Office of Research and Development Publications

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF ORGANIC WASTES ON SMALL STREAM WATER QUALITY

Citation:

BURKE, R. A. AND J. MOLINERO. POTENTIAL IMPACT OF ORGANIC WASTES ON SMALL STREAM WATER QUALITY. Presented at American Geophysical Union/North American Benthological Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, May 23 - 27, 2005.

Impact/Purpose:

The overall objective of this task is to identify or develop useful indicators of organic waste enrichment in aquatic systems that are easily measured and based on basic underlying ecosystem processes so that they will be widely applicable. These activities will primarily contribute to an APG within Long Term Goal 2 of the Water Quality Research Program Multiyear Plan: the 2008 APG on equipping EPA Regions, States, and Tribes with knowledge, skills and tools to determine the causes of impairments for freshwater and coastal systems required in various regulations and will also contribute to EPA Strategic Plan 2003-2008 Sub-objective 2.2.2: Improve Coastal and Ocean Waters. Activities that address the 2008 Water Quality APG will focus primarily on small streams of the Georgia Piedmont, which receive human and agricultural waste inputs. The activities related to EPA Sub-objective 2.2.2 will focus on the nearshore marine ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean, which receives treated wastes from the approximately 15 million people who live in the coastal zone of southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico, and on the nearshore marine ecosystem of the Gulf of California, which receives little anthropogenic pollution. The indicators that will be evaluated or developed will include concentrations of trace gases (N2O, CH4, and CO2), dissolved oxygen (DO), nutrients, and dissolved organic matter (DOM), other key parameters such as temperature, conductivity or salinity, flow rate, alkalinity, and pH, rates of key processes such as denitrification and DO consumption, and stable isotope ratios of various pools and substrates such as plants, animals, sediments, and DO.

Description:

There is no abstract for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.

Record Details:

Record Type:DOCUMENT( PRESENTATION/ SLIDE)
Product Published Date:05/27/2005
Record Last Revised:06/21/2006
Record ID: 133630