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Effects of Effluents from a Fisheries Research Station on Stream Water Quality
Author(s) -
Soongsawang Suthira,
Boyd Claude E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
north american journal of aquaculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.432
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1548-8454
pISSN - 1522-2055
DOI - 10.1080/15222055.2011.651564
Subject(s) - turbidity , total suspended solids , effluent , water quality , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , total dissolved solids , alkalinity , suspended solids , sedimentation , streams , biochemical oxygen demand , chemical oxygen demand , environmental engineering , wastewater , ecology , sediment , chemistry , biology , paleontology , computer network , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , computer science , engineering
Research ponds at the E. W. Shell Fisheries Center usually overflow only following heavy rains in winter and early spring. Water from the ponds continually seeps into the ground (which has a shallow water table), and the ponds are drained annually in the fall for harvest. Drained effluent had the following average composition: pH, 7.18 (range, 6.5–7.7); total nitrogen, 1.21 mg/L (1.05–1.32 mg/L); total phosphorus, 0.64 mg/L (0.52–0.66 mg/L); 5‐d biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), 7.7 mg/L (2.1–10.3 mg/L); total suspended solids (TSS), 380 mg/L (61–705 mg/L); turbidity, 367 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU; 152–745 NTU). Compared with the sampling station upstream of the research ponds, the downstream sampling station on Lower Station (LS) Creek had higher average pH and concentrations of total alkalinity, chloride, total nitrogen, and BOD 5. The downstream sampling station also had higher concentrations of chloride, TSS, total nitrogen, and BOD 5 than four reference streams that did not receive aquaculture effluents. Turbidity and TSS concentration were sometimes higher in LS Creek than is allowable under the Alabama stream classification system. Nevertheless, water quality at the downstream sampling station in LS Creek was better than that in Saugahatchee Creek, into which it discharges. A sedimentation basin installed in the lower reach of LS Creek would lessen TSS concentration and turbidity.