East Queensland, Australia in January 2011, resulting in drinking water storages above capacity and subsequent floods. This paper focuses on changes, and subsequent recovery, in water quality due to sediment and nutrient loading associated with these high inflows across the region's water supplies. In total, 8 systems were routinely monitored and results indicate that storages with larger and more degraded catchment areas experienced greater declines in water quality relative to storages with smaller, less disturbed catchments. A case study focussing on Wivenhoe Dam, the primary water supply for the region, revealed large scale sediment inputs to the system, estimated to between 1.5 and 20 million tonnes. These were accompanied by high nutrient and metal loads, and water column turbidity above water quality guidelines persisted for a period of at least 6 months after inflows. Given the increased likelihood of such intense inflow events in the future, sound catchment management appears imperative to reduce negative impacts on storage water quality.

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“…These delivery ratios are informed by nutrient budgets developed for non-flood years in a major water supply dam system of a neighbouring region (Burford et al 2012).  Nutrient losses from wastewater irrigation were assumed to reach tidal sections of the streams, and then be transferred to marine ecosystems.…”

Section: S52 Eutrophicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life-cycle perspectives for urban water systems planning

Lane¹

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Urban water systems around the world are going through a period of substantial change: they are evolving towards more complex water supply alternatives; are being placed under increasing pressure to achieve higher quality effluent and biosolids discharges; and are being confronted with a growing number of broader environmental management challenges. This thesis explored the use of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for assisting in that process of change, because of LCA's strengths in combining practicality and flexibility with 'big picture' thinking. The overarching goals were to: (1) explore LCA principles that do or do not provide useful perspectives for urban water planners, and (2) identify situations where the benefits from life-cycle thinking will be impeded by gaps in data and modelling approaches.The analytical starting point was a comparison of two different configurations for a city-scale, integrated water supply and wastewater system: a 'traditional' approach dependent on lowenergy dam-sourced mains water supply; and one with a more complex mix of contemporary water supply infrastructure intended to reduce the intensity of freshwater extraction and nutrient discharge. This change incurs a substantial increase in energy use, meaning the reduced pressure on local aquatic ecosystems may come at the expense of large increases in other life-cycle impacts. Notably however, the results generated in this thesis indicate that an exclusive focus on energy use is unlikely to be a robust approach to factoring these bigger picture environmental impacts into water industry decision making. Furthermore, it is the wastewater components of the system, rather than the water supply components, that make the largest contribution to most of the life-cycle impacts. An excessive focus on the energy or greenhouse gas (GHG) implications of growing urban water demands is, therefore, unlikely to chart the industry on an optimal course to a more environmentally benign system configuration.The estimates for direct (scope 1) greenhouse gas emissions in this thesis utilise a comprehensive set of locally relevant empirical data and expert knowledge. Based on that, direct emissions could comprise 20% or more of the overall GHG footprint for urban water infrastructure systems. The substantial spatial variability associated with all the largest direct emission sources should be an important consideration in the urban water decision making process. For assessing the option to dispose of sewage treatment plant (STP) biosolids onto farmlands, the uncertainty associated with estimating field fluxes of carbon and nitrogen is likely to be more important than the more traditional focus on biosolids transport energy.The second major case study considered in this thesis is focussed on the issue of biosolids reuse for agricultural purposes. When that practice is assessed against a broader set of impact categories than just energy use or GHG emissions, it becomes apparent that conventional life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) mod...

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Sources and fate of nutrients in a subtropical reservoir

Cited by 58 publications

References 26 publications

Science to Support Management of Receiving Waters in an Event-Driven Ecosystem: From Land to River to Sea

Science to Support Management of Receiving Waters in an Event-Driven Ecosystem: From Land to River to Sea

Extreme rainfall and drinking water quality: a regional perspective

Life-cycle perspectives for urban water systems planning

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