Back to Search Start Over

Contribution of urban runoff in Taipei metropolitan area to dissolved inorganic nitrogen export in the Danshui River, Taiwan.

Authors :
Kuo NW
Jien SH
Hong NM
Chen YT
Lee TY
Source :
Environmental science and pollution research international [Environ Sci Pollut Res Int] 2017 Jan; Vol. 24 (1), pp. 578-590. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Oct 13.
Publication Year :
2017

Abstract

A previous study has demonstrated that Danshui River has almost the highest dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) yield in the world and exports most of the DIN in the form of ammonium unlike the world's large rivers. However, the DIN sources are poorly constrained. In this study, the contributions of major sources in the Taipei metropolitan area to the DIN export in the Danshui River were investigated. It is observed that ammonium is the major DIN species in the downstream reaches, resulting from the ammonium-dominated inputs of the effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and rain water pumping stations (RWPS). DIN concentrations in the downstream (urban) reaches are substantially elevated. The upstream tributaries annually discharge ∼2709 t DIN to the downstream reaches. However, the DIN discharge off the downstream reaches rises to ∼17,918 t, resulting from the contribution of RWPS-collected water, i.e., ∼14,632 t, and the effluents of two WWTP, i.e., ∼577 t. RWPS-collected water inherently contains the contribution of atmospheric deposition, ∼2937 t DIN. This finding implies that ∼11,695 t (∼66 % of the downstream output) DIN flux off the Danshui River is from urban runoff and can be attributed to human activities in the Taipei metropolitan area. To improve the water quality in the Danshui River, water quality controls in urban runoff are important.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1614-7499
Volume :
24
Issue :
1
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Environmental science and pollution research international
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
27738864
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7825-4