Trash Deposition in Rivers and Streams: Guidelines for Prediction of Counts, Volumes, and Masses
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 8
Abstract
Trash creates numerous problems, including clogging of inlets, aesthetical debasing of neighborhoods, chemical pollution upon degradation, and hazards to aquatic life. Data from 30 stream sections were collected and analyzed for the purpose of developing prediction models for trash counts, volumes, and mass. The analyses resulted in prediction models as a function of adjacent land-cover percentages, channel sinuosity, and the length of wooded buffer zones adjacent to streams. Data were sufficient to develop models for predicting five trash types (plastic bags, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, polystyrene foam, and food packaging). Data were collected for four consecutive seasons, although the effect of season was minimal. The models provided high correlation coefficients and narrow confidence intervals. Variation in counts between two jurisdictions was significant. Since trash studies are needed elsewhere, guidelines for maximizing the quality of the measured data are provided.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the assistance and support of the following organizations: EPA—Region 3, Maryland Department of Environment (MDE), DC Department of Environment (DDOE), Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, Prince George’s Department of Environmental Resources, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Alice Ferguson Foundation, Anacostia Watershed Society, University of Maryland Facilities Planning. We are especially grateful for the input and assistance of Rich Eskin, MDE; Anna Kasko, MDE; and Carol Hearle, University of Maryland Facilities Planning. The comments of the two reviewers were especially helpful in the revision of the papers; their comments are appreciated.
References
Brooks, K. N., Folliott, P. F., Gregersen, H. M., and DeBano, L. F. (2003). Hydrology and the management of watersheds, 3rd Ed., Iowa State Press, Ames, IA.
California Regional Water Quality Control Board (CRWQCB). (2007). Trash total maximum daily loads for the Los Angeles river watershed.
Draper, N., and Smith, H. (1966). Applied regression analysis, Wiley, New York.
Houghton Mifflin. (2004). “Trash.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Ed. 〈http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trash〉.
Hutchinson, A. (2007). “Know your footprint: Waste.” Popular Mech., 184(12), 95–102.
Keller, A., and Cavallaro, L. (2008). “Assessing the US clean water act 303(d) listing process for determining impairment of a waterbody.” J. Environ. Manage., 86(4), 699–711.
McCuen, R. H. (1993). Microcomputer applications in statistical hydrology, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Roscoe, J. T. (1975). Fundamental research statistics for the behavioral sciences, 2nd Ed., Holt, Reinhart and Winston, New York.
Singh, V. P. (1989). Hydrologic systems: Watershed modeling, Vol. 2, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Snedecor, G. W., and Cochran, W. G. (1967). Statistical methods, Iowa State Press, Ames, IA.
Stone, R. (2009). “Confronting a toxic blowback from the electronics trade.” Science, 325(5944), 1055.
USEPA. (2009). “Impaired waters and total maximum daily loads.” 〈http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/tmdl/〉.
Zerowasteamerica. (2009). “A yearly snapshot of US (municipal) waste & recycling.” 〈http://www.zerowasteamerica.org/Statistics.htm〉.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19 • Issue 8 • August 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 9, 2013
Accepted: Sep 19, 2013
Published online: May 20, 2014
Published in print: Aug 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Oct 20, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.