Journal article
Comparisons of water quality parameters from diverse catchments during dry periods and following rain events
Water research (Oxford), Vol.41(16), pp.3655-3666
2007
PMID: 17428519
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Abstract
In this study, 12 catchments sites located along the north coast of New South Wales in Australia were grouped into the four categories of septic, cattle, sewage treatment plant (STP) and forested sites via cluster analysis based on their land use patterns. Water samples from all these sites were collected between October 2004 and June 2006 at a regular monthly interval and within 48
h of rain events. The samples were analyzed for bacterial counts including faecal coliform and total coliform; faecal sterols including coprostanol, epicoprostanol, cholesterol, cholestanol, 24-ethylcoprostanol, campesterol, stigmasterol and
β-sitosterol; and the elements including Na, Rb, Sr, Ag, Cd, Sn, Cs, Ba, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi, U, Mg, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, K, As, Se, P and Mo. Over the course of the sampling period, the STP site had the highest average coprostanol level of 1693±567
ng/L which was significantly higher (
p<0.05) than the septic sites (190±71
ng/L), the cattle sites (163±94
ng/L) and forested sites (14±4
ng/L). As expected, the forested sites had significantly lower average level of faecal coliforms (373±87
cfu/100
mL) compared with the STP (1395±574
cfu/100
mL), septic (1243±494
cfu/100
mL) and cattle sites (535±112
cfu/100
mL). The concentrations of coprostanol were not correlated with the numbers of faecal coliform bacteria when the entire data set was evaluated. The forested sites generally had the lowest average levels of elemental compositions, with significantly lower levels noted for Na, U, Mg, V, Cu, Sr, K, As, P and Mo, whereas Fe was the only element notably higher in the forested sites. Temporal and rain events analyses of the data set revealed that elevated levels of both coprostanol and faecal coliforms were not exclusive to rain events. The average coprostanol levels in rain event samples at each site were not significantly different compared with the corresponding dry event samples. Conversely, faecal coliform numbers increased by 2–4 times in rain events samples from septic, cattle and forested sites, but did not alter in the STP site. Multivariate analyses identified coprostanol and Sr as major contributing factors for the discrimination of septic, cattle, STP and forested sites for both rain and dry events samples. It was clear that each land use type of catchment could be characterized by biochemical, bacteriological and elemental parameters.
Details
- Title
- Comparisons of water quality parameters from diverse catchments during dry periods and following rain events
- Creators
- Vikaskumar G Shah - University of NewcastleR. Hugh Dunstan - University of NewcastlePhillip M Geary - University of NewcastlePeter Coombes - University of NewcastleTimothy K Roberts - University of NewcastleTony Rothkirch - University of Newcastle
- Publication Details
- Water research (Oxford), Vol.41(16), pp.3655-3666
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Identifiers
- 991012888198802368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; School of Environment, Science and Engineering; Engineering
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article