Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research

Sediment targets for informing river catchment management: international experience and prospects

Collins, A. L., Naden, P. S., Sear, D. A., Jones, J. I., Foster, I. D. L. and Morrow, K. (2011) Sediment targets for informing river catchment management: international experience and prospects. Hydrological Processes. 25(13), pp. 2112-2129. 0885-6087.

Item Type: Article
Abstract: Sediment plays a pivotal role in determining the physical, chemical and biological integrity of aquatic ecosystems. A range of factors influences the impacts of sediment pressures on aquatic biota, including concentration, duration of exposure, composition and particle size. In recognition of the need to assess environmental status for sediment and mitigate excessive sediment pressures on aquatic habitats, both water column and river substrate metrics have been proposed as river sediment targets. Water column metrics include light penetration, turbidity, sediment concentration summary statistics and sediment regimes. Substrate metrics include embeddedness, the fredle index and riffle stability. Identification of meaningful numeric targets along these lines has, however, been undermined by various issues including the uncertainty associated with toxicological dose-response profiles and the impracticalities of deploying statistically robust sampling strategies capable of supporting catchment-scale targets. Many of the thresholds reported are based on correlative relationships that fail to capture the specific mechanisms controlling sediment impacts on aquatic habitats and are stationary in nature. Temporal windows represented by the key life stages of specific species must be given greater emphasis. Given such issues and the need to support the revision of sediment targets for river catchment management, it is proposed that greater emphasis should be placed on developing generic modelling toolkits with the functionality for coupling current or future projected sediment regimes with biological response for a range of biota. Such tools should permit the identification of river catchment-specific targets within a national context, based on biological effect and incorporate sufficient flexibility for utilizing updated physical, chemical, biological and catchment attribute data. Confidence will continue to be required in compliance screening to ensure cost-effective management programmes for avoiding disproportionate investment in impacted river catchments.
Uncontrolled Keywords: sediment targets, river catchment, ecology, water policy, mitigation, compliance
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GB Physical geography > GB651 Hydrology. Water > GB980 Ground and surface waters > GB1201 Rivers. Stream measurements
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH540 Ecology > QH541.5.W3 Aquatic ecology
Q Science > QE Geology > QE500 Dynamic and structural geology > QE571 Sedimentation and deposition
T Technology > TC Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering > TC401 River, lake, and water-supply engineering
Creators: Collins, A L, Naden, P S, Sear, D A, Jones, J I, Foster, Ian D L and Morrow, K
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > School of Science and Technology (2010-2016)
Faculties > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology > Environmental Science
Date: 30 June 2011
Date Type: Publication
Page Range: pp. 2112-2129
Journal or Publication Title: Hydrological Processes
Volume: 25
Number: 13
Language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.7965
ISSN: 0885-6087
Status: Published / Disseminated
Refereed: Yes
References: Acornley RM, Sear DA. 1999. Sediment transport and sedimentation of Brown trout (Salmo Trutta L. spawning gravels in chalk streams. Hydrological Processes 13: 447–458. Alabaster JS, Lloyd R. 1980. Water Quality Criteria for Freshwater Fish. Butterworth: London; 297. Alabaster JS, Lloyd DS. 1982. Finely divided solids. In Water Quality Criteria for Freshwater Fish, AlabasterJS, LloydDS (eds). Butterworth: London; 1–20. Aldridge DW, Payne BS, Miller AC. 1987. The effects of intermittent exposure to suspended solids and turbulence on three species of freshwater mussels. Environmental Pollution 45: 17–28. An GK, Park SS, Shin JY. 2002. An evaluation of a river health using the index of biological integrity along with relations to chemical and habitat conditions. Environment International 28: 411–420. Anderson BS, Phillips BM, Hunt JW, Connor V, Richard N, Tjeerdema RS. 2006. Identifying primary stressors impacting macroinvertebrates in the Salinas River (California, USA): relative effects of pesticides and suspended particles. Environmental Pollution 141: 402–408. ANZECC. 