Hydrological and Limnological Studies on the Persistent Blooms Dynamics of Harmful Cyanobacteria and Freshwater Red-tide in the Eutrophicated Weir Pools of Regulated River (Nakdong), Korea |
---|
학술지명 한국생태환경과학협의회(한국하천호수학회)
저자 신재기,김영성
발표일 2018-02-22
|
The eutrophication and algal blooms by harmful cyanobacteria (CyanoHABs) and freshwater red-tide (FRT) that severely experiencing in typical regulated stream of the Nakdong River are one of the most rapidly expanding water quality problems in Korea and worldwide, and these are the fields that interest to various groups. To compare with the factors of rainfall, hydrology, dominant algae, CyanoHABs density, and off-flavor materials, this study explored spatiotemporal variability of the major water environmental factors by weekly intervals in the eight pools of the Nakdong River from January 2013 to July 2017. Annual rainfall was high in 2016 (average of 940.7 mm) and less in 2015 (672.8 mm). The rainfall in the monsoon and summer drought seasons (June to September) was 48.1% of the annual total rainfall, and the difference between upstream and downstream regions was very large. Among the total outflow discharge, small-scale hydropower generation, overflow and fish-ways accounted for 37.4%, 60.1% and 2.5%, respectively. Excluding the flood season, the outflow was mainly due to the hydropower release through year-round. The outflow was proportional to the inflow, but other aspects were observed in a weir pool where the amount of abstraction was concentrated. These have been associated with the drawdown of water level, water exchange rate, and the significant impact on the occurrence of CyanoHABs and FRT. The mean concentration (maximum value) of chlorophyll-a was 17.6 mg m-3 (98.2 mg m-3) in the Sangju-GangjeongGoryeong and 29.6 mg m-3 (193.6 mg m-3) in the Dalseong~ChangnyeongHaman weir pools reaches, respectively. It has increased significantly in the downstream part where the influence of treated wastewater effluents(TWEs) is high. Indeed, very high values (>50 or >100 mg m-3) of chlorophyll-a were observed at low flow rates and water levels. Algal assemblages that caused the blooms of CyanoHABs and FRT were the cyanobacteria Microcystis and the diatom Stephanodiscus populations, respectively. The mean density (maximum value) of CyanoHABs was 7,990 cells mL-1 (457,831 cells mL-1), and increased exponentially toward the downstream. The off-flavor materials such as geosmin and 2-MIB were closely related to the distribution of Anabaena, Aphanizomenon and Pseudoanabaena and hypoxia of the water layer. Algae outbreaks are induced or promoted by various environmental factors. These included the rainfall, flow regime, water temperature stratification and heatwave (e.g., high temperature, extremely hot climate) in physical factors, TWEs, turbid water and hypoxia (e.g., sediment P-release) in chemical factors, and the recruitment of CyanoHABs in biological factor, respectively. And other anthropogenic factors suggested to water-level drawdown, intensive abstractions, small-scale hydropower discharge, channel alteration and the criteria of water quality forecasting system. Finally, It may be most desirable to focus on a controllable anthropogenic sources for a permanent solution to mitigate the persistently troubled CyanoHABs and FRT problems in the weir pools and the lower part of the Nakdong River. Specifically, it may be necessary to continuously increase the water exchange rate of the surface waters by continuously overflowing the weirwater in the weir pool, but a more effective solution was to control the TWEs in the P-free level. |