The role of a lowland reservoir in the transport of micropollutants, nutrients and the suspended particulate matter along the river continuum

Abstract

The water and sedifnent samples from the Sulejow Reservoir and Pilica River (Centrai Poland) were anaiysed for nutrients: totai phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN) and the suspended particulate matter (SPM) and dioxin-lii<e PCBs (di-PCBs) concentration. DI-PCBs were detected in sediments from all seven sampling locations with mean concentrations of 14.29 ngi<g"'' dry weight (d.w.). The lowest concentration was recorded in the sediment coiiected below the Sulejow Reservoir (PR5; 2.92 ng kg"'' d.w.) and the highest in the sampie collected from the mouth section of the Pilica River (PR7; 26.30 ng kg"'' d.w.). The 29% reduction of the total dl-PCBs concentration -from 9.21 ngkg"'' d.w. in the middle section to 6.54 ng kg"'' d.w. in the dam section of the Sulejow Reservoir -demonstrated the hydrauiic transport and deposition of measured pollutants in the reservoir's sediments. The results obtained also revealed the reduction of nutrients and the SPM concentrations. A 45% reduction of SPM, 28% reduction of TP and 34% of TN was observed between the water inflow and outflow from the Sulejow Reservoir.

Sediments Contamination with Organic Micropollutants: Current State and Perspectives

“…In the sediments of Baltic Sea ranges of concentration of PCBs varies from 10 to 1380 µg/kg [38]. The investigations into selected PCB congeners in sediments originating from the water reservoir in Sulejów as well as from Pilica River was conducted by Urbaniak and co-authors [39]. In Table 4 the ranges of determined PCBs concentration are included [39].…”

“…The investigations into selected PCB congeners in sediments originating from the water reservoir in Sulejów as well as from Pilica River was conducted by Urbaniak and co-authors [39]. In Table 4 the ranges of determined PCBs concentration are included [39]. The total concentration of coplanar biphenyls was in the range of 0.58 -6.30 ng/kg, whereas for other biphenyls the concentration ranged to the value of 20 ng/kg.…”

Sustainable floodplain management for flood prevention and water quality improvement

“…Rivers and floodplains are situated in landscape depressions, into which a range of substances with anthropogenic modifications and impact are transferred and accumulated Kiedrzyńska et al 2014a, b), e.g. sediments and nutrients (Altinakar et al 2006;Magnuszewski et al 2005Magnuszewski et al , 2007Kiedrzyńska et al 2008a, b), dioxins (Urbaniak et al 2012 and microbial contamination (Mankiewicz-Boczek et al 2006;Gągała et al 2010). These dramatically progressing disturbances are often negatively amplified by changes in the hydrological cycle and the loss of integrity between fluvial ecosystems and floodplains, which result in drastically increased eutrophication and a reduction in biodiversity and ecosystem services for society.…”

“…The hydrological principle The quantification and integration of hydrological and biological processes at the basin scale is based on the assumption that abiotic factors are of primary importance and become stable and predictable when biotic interactions start to manifest themselves (Zalewski 2011(Zalewski , 2014b. The quantification of hydrological pulses along the river continuum (Vannote et al 1980;Junk et al 1989;Agostinho et al 2004;Altinakar et al 2006;Kaczorowski et al 2006;Magnuszewski et al 2007;Kiedrzyńska et al 2008b) and monitoring of floods (Fendler 2008;Kiedrzyńska et al 2008b;Glaser et al 2010;van Pelt and Swart 2011) and threats (Mankiewicz-Boczek et al 2006;Izydorczyk et al 2008;Urbaniak et al 2012Urbaniak et al , 2014a, such as point and non-point source pollution (Takeda et al 1997;Borah and Bera 2003;Tian et al 2010;Urbaniak et al 2014b;Kiedrzyńska et al 2014a, b), are necessary for optimal regulation of processes towards sustainable water and ecosystem management. 2.…”

“…River floodplains can absorb and retain sediment, nutrients and micropollutants such as dioxins during stable hydrological conditions, and especially when water retained during floods. Therefore, floodplains and ecotones can be considered as a tool for their reduction along the river continuum (Kiedrzyńska et al 2008a, b;Urbaniak et al 2012;Skłodowski et al 2014). As the largest loads of pollutants transported by rivers usually occur during the rising water stages of floods, their redirection to floodplain areas upstream from a reservoir at the very initial stages of the flood would diminish the load on a reservoir.…”