Nutrient Dynamics in Urban Streams

Research Info

Past Student: Alicia O'Hare

Advisors: Catherine O'Reilly

Increased development and urbanization has been associated with a suite of stream responses known collectively as ‘urban stream syndrome’. Increasingly, studies have pointed toward a need to focus on storm events, which have a large impact on urban stream water quality, thus implying that storm sewer systems and their sewersheds play an important role. Our project is investigating how various urban landscape characteristics influence storm water quality. We expect that characteristics of the landscape within storm sewersheds (i.e. impervious surface cover, residential density, zoning, detention ponds) as well as of the flow paths (i.e. storm sewer distance and density, sewershed area) will have differing effects on storm water quality.