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THE POTENTIAL FOR IMPACT OF INUNDATION OF TERRESTRIAL VEGETATION ON THE WATER QUALITY OF QUABBIN RESERVOIR – COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS 1
Author(s) -
Miner Norman H.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1974.tb00645.x
Subject(s) - environmental science , vegetation (pathology) , hydrology (agriculture) , nutrient , shore , water quality , biomass (ecology) , phosphorus , forestry , ecology , geology , geography , oceanography , biology , medicine , geotechnical engineering , pathology , materials science , metallurgy
Drought in the 1960's lowered Quabbin Reservoir levels and exposed extensive shore areas for up to 12 years. Several vegetation types including gray birch, spirea, reed and cottonwood invaded the exposed shore and were subsequently submerged when water levels rose in 1972–73. Biomass of the flooded vegetation is estimated at 14,000 tons. Using literature‐derived estimates of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the vegetation, the potential nutrient release to the reservoir is about 140 tons of N and 14 tons of P. These amounts are comparable to the N and P input into the reservoir during a single year of the planned diversion from the Connecticut River. The critical factor of rate of release of these nutrients by decomposition is the subject of continuing study.