Sediment-Water Column Dissolved Oxygen Interactions in an Urbanized Stream

Water sustainability is currently at the front end of water research. The preservation and maintenance of our surface waters contributes directly to the goal of water sustainability. Roughly 40% of America's wadeable streams are in poor condition due to a variety of reasons including; loss of riparian habitat, channelization, excessive sedimentation/incision, nutrient induced eutrophication, organic pollution, hydraulic manipulations, anthropogenic toxins, non-native specie invasion and degradation of the upstream watershed (EPA, 2007). Utah's Jordan River is currently being subjected to a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study as a result of the river's inability to provide the required water quality needed to support its designated beneficial use classifications. The relatively short 57-mile river has been divided into eight hydraulic Reaches for analysis and various Reaches of the Jordan River are unable to provide for warm/cold water aquatic life, irrigation, and secondary contact purposes. One of the parameters of concern in the lower Reaches of the Jordan River near the Great Salt Lake is ambient dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations. Ambient dissolved oxygen concentrations directly affect the aquatic environment that the aquatic community is capable of surviving in. In addition, low DO events and anoxic conditions alter aquatic biogeochemistry and nutrient/toxicant transformations in Jordan River. As DO deficits increase, so do the stresses imposed on the aquatic community. As part of this study, nutrient fluxes, primary production, and hyporheic exchanges were investigated to begin characterizing the interactions driving the elevated “black box” SOD measurements observed in both the Upper and Lower Jordan River.