Physicochemical Transformations within Ephemeral Streambeds Related to Sewage Effluent Releases

Abstract

Hydraulic and physicochemical measurements were made on treated sewage effluent releases at established locations within the channel of an ephemeral stream, the Santa Cruz River of Southern Arizona. Water quality samples were taken in sequence so that incremental flows at different hydrograph stages could be traced as the effluent moved downstream. Hydrographs obtained from two H -L flumes were used to calibrate a modified kinematic wave model. Hydraulic parameters from the kinematic model and physicochemical measurements from water quality samples were combined together into a statistical-empirical kinetic model of nitrogen transformations which may occur in sewage effluent releases. There was fair agreement between the measured data and the nitrogen species values calculated with the model. Measured nitrogen species values indicated that the rate of nitrification in sewage effluent releases is related to flow distance and physical characteristics of the stream.