Background: Eutrophication is a wide spread problem all over the world, this is due to enrichment of surplus nutrients entering water ecosystems. The high concentration of nutrients come from different sources like rural activities, industrial areas and other human activities. This can lead to a high nutrient load entering seas and lakes in the nature. Tributaries can contribute with nutrient loading to main rivers, a tributary like that is Kistingebäcken. Aim: The aim is to investigate how big the nutrient concentration and loading of phosphorus and nitrogen Kistingebäcken contributes to Trönningeån. It will also be investigated if there are any main point source emission of phosphorus and nitrogen from the industrial area located along Kistingebäcken. Method: Water samples were collected in a tributary called Kistingebäcken and in the main river Trönningeån located in the county of Halland, Sweden. These were analyzed to see how much nitrogen and phosphorus they contained. The definition of nutrient concentration is the nutrient level present in an area of a river, while the definition of nutrient load is the quantity of flowing nutrients trough a river which eventually enters lakes, rivers or the sea. Results: There was no significant difference in the total nitrogen concentration between sample point 6 (before the tributary) and sample point 7 (after the tributary) (P=0.904). There was no significant difference in the total phosphorus concentration between sample point 6 (before the tributary) and sample point 7 (after the tributary) (P=0.743). The nutrient load from sample point 5 contributed with 17-26 kg N/day (11-14%) and 0.29-0.32 kg P/day (13-23%) to Trönningeån. The difference in nutrient load between sample point 6 and 7 was 48-61kg N/day (27-40%) and 0.16-0.5 kg P/day (11-23%). Tukey post hoc test showed that sample point 1 had significantly higher nitrogen concentration in comparison to sample point 2, 3, 4 and 5 (P= 0.001, P<0.001, P<0.001 and P<0.001). Sample point 2 had higher phosphorus concentrations in comparison to sample point 1, 3, 4 and 5 (P= 0.033, P<0.001, P=0.001 and P<0.001). Conclusion: Nitrogen and phosphorus do not increase in concentration after the tributary (sample point 7) in Trönningeån. However, the total nitrogen and phosphorus load increased between 27-40% and 11-23% in Trönningeån after the tributary. Sample point 1 and 2 had the highest nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and are the main point source emissions in Kistingebäcken, probably due to the landfill facility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hh-35121 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Modig, Amanda |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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