2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

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5/21/2018 | 9:00 AM - 9:15 AM | SEWERSHEDS AND WATERSHEDS: NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC DRIVERS OF HYDROLOGY AS WATER QUALITY CONTROLS IN URBANIZED MOUNTAIN HEADWATERS | 310 A

SEWERSHEDS AND WATERSHEDS: NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC DRIVERS OF HYDROLOGY AS WATER QUALITY CONTROLS IN URBANIZED MOUNTAIN HEADWATERS

Urbanization adds a layer of complexity to the hydrologic functioning of watersheds, but does not completely overwrite natural hydrologic behavior. We performed synoptic surveys in rivers along the mountain-to-urban transition in watersheds along Utah’s Wasatch Front to characterize the hydrology in the urban systems and identify how the hydrology then controls the biogeochemical functioning of the watersheds. Significant urban impacts to water quality do not appear until several kilometers into the urban environment, where there is evidence of an urban-contaminated alluvial aquifer feeding the stream baseflow. At this location the substantial increase in chloride and nitrate concentrations corresponds to an increase in the C:N of the dissolved organic matter (DOM), suggesting DOC in the subsurface is utilized for microbial denitrification of urban nitrate inputs. There is also a shift in DOM chemistry, as measured by fluorescence, with the mountain DOM having a greater aromaticity than the urban DOM, and opposite seasonal patterns in DOM chemical character. This suggests the possibility of an urban signature in DOM fluorescence measurements, and thus DOM chemistry.

Hydrology
Biogeochemistry
Organic Matter

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Presenters/Authors

Rachel Gabor (), The Ohio State University, gabor.40@osu.edu;