Beyond the urban stream syndrome: organic matter budget for diagnostics and restoration of an impaired urban river

Epstein, Dave M.; Kelso, Julia E.; Baker, Michelle A.

doi:10.1007/s11252-016-0557-x

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…One of these diversions, the Surplus Canal (Figure ), diverts half of the river flow away from Salt Lake City for flood protection (Epstein et al. ). The Jordan River receives water that has interacted with a total of 11 WRFs, four of which are included within our study area.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Jordan River is listed as impaired under Utah's 303(d) list of impaired water bodies (U.S. Code 1313(d)(1)(A)) in many of its segments, no longer functioning as a cold‐water fishery (Jensen and Rees ; Epstein et al. ). The river is nutrient rich, with mean total nitrogen (N) and total phosphorus (P) concentrations of 4.2 mg N L −1 and 0.7 mg P L −1 , respectively (Epstein et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The river is nutrient rich, with mean total nitrogen (N) and total phosphorus (P) concentrations of 4.2 mg N L −1 and 0.7 mg P L −1 , respectively (Epstein et al. ). DO concentrations are episodically hypoxic (<4 mg/L) at locations downstream of the Surplus Canal (Jensen and Rees ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Channel morphology is constrained, with widths and depths ranging from 16 to 39 m and from 0.6 to 1.1 m, respectively (Epstein et al. ). Slope gradually declines from upstream (0.16%) to downstream (0.02%) (Epstein et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Slope gradually declines from upstream (0.16%) to downstream (0.02%) (Epstein et al. ), leading to sediment and organic matter accumulation below the Surplus Canal (Jensen and Rees ; Epstein et al. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatiotemporal Variability in Water Sources Controls Chemical and Physical Properties of a Semi‐arid Urban River System

Shah

Jameel

Smith

et al. 2019

J American Water Resour Assoc

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We conducted synoptic surveys over three seasons in one year to evaluate the variability in water sources and geochemistry of an urban river with complex water infrastructure in the state of Utah. Using stable isotopes of river water (δ18O and δ2H) within a Bayesian mixing model framework and a separate hydrologic mass balance approach, we quantified both the proportional inputs and magnitude of discharge associated with “natural” (lake, groundwater, and tributary inputs) and “engineered” (effluent and canal inflows) sources. The relative importance of these major contributors to streamflow varied both spatially and seasonally. Spatiotemporal patterns of dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, calcium, chloride, nitrate, and orthophosphate indicated seasonal shifts in dominant sources of river water played an important role in determining water quality. We show although urban rivers are clearly influenced by novel water sources created by water infrastructure, they continue to reflect the imprint of “natural” water sources, including diffuse groundwater. Resource managers thus may need to account for the quantity of both surface waters and also historically overlooked groundwater inputs to address water quality concerns in urban rivers.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Spatiotemporal Variability in Water Sources Controls Chemical and Physical Properties of a Semi‐arid Urban River System

Shah

Jameel

Smith

et al. 2019

J American Water Resour Assoc

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Disrupted carbon cycling in restored and unrestored urban streams: Critical timescales and controls

Larsen

Harvey

2017

Limnology & Oceanography

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Carbon fixation and respiration in flowing waterways play significant roles in global and regional carbon budgets, yet how land use and watershed management interact with temporal disturbances (storms) to influence metabolism remains poorly understood. Here, we combine long-term with synoptic sampling of metabolism and its variable controls in neighboring watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay to resolve limiting factors and critical timescales associated with recovery from disturbance. We found that, relative to predictions of the river continuum concept, focal streams have "disrupted" carbon cycles, with carbon balances closer to zero, and, in some cases, tighter coupling between gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER), attributable to carbon limitation. Carbon became limiting to ER where flashy storm hydrographs and simplified channel geomorphology inhibited accumulation of fine sediment. Shannon entropy analysis of timescales revealed that fine sediment served as a time-release capsule for nutrients and carbon over 4-6 months, fueling biogeochemical transformations. Loss of fines through hydraulic disturbance had up to 30-d impacts on GPP and 50-d impacts on ER in the stream with carbon limitation. In contrast, where GPP and ER were not tightly coupled, recovery occurred within 1 d. Results suggest that a complex interplay between nutrient and carbon limitation and mechanical and chemical disturbance governs patterns and consequences of disrupted carbon cycling in urban streams. Carbon limitation and tight GPP/ER coupling enhance the vulnerability of stream ecosystem functions, but best management practices that target stormflow reduction and channel geomorphic diversity can break that coupling and minimize carbon cycle disruptions.Flowing inland waters play an outsized role in global and regional carbon cycling, with sequestration and atmospheric exchange fluxes of the same order of magnitude as terrestrial and marine sequestration (Battin et al. 2008(Battin et al. , 2009Tranvik et al. 2009). It has been estimated that half of the carbon entering stream networks from terrestrial inputs is released to the atmosphere as CO 2 , less than half is transported to oceans, and the remaining fraction is buried (Cole et al. 2007;Raymond et al. 2013). Stream metabolism itself composes 28% of all CO 2 emissions from streams in the U.S. . This mineralization of terrestrial organic material and respiratory denitrification within stream networks lessen carbon and nutrient exports to downstream estuaries and the incidence of harmful algal blooms and eutrophication (Alexander et al. 2007;Freeman et al. 2007;Alexander et al. 2009). Still, estimates of carbon cycling in inland waters remain poorly constrained (Regnier et al. 2013;Butman et al. 2016).Improved dissolved oxygen sensor technology (Almeida et al. 2014), combined with advances in stream metabolism modeling (Holtgrieve et al. 2010;Demars and Manson 2013;Holtgrieve et al. 2015), have made it possible to generate long-term metabolism records fo...

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Detrital Energy and the Decomposition of Organic Matter

2021

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Beyond the urban stream syndrome: organic matter budget for diagnostics and restoration of an impaired urban river

Cited by 6 publications

References 41 publications

Spatiotemporal Variability in Water Sources Controls Chemical and Physical Properties of a Semi‐arid Urban River System

Spatiotemporal Variability in Water Sources Controls Chemical and Physical Properties of a Semi‐arid Urban River System

Disrupted carbon cycling in restored and unrestored urban streams: Critical timescales and controls

Detrital Energy and the Decomposition of Organic Matter

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