2000. Aquatic ecosystems—rationale and background information, Chapter 8. Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality. Paper no. 4, vol. 4. Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand. APEM. 2007. Review of UKTAG proposed standard for suspended solids. Final report, APEM 410242 WWF-UK, Stockport, UK. Armstrong JD, Kemp PS, Kennedy GJA, Ladle M, Milner NJ. 2003. Habitat requirements of Atlantic salmon and brown trout in rivers and streams. Fisheries Research 62: 143–170. Bachman RW. 1958. The ecology of four north Idaho streams with reference to the influence of forest road construction. MSc thesis, University of Idaho, Moscow, USA. Ballantine DB, Walling DE, Collins AL, Leeks GJL. 2009. The content and storage of phosphorus in fine-grained channel bed sediment in contrasting lowland agricultural catchments in the UK. Geoderma 151: 141–149. Bardonnet A, Bagliniere JL, 2000. Freshwater habitat of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 57: 497–506. Bardonnet A, Heland M. 1994. The influence of potential predators on the habitat preferenda of emerging brown trout. Journal of Fish Biology 45(Suppl. A): 131–142. Bedoya D, Novotny V, Manolakos ES. 2009. Instream and offstream environmental conditions and stream biotic integrity: importance of scale and site similarities for learning and prediction. Ecological Modelling 220: 2393–2406. Berg L, Northcote TG. 1985. Changes in territorial, gill-flaring and feeding behaviour in juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) following short-term pulses of suspended sediment. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 42: 1410–1417. Berry W, Rubinstein N, Melzian B, Hill B. 2003. The Biological Effects of Suspended and Bedded Sediment (SABS) in Aquatic Systems: A Review. US Environment Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Health Effects Laboratory, Rhode Island, Internal Report, 58. Beschta RL, Jackson WL. 1979. The intrusion of fine sediment into a stable gravel bed. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board Canada 36: 204–210. Bhargava DS, Mariam DW. 1991. Effects of suspended particle size and concentration on reflectance measurements. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 57: 519–529. Bilotta GS, Brazier RE. 2008. Understanding the influence of suspended solids on water quality and aquatic biota. Water Research 42: 2849–2861. Bisson PA, Bilby RE. 1982. Avoidance of suspended sediment by juvenile Coho salmon. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 2: 371–374. Bisson PA, Reeves GH, Bilby RE, Naiman RJ. 1997. Watershed management and Pacific salmon: desired future conditions. In Pacific Salmon and Their Ecosystems: Status and Future Options, StouderDJ, BissonPA, NaimanRJ (eds). Chapman and Hall: New York, USA; 447–474. Bjorn TC, Reiser DW. 1991. Habitat requirements of salmonids in streams. In Influence of Forest and Rangeland Management on Salmonid Fishes and their Habitats, MeehanWR (eds). Special Publication No. 19, American Fisheries Society: Bethesda, MA, USA. Bjornn TC, Brusven MA, Molnau MP, Milligan JH, Klamt RA, Chacho E, Shaye C. 1977. Transport of Granitic Sediment in Streams and its Effects on Insects and Fish. College of Forestry, Wildlife and Range Sciences Bulletin 17. University of Idaho: Moscow, ID, USA. Bledsoe BP, Brown MC, Raff DA. 2007. Geotools: a toolkit for fluvial system analysis. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 43: 757–772. Borsuk ME, Stow CA, Reckhow KH. 2002. Predicting the frequency of water quality standard violations: a probabilistic approach for TMDL development. Environmental Science and Technology 36: 2109–2115. Bricelj MA, Lonsdale DJ. 1997. Aureococcus anophagefferens: causes and ecological consequences of brown tides in US and mid-Atlantic coastal waters. Limnology and Oceanography 42: 1023–1038. Brunke M, Gonser T. 1997. The ecological significance of exchange processes between rivers and groundwater. Freshwater Biology 37: 1–33. Brusven MA, Hornig CE. 1984. Effects of suspended and deposited volcanic ash on survival and behavior of stream insects. