Estimating Tributary Phosphorus Loads Using Flow-Weighted Composite Storm Sampling

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dc.contributor.authorLeitch, Katherine McArthuren
dc.contributor.committeechairHoehn, Robert C.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGrizzard, Thomas J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGallagher, Daniel L.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGandour, Richard D.en
dc.contributor.committeememberTaylor, Larry T.en
dc.contributor.departmentCivil and Environmental Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2011-08-06T16:06:08Zen
dc.date.adate1998-08-21en
dc.date.available2011-08-06T16:06:08Zen
dc.date.issued2004-06-04en
dc.date.rdate1999-08-21en
dc.date.sdate1998-08-17en
dc.description.abstractQuantification of total phosphorus (TP) loads entering a lake or reservoir is important because phosphorus is most often the limiting nutrient in terms of algae growth, thus phosphorus can control the extent of eutrophication. Four methods for assessing the annual tributary phosphorus loads to two different Virginia reservoirs were analyzed, three methods that use tributary monitoring program data and one that uses land-use and rainfall data. In this project, one tributary has been extensively monitored for many years and served as a control on which the other methods were tested. The key difference between this research and previous studies is the inclusion of flow-weighted composite storm sampling instead of simple grab sample analyses of storm flow. Three of the methods employed flow stratification, and the impact of the base flow separation point was examined. It was found that the Regression Method developed in this research was the least sensitive to the base flow separation point, which is a valuable attribute because a wrong choice will not significantly affect the estimate. The Monte Carlo Method was found to underestimate the TP loads. The amount of rainfall impacted the accuracy of the methods, with more error occurring in a year with lower precipitation.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.otheretd-72098-1274en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-72098-1274en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/10078en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartTableCon.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartLitrev.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartManuscript.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartAAppendix.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartBappendix.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartCAppendix.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartDappendix.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartVITA7.PDFen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjecttributary load estimationen
dc.subjectWater qualityen
dc.subjectnonpoint source pollutionen
dc.subjectPhosphorusen
dc.titleEstimating Tributary Phosphorus Loads Using Flow-Weighted Composite Storm Samplingen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineCivil and Environmental Engineeringen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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