Water Quality and Sediment Behaviour of the Future: Predictions for the 21st Century (Proceedings of Symposium HS2005 at IUGG2007, Perugia, July 2007).  IAHS Publ. 314, 2007, 57-70

 

Measuring the fluxes of suspended sediment, trace elements and nutrients for the City of Atlanta, USA: insights on the global water quality impacts of increasing urbanization

 

Arthur J. Horowitz, Kent A. Elrick & James J. Smith

US Geological Survey, Peachtree Business Center, 3039 Amwiler Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30360, USA

horowitz@usgs.gov

 

Abstract During 2004 and 2005, suspended sediment fluxes from the City of Atlanta amounted to about 150 000 t year-1; ³94% of the transport occurred in conjunction with stormflow, which also accounted for ³65% of the annual discharge; typically, stormflow occurred during £20% of the year. Based on annual median chemical concentrations for baseflow and stormflow, the annual fluxes of ³75% of trace elements (e.g. Cu, Pb, Zn), major elements (e.g. Fe, Al) and total P were sediment-associated; in turn, ³90% of this transport was storm-related. As such, baseflow sediment-associated and all dissolved contributions represent a relatively insignificant portion of the total annual load. An ex­ception is total N, whose sediment-associated fluxes range from 50 to 60%; even so, storm-related transport exceeded 80% of the total.

 

Key words Atlanta City; global water quality; suspended sediment; trace elements; urbanization