Impacts between urban and agricultural land cover on storm flow water quality are poorly understood for the Eastern Corn Belt Ecoregion in SW Ohio. Storm flow water samples were collected from May 2017 to October 2017 across seven SW Ohio watersheds which ranged in urban land cover from 6% to 92% and in agricultural land cover from 4% to 70%. Two watersheds contained water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). Percent agricultural land cover in a watershed and storm magnitude were primary explanatory variables for total suspended solid and total phosphorus concentrations. Total nitrogen, nitrate, and phosphate concentrations were primarily explained by the presence of WRRFs and percent agricultural land cover. Increased dissolved nutrient concentrations in watersheds with WRRFs indicate that WRRFs in the study area are ineffectively removing nitrate and phosphate from effluent. Results suggest that to improve water quality during storm flows, additional management ef- forts need to be focused on agricultural watersheds and WRRFs. (C) 2019 Water Environment Federation
1.Miami Univ, Dept Geog, Oxford, OH 45056 USA 2.Miami Univ, Inst Environm & Sustainabil, Oxford, OH 45056 USA 3.Miami Univ, Dept Stat, Oxford, OH 45056 USA
Recommended Citation:
Lazar, Jeffrey A.,Spahr, Rachel,Grudzinski, Bartosz P.,et al. Land cover impacts on storm flow suspended solid and nutrient concentrations in southwest Ohio streams[J]. WATER ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH,2019-01-01,91(6):510-522