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 57: 55–62. Buffington JM, Montgomery DR. 1999. Effects of sediment supply on surface textures of gravel-bed rivers. Water Resources Research 35: 3523–3530. Burton GA. 2002. Sediment quality criteria in use around the world. Limnology 3: 65–76. Campbell CG, Laycak DT, Hoppes W, Tran NT, Shi FG. 2005. High concentration suspended sediment measurements using a continuous fiber optic in-stream transmissometer. Journal of Hydrology 311: 244–253. Carling PA. 1985. Oxygen flux through salmonid gravels. Freshwater Biological Association Project 73. Carling PA, McCahon CP. 1987. Natural Sedimentation of Brown trout (Salmo Trutta L.) spawning gravels during low-flow conditions. Plenum Publishing Corporation. CCME. 1995. Protocol for the derivation of Canadian sediment quality guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, Report CCME EPC-98E, Canada. CCME. 2001. Canadian sediment quality guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, Publication No. 1299, Guidelines and Standards Division, Hull, Canada. Chapman DW. 1988. Critical review of variables used to define effects of fines in redds of large salmonids. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 117: 1–21. Chapman DW, McCleod KP. 1987. Development of criteria for fine sediment in the northern Rockies ecoregion. Final Report to the Environment Protection Agency, Seattle, USA. Chevalier BE, Carson C. 1984. Modelling the transfer of oxygen between the stream and the stream substrate with application to the survival rates of salmonid embryos. Colorado State University, Department of Agriculture and Chemical Engineering ARS Report 5602 208 13-008 A, 99. Ciborowski JJH, Pointing PJ, Corkum LD. 1977. Effect of current velocity and sediment on drift of mayfly Ephemerella subvaria McDunnough. Freshwater Biology 7: 567–572. Clarke S, Wharton G. 2001. Sediment nutrient characteristics and aquatic macrophytes in lowland English rivers. Science of the Total Environment 266: 103–112. Cobb DG, Galloway TD, Flannagan JF. 1992. Effects of discharge and substrate stability on density and species composition of stream insects. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 49: 1788–1795. Collins AL, Anthony SG. 2008. Assessing the likelihood of catchments across England and Wales meeting ‘good ecological status’ due to sediment contributions from agricultural sources. Environmental Science and Policy 11: 163–170. Collins AL, McGonigle DF. 2008. Monitoring and modelling diffuse pollution from agriculture for policy support: UK and European experience. Environmental Science and Policy 11: 97–101. Collins AL, Walling DE, Leeks GJL. 2005. Storage of fine-grained sediment and associated contaminants within the channels of lowland permeable catchments in the UK. In Sediment Budgets 1. International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publication No. 291. IAHS Press: Wallingford, UK; 259–268. Collins AL, Anthony SG, Turner T, Hawley J. 2007. Predicting the impact of projected change in agriculture by 2015 on annual mean fluvial suspended sediment concentrations across England and Wales. In Water Quality and Sediment Behaviour of the Future: Predictions for the 21st Century. International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publication No. 314. IAHS Press: Wallingford, UK; 28–37. Collins AL, McGonigle DF, Evans R, Zhang Y, Duethmann D, Gooday R. 2009a. Emerging priorities in the management of diffuse pollution at catchment scale. International Journal of River Basin Management 7: 179–185. Collins AL, Anthony SG, Hawley J, Turner T. 2009b. The potential impact of projected change in farming by 2015 on the importance of the agricultural sector as a sediment source in England and Wales. Catena 79: 243–250. Cooper DM, Naden P, Smith B, Gannon B. 2002. Life in UK Rivers. Methods for the Assessment and Monitoring of Siltation in SAC Rivers Part 2: A Minimum Monitoring Strategy for Two cSAC Rivers. CEH: Wallingford, UK. Cooper DM, Naden P, Old G, Laize C. 2008. Development of guideline sediment targets to support management of sediment inputs into aquatic systems. Natural England Research Report NERR008. Natural England, Sheffield. Cordone AJ, Kelley DW. 1961. The influences of inorganic sediment on the aquatic life of streams. California Fish Game 47: 189–228. Coulthard TJ, Van De Weil MJ. 2007. Quantifying fluvial non linearity and finding self organised criticality? Insights from simulations of river basin evolution. Geomorophology 91: 216–235. Cox BA. 2003. A review of dissolved oxygen