NAME: ANASTAZIA JAGDEO

STUDENT NUMBER: 500637954

Project EDDIE: NUTRIENT LOADING

Student Handout

This module was initially developed by Castendyk, D.N., T. Meixner, and C.A. Gibson. 6 June 2015. Project
EDDIE: Nutrient Loading. Project EDDIE Module 7, Version 1. http://cemast.illinoisstate.edu/data-for-
students/modules/nutrient-loading.shtml. Module development was supported by NSF DEB 1245707.

Activity D: Compare rural vs. urban land use impacts

Run-off from cities and farms are a major source of pollution to streams. A pipe delivering
wastewater effluent from a sewage treatment plant is considered a point source of pollution,
whereas storm-water runoff from city streets or agricultural fields are considered non-point
sources of pollution. These non-point sources are episodic in nature and dispersed in origin.
However, the effects of non-point source pollution are profound and pervasive; non-point
sources are the dominant source of nutrients (i.e. nitrate and phosphate) to most US streams,
rivers, and lakes (see the 303(d) list for your state). Managing pollution requires understanding
of how different sources of the pollutant influence the delivery of nutrients to receiving waters.

In this activity, we will compare nitrate concentration from a single storm event in a rural setting
to an urban setting. Our rural setting is Illinois River At Seneca, Il (USGS site no: 05543010).
For simplicity, we will call this site Rural Illinois Stream. Our urban setting is Vermilion River
Near Danville, Il (USGS site No. 03339000). For simplicity, we will call this site Urban Illinois
Stream. Note, these are different streams. We will use USGS data from May 30 to June 6, 2015
for both systems.

1. Exploring land use

Before we begin, let’s explore these two sites, one rural and one urban.
a. For the Rural Illinois Stream, go to Google Maps (maps.google.com) and type in
Seneca, IL into the search bar. Click on satellite view (bottom left corner) to view both
Seneca, IL, and the surrounding landscape. What is the predominant form of land-use
in this area of the country?

- The predominant form of land-use in this area of the country is wildlife area, farmland,
rural land (open fields, forest) – agricultural activities, resource conservation.

i. Move your cursor immediately below the search bar over the words Seneca,
IL, a small pop-up menu will appear. At the bottom of this menu select
“Quick Facts”. What is the population of Seneca, IL?

- Population of Seneca, IL is 2,371 at the 2010 census.

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 ii. The USGS gauging station is located at 41°17'59"N, 88°36'51"W. .
Type those coordinates into the search bar. A flag will appear at the USGS
gauging station. Note the location and land-use surrounding the gauging
station. What are the likely sources of nutrients for this stream?

- Surrounding the gauging station; Marina, Yacht Club, Grain elevator (Cargill).
- Likely sources of nutrients for this stream can come from the grain elevator – grains
can include nutrients such as carbohydrates, vitamins, fibers and minerals.

b. For the Urban Illinois Stream, do the same thing for Danville, IL. Click on satellite
view and map view (bottom left corner) to view both Danville, IL, and the surrounding
landscape. What is the predominant form of land-use in this area of the country?
- The predominant form of land-use in this area of the country is residential,
commercial and industrial land use. There is also a lot of institutional and public
buildings as well as open spaces/farmland on the further areas of the country.

c. Move your cursor immediately below the search bar over the words Danville, IL, a
small pop-up menu will appear. At the bottom of this menu select “Quick Facts”.
What is the population of Danville, Il?

- The population of Danville, Il is 30,479 as of 2019.

The USGS gauging station is located at 40°06'03" N, 87°35'50"W. Type those

coordinates into the search bar. A flag will appear at the USGS gauging station. Note
the location and land-use surrounding the gauging station. What are the likely sources
of nutrients for this stream?

- Location and land-use surrounding the gauge station; Sanitary district and industrial
facilities.
- Likely sources of nutrients for this stream can be organic waste, pathogens,
microorganism, suspended solids and industrial and household chemicals.

2. Exploring Nutrient Dynamics in these watersheds

Now, let us formulate some hypotheses:
a. Which location do you think will have a higher base flow (i.e. groundwater) nitrate
concentration? Why?

