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- Title
Evidence of recovery from acidification in Massachusetts streams
- Authors
Godfrey, P. J.; Zajicek, O. Thomas; Walk, M.-F.; Kerr, P. A.; Mattson, M. D.
- Abstract
A ten year survey of water quality in 330 Massachusetts streams was conducted to examine the rate and pattern of recovery from acidification. Meta-analysis was used to combine the results of the 330 non-parametric trend tests into an overall test for trend in a variety of water quality variables including pH, acid neutralizing capacity (ANC),and major inorganic ions. Analysis of trends in the raw data indicates both pH and ANC are increasing. After detrending for variations instream runoff, we estimate the streams are recovering from acidification at a rate of +0.021 pH units/year and +2.4 mu eq/L/year, for pH and ANC respectively. These trends appear to be related to declines in sulfate (-1.8 mu eq/L/year), while base cation trends were mixed. Meta-analysis reveals the trends arc not always homogeneous between seasons or between sites. While it is commonly assumed that the low ANCsystems are most 'sensitive' to changes in acid or base inputs, we found the greatest rates of change in ANC were associated with the high ANC systems. The greatest increases in pH were seen in the low ANC streams as expected. The results also suggest streams respond quicklyto changes in precipitation inputs and stream monitoring networks maybe valuable as an early detection technique for changes in environmental quality.
- Subjects
MASSACHUSETTS; UNITED States; WATER quality; ACIDIFICATION
- Publication
Water, Air & Soil Pollution, 1997, Vol 96, Issue 1-4, p211
- ISSN
0049-6979
- Publication type
Article