Water Quality Monitoring and Constituent Load Estimation in
the Upper White River Basin, 2009
Brian HaggardDirector
Arkansas Water Resources Center
Funding provided by ANRC through Beaver Water District
2009 Summary Loads and Flow-Weighted Concentrations
Summary of calculated total loads (kg) for each parameter at the sampled sites in the Upper White River Basin for the period, January through December 2009.
Site Cl- SO4 NH3-N NO3-N SRP TN TP TSS Brush Creek 153,000 313,000 1,200 41,000 1,000 48,000 5,400 3,031,000 Richland CreekA -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Town Branch 22,000 47,000 330 1,300 130 1,900 360 213,000 Town Branch Tributary 74,000 148,000 1,300 14,000 150 15,000 480 129,000 War Eagle Creek 1,947,000 2,610,000 37,000 501,000 17,400 582,000 78,000 37,803,000 West Fork White River 844,000 3,280,000 18,000 91,000 3,200 136,000 30,000 12,697,000 White River 2,024,000 6,815,000 71,000 313,000 12,000 442,000 98,000 35,851,000 Summary of calculated flow weighted concentrations (FWC, mg L-1) for each parameter at the sampled sites in the Upper White
River Basin for the period, January through December 2009. Site Cl- SO4 NH3-N NO3-N SRP TN TP TSS Brush Creek 7.52 14.03 0.06 2.03 0.05 2.38 0.27 149 Richland CreekA -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Town Branch 15.06 31.92 0.22 0.87 0.07 1.29 0.26 145 Town Branch Tributary 16.26 32.76 0.28 3.00 0.03 3.38 0.11 29 War Eagle Creek 4.31 5.77 0.08 1.11 0.04 1.29 0.17 84 West Fork White River 4.09 15.88 0.09 0.44 0.02 0.66 0.14 61 White River 2.84 9.55 0.10 0.44 0.02 0.62 0.14 50
Water samples were collected at seven sites within UWRB
War Eagle Creek
Brush Creek
Richland CreekWhite RiverWest Fork White RiverTown Branch
Tributary
Town Branch
Stage recorded in 30 minute intervals by USGS to estimate discharge.
Water samples were collected once a week and storm events were targeted
Water samples were analyzed at the AWRC Water Quality Lab for:• Chloride• Sulfate• Nitrate-N• Ammonia-N• Soluble reactive P• Total N• Total P• Total Suspended Solids
Load Determination and Mean Concentration
Linear regression was used to determine the relationship between daily load, flow, and even seasonal factors:• ln(Ld) = βo + β1ln(Qd) —or—• ln(Ld) = βo + β1ln(Qd) + β2sin(2πT) + β3cos(2πT)
BCF was used to remove bias from log transformations:BCF= ∑er
n
Load Determination and Mean ConcentrationBCF R2
NH3 1.27-1.94 0.79-0.93Cl 1.03-1.28 0.80-0.97NO3 1.02-1.35 0.83-0.98SRP 1.15-1.67 0.74-0.96SO4 1.02-1.22 0.71-0.99TN 1.01-1.24 0.88-0.99TP 1.13-1.62 0.83-0.96TSS 1.16-4.14 0.82-0.96
Daily loads were variable…
Days during Calendar Year 2009
0 100 200 300
Load
s (k
g)
1e-2
1e-1
1e+0
1e+1
1e+2
1e+3
1e+4
1e+5
1e+6
1e+7
1e+8
Chloride
Days during Calendar Year 2009
0 100 200 300
Load
s (k
g)
1e-2
1e-1
1e+0
1e+1
1e+2
1e+3
1e+4
1e+5
1e+6
1e+7
1e+8
Total Phosphorus
Days during Calendar Year 2009
0 100 200 300
Load
s (k
g)
1e-2
1e-1
1e+0
1e+1
1e+2
1e+3
1e+4
1e+5
1e+6
1e+7
1e+8
Total Suspended Solids
Days during Calendar Year 2009
0 100 200 300
Load
s (k
g)
1e-2
1e-1
1e+0
1e+1
1e+2
1e+3
1e+4
1e+5
1e+6
1e+7
1e+8
Total Nitrogen
White River
Monthly loads were least during drier, summer months…
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
Total Nitrogen
0
2000000
4000000
6000000
8000000
10000000
12000000
14000000
Total Suspended Solids
050000
100000150000200000250000300000350000400000450000
Chloride
White River
Annual Total Nitrogen Loads
White River
Annual Total Phosphorus Loads
White River
Annual Total Suspended Solids Loads
White River
At UWRB… We looked at how
loads changed across these sites
We also looked at how flow-weighted concentrations changed across these sites
War Eagle Creek
Brush CreekRichland Creek
White RiverWest Fork White River
Town Branch Tributary
Town Branch
Catchment area is related to annual phosphorus loads…
Catchment Drainage Area (km2)
e0 e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8
Tota
l Pho
spho
rus
Load
(kg)
e5
e6
e7
e8
e9
e10
e11
BC
TBTBT
WEC
WF
WR
But, FWC were greater from two urban and agricultural streams
Catchment Drainage Area (km2)
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Tota
l Pho
spho
rus
FWC
(mg
L-1 )
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
BCTB
TBT
WEC
WF WR
The monitoring program design was successful at estimating loads across these sites
This monitoring program allowed us to sample several more sites, including some urban streams
It would be possible to reduce the sampling frequency to estimate loads…• REDUCE COSTS
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