Memorial University DAI: The sources of variation in storm runoff quantity and quality in the partially urbanized Leary's Brook basin, St. John's, Newfoundland

advanced search

Digital Archives Initiative
Memorial University - Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2

menu off

add document to favorites : add page to favorites : reference url

back to results : previous : next

Search this object:

0 hit(s) :: previous hit : next hit

View:

previous page : next page

Document Description

Title	The sources of variation in storm runoff quantity and quality in the partially urbanized Leary's Brook basin, St. John's, Newfoundland
Author	MacCallum, Ian Malcolm, 1948-
Description	Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1981. Geography
Date	1981
Pagination	xii, 205 leaves : ill., maps.
Subject	Urban runoff--Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's; Urban hydrology--Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's; Leary's Brook Watershed (St. John's, N.L.)
Degree	M.Sc.
Degree Grantor	Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Geography
Discipline	Geography
Language	Eng
Spatial Coverage	Canada--Newfoundland and Labrador--Avalon Peninsula--St. John's
Notes	Bibliography: leaves 160-165.
Abstract	The known variation of water quality during storm runoff makes infrequent sampling unreliable. Though the variation of water quality from non-point source urban areas can be determined with frequent sampling, the extent of change due to the urbanization has been infrequently determined. Mixing of urban storm runoff with water from other source areas may be deleterious because of high yield rates of dissolved and suspended solids. The sampling programme of this research was designed for frequent sampling of three different urban and two non-urban sub-catchments and the outlet of Leary's Brook in St. John's, Newfoundland. Suburban residential, commercial/industrial, parking lot, rural and forested sub-catchments were sampled rotationally by hand on an hourly schedule for sixteen hours during the storm runoff period of November 13-14, 1979, and the outlet was automatically sampled hourly over 24 hours for the same rainfall event. Sampling of all sites for the same storm allowed comparison between the contributions in quantity and quality of storm runoff for the five land use types and the basin as a whole for effectively the same precipitation and antecedent moisture conditions. Temperature and conductivity of hand collected samples were determined in the field. Discharge was measured by stage and later calculated by the Manning equation or by rating with current meter measurements. Laboratory analysis was also carried out on all samples using spectro-photometric techniques for pH, turbidity, phosphate and nitrates. The response of Leary's Brook basin to the November 13-14 storm was dominated by the non-urbanized portions of the basin; although the urban high fast response in water, solute and suspended sediment yield rates produced a considerable short term effect on the outlet. The overall response of the basin was an aggregate of the urban and non-urban components. Although the outlet solute and sediment yield rates were considerably larger than those of the forested area, the outlet yield rates were not as high as many other urbanized areas. Parking lot runoff demonstrated that not all urban land use causes runoff deterioration. Planning and management may ameliorate urban runoff effects. This study demonstrated a variation in outlet response to non-uniform flood generation controlled by land use rather than precipitation distribution. Hourly rotational sampling proved useful for single storm sampling of five sites, but more frequent sampling of urban runoff would be an improvement. Dry weather sampling of 35 sites in the basin showed the choice of the representative sub-catchments to be reliable.
Type	Text
Resource Type	Electronic thesis or dissertation
Format	Image/jpeg; Application/pdf
Source	Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries
Local Identifier	75148583
Rights	The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission.
Collection	Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Scanning Status	Completed
PDF File	(45.50 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/MacCallum_IanMalcolm.pdf
CONTENTdm file name	86912.cpd