- I think the Urban Illinois stream in, Danville will have a higher base flow nitrate
concentration due to the large amount of industrial and sanitary facilities lining the
stream. Therefore, it is more likely that more nitrate concentrations will be found here
due to the larger population size and land-use activities.

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 b. What do you expect happens to nitrate concentrations during a rainfall event at Rural
Illinois Stream (Illinois River at Seneca, Il)? In the space below, draw a graph of
Concentration (y-axis) vs. Discharge (x-axis) showing how you expect nitrate
concentration to change during a rain event (i.e. the rising limb of the storm
hydrograph).

Co Peak flow
nce Overland flow
ntr
ati
on
Baseland flow

Discharge

Figure 1: Expected Nitrate Concentration during rainfall events at Rural Illinois Stream.

c. What do you expect happens to nitrate concentrations during a rainfall event at

Urban Illinois Stream (Vermilion River Near Danville, Il)? In the space below,
draw a graph of Concentration (y-axis) vs. Discharge (x-axis) showing how you
expect nitrate concentration to change during a rain event (i.e. the rising limb of the
storm hydrograph).
Peak flow

Co
nce Overland flow
ntr
ati
on
Baseland flow

Discharge

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3. Test your hypotheses
a. Print both graphs and write “Rural Illinois Stream Water Quality” at the top.

Rural Illinois Stream Water Quality

Rural Illinois Stream Water Quality

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b. Print both graphs and write “Urban Illinois Stream Water Quality” at the top.

Urban Illinois Stream Water Quality

Urban Illinois Stream Water Quality

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4. Answer the following questions:
a. What happens to nitrate concentration in the Rural Illinois Stream as discharge
increases?
- The nitrate concentration increases significantly before slowing plateauing and
decreasing in the Rural Illinois Stream as the discharge increases. As the gage height
increases so does the nitrate concentration and decreases when the gage height
decreases.

b. What processes most likely drive concentration changes in rural settings?

- Processes that are likely to drive the concentration to change in rural settings result
from agricultural activities such as cropping, livestock farming and residence. The
concentration increase may be a product from inorganic fertilizer and livestock
manure.

c. What happens to nitrate concentrations in the Urban Kansas Stream as discharge

increases?
- The concentrations of nitrate increase a day after within the Urban Illinois Stream as
discharge increases. Once the gage height starts to decrease, the nitrate concentration
slowly starts to decrease.

d. What processes most likely drive concentrations changes in urban settings?

- Processes that are most likely driving the concentration changes in the urban settings
can come from the buildup and wash-off of atmosphere deposition, fertilizer
applications or leaching/leaking from septic systems and sanitary sewers.

e. Is this what you predicted in your hypothesis? What have you learned from this
comparison?

- I did predict that increase of nitrate concentrations can come from increase
urbanization. However, I did learn that rural systems can have a larger increase of
nitrate concentration from natural “uncontaminated” areas than urban settings. This is
mainly due to the excessive amount of fertilizers being used to maintain agricultural
activities and the increase nitrate that is released from decomposition, mineralization
and nitrification of organic matter.

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 f. If you were a watershed manager, how would you manage nitrate concentrations in a
rural setting strongly influenced by non-point sources of nitrate?

- Managing nitrate concentrations in a rural setting that are strongly influenced by non-
point sources can be controlled by various hydrological process such as runoff
generation and re-routing water runoff through a watershed (Zhou, 2017). Also,
changing the landscape composition can control the flow of carrying nutrients into
stream and can directly and indirectly influence the concentration of the
contaminants.

g. How would you manage nitrate concentrations in an urban setting strongly influence
by point sources of nitrate?

- Managing nitrate concentrations in an urban setting for point sources of nitrate can be
done by using associated isotopic fractionations (separation process) into the sanitary
sewers as sewages are mainly the dominant source of nitrate influx. This control be
used directly when nitrate levels are extremely in within the water source.

References:

(1) Zhou, Y., Xu, et al. (2017). Hydrological and environmental controls of the stream
nitrate concentration and flux in a small agricultural watershed. Journal of Hydrology
(Amsterdam), 545, 355-366. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.12.015