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A study of water quality relationships in the Brunette River Basin

University of British Columbia

The quality of surface runoff in an urbanized watershed was studied in order to determine the effects of land use and hydrologic conditions. Sampling sites were established so as to be representative of varying land uses and were monitored over a six month period so as to reflect changing flow conditions . Twelve sites, sampled weekly, were established in the Brunette River Basin, an urban watershed located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Water samples, taken at each site, were analyzed for nineteen water quality parameters. Information relating to the hydrology and land uses of the basin was taken from established sources. Multiple regression and analysis of variance techniques were used to relate the land use and hydrology of the basin to the water quality. Total phosphorus, suspended solids and turbity concentrations were directly related to the percentage open space. Specific conductance and the nitrogen compounds were directly related to the percentage residential land. Eight parameters, but particularly turbidity and suspended solids, were dependent on stream discharge. The sensitivity of the data varied from site to site depending on the characteristics of the contributing areas. Discussion was directed toward the spatial and temporal nature of the data, the variance in the data, and the associated problems of scale.

Text

2010-02-26

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21090

Geography

University of British Columbia

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