SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CHANGES IN TOTAL SUSPENDED SEDIMENT CONCENTRATIONS IN AN OXBOW LAKE AFTER IMPLEMENTING AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES |
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| Authors: | R Kröger E Dibble J B Brandt J P Fleming T Huenemann T Stubbs J D Prevost T Tietjen K A Littlejohn S C Pierce M Spickard |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University, , Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA;2. Delta F.A.R.M., , Stoneville, Mississippi, USA;3. River Mountains Water Treatment Facility, , Las Vegas, Nevada, USA |
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| Abstract: | The Wolf–Broad oxbow lake (417 ha) was evaluated by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and included on the Mississippi 303(d) list of impaired waterbodies for total suspended solids (TSS). A study was undertaken for 2 years to evaluate and document changes to TSS (mg L?1) and overall lake turbidity (NTU) through best management practice implementation. These two objectives were analysed with routine monthly surface sampling events of turbidity (Eureka Manta 2, automated data sonde) as well as 20 random samples per sampling trip for TSS from June 2008 to June 2010. Results from a non‐parametric Kruskal–Wallis analysis indicated a significant month‐by‐year effect on turbidity and TSS (chi‐squared = 76.08, p = 0.001), but reach (chi‐squared = 2.45, p = 0.784) and depth by reach (chi‐squared = 2.44, p = 0.784) did not show significant effects on turbidity. There were no significant correlations between TSS concentrations and turbidity and 2 days and 7 days summed or mean rainfall for the duration of the evaluation. Spearman correlation analysis for TSS indicated significant correlations between TSS and mean two‐day (r2 = 0.62, p = 0.002) and seven‐day (r2 = 0.51, p = 0.014) wind speeds. All other variables used in the analysis did not show significant correlation with TSS ( p > 0.05). This suggests that wind conditions, rather than rainfall, predict the greatest variability in TSS and turbidity in Wolf Lake. These documented correlations between lake water column TSS, turbidity and wind highlight the difficulties of demonstrating success of management practices in the short temporal period between project initiation and completion. Unmanageable environmental conditions (wind speed and direction) and limited temporal monitoring scales (1 1/2 years post‐BMP implementation) limit the possibility of demonstrating successful water‐quality improvement within a 303(d) listed waterbody such as Wolf Lake. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | total suspended solids oxbow lake best management practice |
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