Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
How is the quality of the River Torrens impacted by heavy rainfall? -…
How is the quality of the River Torrens impacted by heavy rainfall?
oxygen
can be measured using a dissolved oxygen meter (Dissolved Oxygen - Aquaread 2020)
also can be measured using a type of titration called Winkler titration or the Winkler method (Dissolved Oxygen by the Winkler Method 2021)
rain tends to increase oxygen concentrations in river water (how does rain impact oxygen concentration in rivers - Google Search 2021)
this is because rain saturates with oxygen as it falls (Dissolved Oxygen | US EPA 2015)
hardness
most common metals present in water are calcium and magnesium, the concentration of these or other metals determines the hardness of the water
can be measured with an Atomic Spectroscopy machine
rainwater has almost no hardness, therefore softening the water
high metal concentration reduces the toxicity of other metals such as lead, calcium, chromium and zinc by forming precipitates insoluble to living organisms. rain reduces metal concentration, therefore making river water more toxic (Hardness and water quality 2022)
Acidity (pH)
impacted by CO2 levels
Dissolved solids (specific conductance)
specific conductance refers to the ability of water to conduct electricity, which also provides a measure of what is dissolved in the water (Staff 2010)
Significant changes (usually increases) in conductivity may indicate that some source of disturbance has decreased the relative condition of the water body and its associated biota (Indicators: Conductivity | US EPA 2013)
water conductivity is increased by presence of ions, and can therefore be measured using ion chromatography (Staff 2010)
conductivity increases as salinity increases (Staff 2010)
heavy rainfall can reduce conductivity by diluting the salt concentration in the water (Conductivity, Salinity & Total Dissolved Solids - Environmental Measurement Systems 2019)
particular matter (turbidity)
particular matter can include sediment - especially clay and silt, fine organic and inorganic matter, soluble coloured organic compounds, algae, and other microscopic organisms
suspended sediment
phosphorus and nitrogen
phosphorus can be measured using spectrophotometer methods (Ma et al. 2017)
phosphorus
can also be measured using ion chromatography (Masson, P.; Morel, C.; Martin, E.; Oberson, A.;Friesen, D. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 2001, 32, 2241–2253.
phosphorus and nitrogen contribute to the formation of algal bloom on the surface of water bodies
rain can cause massive phosphorus and nitrogen run off from fertilisers to enter rivers
eutrophication and its impacts on marine life
phosphorus concentrations have reached a dramatic level in the river torrens (Gale, Gale & Winchester 2006)
salinity
salts generally associated with water salinity are sodium, calcium, and magnesium
since these are all metals, they can be measured using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS)
high salinity can degrade town water supplies, affect irrigated horticulture and agriculture, and adversely impacts riverine ecosystems (author 2018)
freshwater salinity can harm aquatic species and contaminate drinking water (Wikipedia Contributors 2022)
carbon
measured using a carbon dioxide meter (Carbon Dioxide Meter | Analyticon Instruments Corporation 2020)
CO2 affects pH in river water by reacting with water to become carbonic acid (H2CO3) (How Does CO2 Affect pH In Water? | Atlas Scientific 2021)
a higher co2 concentration causes a lower pH by increasing the hydrogen ions that make water acidic, present in the carbonic acid (How Does CO2 Affect pH In Water? | Atlas Scientific 2021)
increased co2 concentration in water is cause by increased co2 in the atmosphere, may not have a correlation with rain (Ocean acidification | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2022)
some forms of chromatography
titration
acid/base titration for measuring pH levels
atomic spectroscopy
temperature
in warmer temperatures, water is less capable of holding dissolved oxygen, may not contain enough for the survival of some aquatic life (Temperature and Water | U.S. Geological Survey 2019)
warmer water increases the rate of chemical and metabolic reactions (Surface Water: the Importance of the Water Temperature 2015)
rain can decrease temperature of water bodies (Rooney, van Lipzig & Thiery 2018)