HR: 0800h
AN: H11A-1255    [Abstracts]
TI: A Novel Approach for Direct Measurement of Cumulative Water and Solute Mass Fluxes using a Passive Surface Water Flux Meter
AU: * Padowski, J C
EM: JCPadowski@ifas.ufl.edu
AF: Department of Soil and Water Science, University of Florida, PO Box 110290, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AU: Jawitz, J W
EM: JWJawitz@ifas.ufl.edu
AF: Department of Soil and Water Science, University of Florida, PO Box 110290, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AU: Hatfield, K
EM: khh@ce.ufl.edu
AF: Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, PO Box 116580, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AU: Annable, M D
EM: manna@eng.ufl.edu
AF: Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, PO Box 116450, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AU: Cho, J
EM: jaehyunc@ufl.edu
AF: Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, PO Box 116450, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AU: Klammler, H
EM: haki@gmx.at
AF: Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, PO Box 116580, Gainesville, FL 32611 United States
AB: This work describes the development of a novel technique for passive measurement of pollutant loads in flowing surface water systems. Recent changes to the Clean Water Act have prompted a major initiative for the development of a national list of impaired surface waters. According to the law, every state is now responsible for defining the use of each water body and creating a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) to regulate all pollutant loads entering these systems. Current methods for determining pollutant loads typically involve collecting separate instantaneous measurements of water velocities and solute concentrations at discrete points in space and time. The data must be combined, interpolated and integrated after collection to arrive at estimates of local cumulative solute flux and discharge. The frequency with which these parameters are measured typically rely upon the availability of resources (time, money, manpower, etc.) and are often undersampled. A method is presented here for direct measurement of cumulative surface water flux (discharge) and solute flux using a Passive Surface Water Flux Meter (PSFM). The PSFM is designed to directly measure local cumulative water and solute mass fluxes in surface water flow without any active components transmitting or logging data over time. This passive integration of water and solute mass fluxes eliminates the need for independent water flux and concentration measurements and any additional computations. Laboratory trials under steady state and transient conditions were used to test the appropriateness of the PSFM as a device for collecting water quality data. Results from steady state experiments verified the ability of PSFM to accurately measure cumulative water and solute mass flux. Preliminary results from investigations under transient flow conditions also showed promise for measuring pollutant loads in natural systems with this device.
DE: 1871 Surface water quality
DE: 1895 Instruments and techniques: monitoring
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005