Quantifying Pathogen Sources in Streams by Hydrograph Separation
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 9
Abstract
A new technique for quantifying pathogen sources to streams is proposed and demonstrated. Hydrograph separation is used to partition measured streamflow into surface runoff and base flow, and characteristic pathogen concentrations are assigned to each flow component along with a background source flux. The maximum-likelihood characteristic concentrations and background flux are determined from measured instream pathogen concentrations. This approach is shown to yield comparable to superior performance in predicting instream pathogen concentrations compared with much more complex terrestrial fate and transport models. Application of the proposed approach to six catchments yields Nash-Sutcliffe efficiencies of the log-transformed fecal-coliform concentrations in the range of 0.21 to 0.48. The characteristic fecal-coliform concentrations in surface runoff are in the range of and the base-flow characteristic concentrations are in the range of . It is shown that the frequency distribution of bacteria concentrations derived from sample measurements can sometimes differ significantly from their long-term frequency distribution.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The contributions of David Bosch of the United States Department of Agriculture in collecting hydrologic data in the Little River Experimental Watershed, and the generosity of George Vellidis of the University of Georgia in providing bacteria data collected under his supervision are very much appreciated. Tom Jobes of the St. Johns River Water Management District patiently provided advice on the use of the HSPF code.
References
Bicknell, B., Imhoff, J., Kittle, J., Jr., and Donigian, A., Jr. (2001). Hydrological simulation program—Fortran (HSPF): User’s manual for release 12, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Athens, GA.
Bosch, D., et al. (2007a). “Little River experimental watershed database.” Water Resour. Res., 43, W09470.
Bosch, D., and Sheridan, J. (2007). “Stream discharge database, Little River experimental watershed, Georgia, United States.” Water Resour. Res., 43, W09473.
Bosch, D., Sheridan, J., and Marshall, L. (2007b). “Precipitation, soil moisture, and climate database, Little River experimental watershed, Georgia, United States.” Water Resour. Res., 43, W09472.
Chapman, T., and Maxwell, A. (1996). “Baseflow separation-comparison of numerical methods with tracer experiments.” Hydrological and Water Resources Symp., Institution of Engineers Australia, Barton, Australia, 539–545.
Chin, D. (2009a). “Risk-based TMDLs in pathogen-impaired waters.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 135(6), 521–527.
Chin, D. (2009b). “Predictive uncertainty in water-quality modeling.” J. Environ. Eng., 135(12), 1315–1325.
Chin, D., Sakura-Lemessy, D., Bosch, D., and Gay, P. (2009). “Watershed-scale fate and transport of bacteria.” Trans. ASABE, 52(1), 145–154.
Eckhardt, K. (2005). “How to construct recursive digital filters for baseflow separation.” Hydrol. Processes, 19(2), 507–515.
Lumb, A., McCammon, R., and Kittle, J. (1994). “Users manual for an expert system (HSPEXP) for calibration on the hydrological simulation program-Fortran.” Water-Resources Investigations Rep. No. 94-4168, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.
Nash, J., and Sutcliffe, J. (1970). “River flow forecasting through conceptual models. Part I: A discussion of principles.” J. Hydrol. (Amsterdam), 10(3), 282–290.
Neitsch, S., Arnold, J., Kiniry, J., and Williams, J. (2005). Soil and water assessment tool theoretical documentation, version 2005, Agriculture Research Service, Grassland, Soil, and Water Research Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Temple, TX.
Pettyjohn, W., and Henning, R. (1979). “Preliminary estimate of ground-water recharge rates, related streamflow and water quality in Ohio.” Project Completion Rep. No. 552, Ohio State Univ. Water Resources Center, Columbus, OH.
Rossman, L. (2009). “Storm water management model user’s manual, version 5.0.” EPA/60/R-05/040, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati.
Sloto, R., and Crouse, M. (1996). “HYSEP: A computer program for streamflow hydrograph separation and analysis.” Water-Resources Investigations Rep. No. 96-4040, U.S. Geological Survey, Lemoyne, PA.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (1986). “Ambient water quality criteria for bacteria.” EPA-440-5-84-002, Office of Water Regulations and Standards, Washington, DC.
Walpole, R., Myers, R., Myers, S., and Ye, K. (2002). Probability and statistics for engineers and scientists, 7th Ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Weibull, W. (1939). “A statistical theory of the strength of materials.” Ingeniors Vetenskaps Akad Handl. (Stockh.), 151, 1–45.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 9 • September 2011
Pages: 770 - 781
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 9, 2010
Accepted: Mar 10, 2011
Published online: Mar 12, 2011
Published in print: Sep 1, 2011
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.