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| Title | Budd Inlet Focused Monitoring Report for 1992, 1993 and 1994 | |||
| Month-Year Published | July 1997 | |||
| Online Availability |
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| Short Description |
Budd Inlet is a small semi-enclosed embayment in the southernmost part of Puget Sound. A persistent problem of low near-bottom dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in the inner bay has been attributed to the decay of large phytoplankton blooms in combination with stratification during the summer and early fall. Wastewater treatment plant effluent discharged into inner Budd Inlet has been a major source of nutrients. This effluent underwent 90% nitrogen (N)-removal in early 1994. Water properties were monitored biweekly throughout the inlet from 1992 to 1994 to assess the immediate impacts of this change. (Also see abstract below) | |||
| Publication Number | 97-327 | |||
| Author(s) | Eisner, L. | |||
| Print Availability | ||||
| Number of pages | 110 pp. + app. (127 total) | |||
| Keywords | dissolved oxygen, effluent, monitoring, nitrate, nitrite, nitrogen, Puget Sound, report , sediment, SEPA, waste, wastewater, wastewater treatment plant, water, weather | |||
| Subject Waterbodies |
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| Abstract | Long Description |
Budd Inlet is a small semi-enclosed embayment in the southernmost part of Puget Sound. A persistent problem of low near-bottom dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in the inner bay has been attributed to the decay of large phytoplankton blooms in combination with stratification during the summer and early fall. Wastewater treatment plant effluent discharged into inner Budd Inlet has been a major source of nutrients. This effluent underwent 90% nitrogen (N)-removal in early 1994. Water properties were monitored biweekly throughout the inlet from 1992 to 1994 to assess the immediate impacts of this change. Following N-removal, surface nitrate+nitrite-N and ammonium-N concentrations showed considerable reductions (~64-86%). However, the concentrations of phytoplankton and near-bottom DO were at levels within the range observed prior to N-removal. Nitrogen may still be available to the system from the sediments and other sources. Weather conditions had an overriding influence on stratification and phytoplankton abundance and hence near-bottom DO concentrations. The high interannual variation and the complexity of multiple forcing mechanisms make conclusions based on only three years of data highly tentative. It is difficult to separate treatment from weather effects. However, evidence of nutrient limitation of phytoplankton growth during 1994 indicates growth would have likely been even higher had N-removal not been implemented. |
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This page last updated August 17, 2011
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