The water quality of the River Enborne, UK: observations from high-frequency Monitoring in a rural, lowland river system

Halliday, S. J., Skeffington, R. A., Bowes, M. J., Gozzard, E., Newman, J. R., Loewenthal, M., Palmer-Felgate, E. J., Jarvie, H. P. and Wade, A. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5296-8350 (2014) The water quality of the River Enborne, UK: observations from high-frequency Monitoring in a rural, lowland river system. Water, 6 (1). pp. 150-180. ISSN 2073-4441 doi: 10.3390/w6010150

Abstract/Summary

This paper reports the results of a 2-year study of water quality in the River Enborne, a rural river in lowland England. Concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus species and other chemical determinands were monitored both at high-frequency (hourly), using automated in situ instrumentation, and by manual weekly sampling and laboratory analysis. The catchment land use is largely agricultural, with a population density of 123 persons km−2. The river water is largely derived from calcareous groundwater, and there are high nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. Agricultural fertiliser is the dominant source of annual loads of both nitrogen and phosphorus. However, the data show that sewage effluent discharges have a disproportionate effect on the river nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics. At least 38% of the catchment population use septic tank systems, but the effects are hard to quantify as only 6% are officially registered, and the characteristics of the others are unknown. Only 4% of the phosphorus input and 9% of the nitrogen input is exported from the catchment by the river, highlighting the importance of catchment process understanding in predicting nutrient concentrations. High-frequency monitoring will be a key to developing this vital process understanding.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/35717
Identification Number/DOI	10.3390/w6010150
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Walker Institute Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Earth Systems Science Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Geography and Environmental Science
Publisher	MDPI
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