Water/Wastewater 5
Water Quality Research in the Arctic
Researchers at the University of Brighton are using Aquaread equipment to monitor river water quality in the extreme environments of the Arctic, including one of Europe's best salmon rivers, in a bid to understand the contrasting water quality requirements of different freshwater ecosystems. The ECOFORS project, which is funded by the European Union’s INTERACT funding scheme, builds on an existing collaboration between Aquaread and researchers at the University of Brighton, led by Dr Gary Bilotta and Magdalena Grove of the School of Environment and Technology.
The Arctic research project will be supported by state-of- the-art monitoring equipment provided by Aquaread Ltd, an award-winning designer and manufacturer of water quality monitoring equipment
The researchers will be monitoring the water quality of pristine rivers in northern Iceland and northern Finland. The project will add to existing water quality research, by Dr Bilotta and PhD student Magdalena Grove, in pristine rivers in the more temperate climate of the UK. These pristine rivers are being used as models of the water quality required to support different freshwater communities in catchments with contrasting environmental characteristics, including climate and geology.
The research will feed into the development of improved water quality guidelines to support healthy freshwater ecosystems – a requirement of the European Union’s Water Framework Directive legislation.
Dr Bilotta said "Freshwater ecosystems are incredibly valuable, providing humans with ecosystem services worth more than $1.7 trillion per annum, but these ecosystems are currently threatened by water pollution. One of the most common forms of water pollution is excessive levels of particulate matter, from nano-particles to sand-sized sediments. The transport of particulate matter by rivers to the oceans represents an important process of the global erosion process, an important component of global biogeochemical cycles, and is an essential constituent of freshwater ecosystems, critical to habitat heterogeneity and ecological functioning. However, when human activity causes a significant deviation in the dynamics of particulate matter from 'natural' or 'reference condition' dynamics, this can cause ecological degradation. Ultimately, this can lead to a significant decline in the associated ecosystem services. It is therefore essential that particulate matter is managed in order to minimise these impacts. However, at the moment we have a poor understanding of what the 'natural' or 'reference condition' dynamics of particulate matter should be in a given environment. Current water quality guidelines, which are designed to manage this pollutant and protect a whole range of different freshwater communities, are often blanket guideline values with limited ecological basis. Our research aims to address this and improve current water quality guidelines so that firstly they reflect the
Author Details: Dr G. S. Bilotta Senior Lecturer
in Physical Geography School of Environment and Technology University of Brighton Cockcroft Building Lewes Road, Brighton East Sussex, BN2 4GJ
Tel: +44 (0)1273 643318 Fax: +44 (0)1273 642285 Email:
G.S.Bilotta@
brighton.ac.uk
Dr Gary Bilotta Example of wildlife common at some planned testing sites
www.envirotech-online.com IET September / October 2013
natural variation in water quality that should be expected in different types of environments, and secondly they are more closely aligned to what is needed to sustain different communities of freshwater organisms”.
According to existing water quality guidelines for particulate matter in Europe, concentrations should not exceed 25 mg per litre in waters suitable for salmonid and cyprinid fish. However, recent research led by Dr Gary Bilotta, in which the team examined background concentrations of particulate matter in 638 reference condition stream and river sites in the UK (representing 42 different freshwater ecosystem types), demonstrated that levels of particulate matter vary significantly among different ecosystem types. For instance, in one ecosystem type, which is home to the Atlantic salmon, the particulate matter levels were 15 times lower than the current guideline, but in another ecosystem type the levels exceeded the guideline level, despite the ecosystem being in a healthy state.
The researchers believe that this initial study shows that specific quality guidelines are needed for different ecosystems because in some ecosystems the particulate matter provides organisms with a food source and the habitat that the organisms need to live and breed in, whilst in other ecosystems particulate matter can harm organisms, even when at relatively low concentrations.
This previous research has already attracted the attention of European policymakers. It has big implications for those involved in managing land use and water quality across Europe because under European legislation land owners and water users who are perceived to be contributing to
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
