Managing Water Quality in Sustainable Forestry Programs

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Issues in Urban Water Quality
C. Rhett Jackson, Professor of Hydrology Warnell
School of Forestry and Natural Resources, UGA
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Are you sure you know what water quality
is? Would you take your child fishing here?
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Water Quality has three aspects

• Physical Water Quality. E.g. temperature, pool
  frequency and volume, large woody debris,
  particle size distribution.
• Biological Water Quality. E.g. composition and
  structure of biological community (fish,
  macroinvertebrates, amphibians, birds), amount of
  algae, non-native species.
• Chemical Water Quality. Concentrations of
  pollutants. In forestry nutrients, suspended
  sediments, pesticides.

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The 1972 Clean Water Actprotects physical,
chemical, and biological integrity of the
nations waters.This is the basic standard for
regulation and monitoring.BMPs and sustainable
forestry programs must address all water quality
aspects.
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Horton overland flow Interflow Variable source
area runoff Groundwater Direct precipitation
Jackson, C.R. (2006), Adapted from Atkinson
(1978)
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Dunne et al. 1975. Hydrol. Sci. Bull.
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Unpublished Data. Dry Creek Paired Watershed
Study, South Georgia, USA.
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Water, Nutrients, Stream sediment
Terrestrial sediment
Light
CPOM, LWD
Insects
Algae
Amphibians
Microbes
Groundwater
Macroinverts
Fish
Water, CPOM, FPOM, Fish, Sediment, Organisms
Hyporheic exchange
The Stream as a Factory
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Geology
Largely unmodified by watershed activities.
Climate
Topography/Topology
Soils
Vegetation
Time since disturbance
Woody Debris Loading
Sediment Loading
Flows
Biogeographic Setting
Channel Habitat Structure, Chemistry, Physical
Conditions, Biota
Keystone Species Humans Beavers
Major disturbances include fires, hurricanes,
glaciation, epidemics, keystone episodes, etc.
11 Major Landscape Factors That Determine Stream
Morphology, Habitat, Biota
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What makes forest soils so different? Macropores R
oot Morphology Soil fauna (invertebrates,
salamanders, microbes) Soil structure (blocky,
columnar, etc.) Irregularities in subsurface
topography
Roots rot, make macropores. Critters move in.
Flow maintains macropores.
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Edward Gilman, Dept. of Horticulture, Univ. of
Florida
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TIA vs. IBI
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Studies from Coweeta area (Franklin and Otto,
North Carolina)
Scott and Helfman (2001)
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How does urbanization alter the biology of
streams? Increased size and frequency of peak
flows. Increased channel erosion and bed
mobility. Direct channel alteration. Channel
simplification. Increased concentrations of toxic
substances. Increased concentrations of
nutrients. Food web alteration.
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From USGS ACF NAWQA Study
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From USGS ACF NAWQA Study
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Prior to 1972 Clean Water Act, US Rivers were
very polluted.
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Clean Water Act Goal
Make all rivers safe for fishing, swimming, and
drinking water supply.
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The Clean Water Act focused first on reducing
point source pollution. - Federal taxpayers
invested 66 Billion (1996 dollars) in municipal
wastewater treatment. - 15,986 municipal
wastewater treatment plants now in operation.
- also created regulatory system for industrial
discharges
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The Clean Water Act has greatly reduced
point-source pollution in the United States, and
U.S. Rivers are now much cleaner than they were
35 years ago..
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Structural Stormwater Management BMPs Detention
Facilities Infiltration Facilities Constructed
Wetlands Bioswales Rain Gardens Pervious
Pavements Cisterns for Collecting Roof
Runoff Green Roofs
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Detention Pond for Highway Runoff Under
Construction
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Brand New California Bioswale
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• Streamside Management Zone (SMZ)
• Buffer of vegetation left along a stream to
  protect water quality.

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Multiple roles of streamside management zones
(SMZs)
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More SMZ functions
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More SMZ functions
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Georgias Major River Basins
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Basic Basin Water Balance sources losses rainfa
ll evapotranspiration (ET) groundwater
inflow streamflow (Runoff) Human
import groundwater outflow human withdrawals
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Conservation of mass inputs outputs changes
in storage P GWin ET R GWout changes
in storage Usually, P ET R (Long term
average) In Ga, a typical partitioning of the
water budget is P 50" - 55"/yr R 15" -
18"/yr ET 35" - 40"/yr
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Some major or important rivers that routinely
fail to reach the sea 1. The Colorado River -
diversion to Los Angeles, Arizona, San Diego,
Imperial Valley 2. The Rio Grande - irrigation,
cities 3. Yellow River, China - mostly
irrigation 4. Indus River, Pakistan 5.
Murray-Darling River, Australia 6. Limpopo
River, southern Africa 7. Aral Sea - Amu Darya
and the Syr Darya 8. The Jordan River 9. The
Nile (nearly dried up at the mouth, but not
quite).
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Whats a drought?

• Period of below average rainfall (precipitation
  drought)
• Period of low soil moisture (agricultural
  drought)
• Period of low water tables
• Period of low stream flows
• Period of low reservoir or lake levels
• Period when available water supply does not meet
  demand under usual pricing structures

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Thanks! Rhett Jackson rjackson_at_warnell.uga.edu