modelling techniques for lowland rivers. Science of the Total Environment 314–316: 303–334. Crisp DT. 1993. The ability of UK salmonid alevins to emerge through a sand layer. Journal of Fish Biology 43: 656–658. Crabtree RW, Cluckie ID, Forster CF. 1987. Percentile estimation for water quality data. Water Research 21: 583–590. Crisp DT, Carling P. 1989. Observations on siting, dimensions and structure of salmonid redds. Journal of Fish Biology 34: 119–134. Cummins KW. 1974. Structure and function of stream ecosystems. Bioscience 24: 631–641. Dearing JA, Hakanson H, Liedberg-Johnsson B, Persson A, Skansjo S, Widholm D, El Daoushy F. 1987. Lake sediments used to quantify the erosional response to land use change in southern Sweden. Oikos 50: 60–78. den Besten PJ, de Deckere E, Babut MP, Power B, Angel DelValls T, Zago C, Oen AMP, Heise S. 2003. Biological effects-based sediment quality in ecological risk assessment for European waters. Journal of Soils and Sediments 3: 144–162. Devlin MJ, Barry J, Mills DK, Gowen RJ, Foden J, Sivyer D, Tett P. 2008. Relationships between suspended particulate material, light attenuation and Secchi depth in UK marine waters. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 79: 429–439. DFO. 1983. Department of Fisheries and Oceans. A rationale for the suspended solids standards for Yukon streams subject to placer mining. Report to interdepartmental committee on placer mining, New Westminster, Canada. Dietrich WE, Kirchner JW, Ikeda H, Iseya F. 1989. Sediment supply and the development of the coarse surface layer in gravel bed rivers. Nature 340: 215–217. Dingman SL. 1984. Fluvial Hydrology. W.H. Freeman: New York, USA; 383. Dlamini V, Hoko Z, Murwira A, Magagula C. 2010. Response of aquatic macro invertebrate diversity to environmental factors along the Lower Komati River. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 35: 665–671. Dobberfuhl DR. 2007. Light limiting thresholds for submerged aquatic vegetation in a blackwater river. Aquatic Botany 86: 346–352. Doeg TJ, Milledge GA. 1991. Effect of experimentally increasing concentration of suspended sediment on macro-invertebrate drift. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 42: 519–526. Droppo IG. 2001. Rethinking what constitute suspended sediment. Hydrological Processes 15: 1551–1564. Dunlop J, McGregor G. 2007. Setting water quality guidelines for salinity and sediment in freshwater streams in Queensland: an applied approach within a natural resource management context. The State of Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, Australia. Edwards TK, Glysson GD. 2000. Field methods for measurement of fluvial sediment. U.S. Geological Survey. Effler SE. 1989. Secchi disk transparency and turbidity. Journal of Environmental Engineering ASCE. 114: 1436–1447. EIFAC. 1964. European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission—Water quality criteria for European freshwater fish: report in finely divided solids and inland fisheries. United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organisation, EIFAC Technical Report No. 1, Rome, Italy. Elkins EE, Pasternack GB, Merz JE. 2007. The use of slope creation for rehabilitating incised, regulated gravel-bed rivers. Water Resources Research 43: W05432. Ellis JC. 1989. Handbook on the design and interpretation of monitoring programmes. Water Research Centre; Marlow, UK. Ellis MM. 1936. Erosion silt as a factor in aquatic environments. Ecology 17: 29–42. European Parliament. 2000. Parliament and Council Directive 2000/60/EC. Establishing a framework for community action in the field of water policy. Official Journal PE-CONS 3639/1/00 REV 1. European Union, Brussels, Belgium. Evans R. 2006. Land use, sediment delivery and sediment yield in England and Wales. In Soil Erosion and Sediment Redistribution in River Catchments, OwensPN, CollinsAJ (eds). CAB International: Wallingford, UK; 70–84. Evans-White MA, Dodds WK, Huggins DG, Baker DS. 2009. Thresholds in macroinvertebrate biodiversity and stoichiometry across water-quality gradients in Central Plains (USA) streams. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 28: 855–868. , : 3 FAME Consortium. 2004. Manual for the application of the European Fish Index—EFI. A fish-based method to assess the ecological status of European rivers in support of the Water Framework Directive. Available online at http://fame.boku.ac.at/downloads/manual Version Februar2005.pdf. Farnsworth KL, Milliman JD. 2003. Effects of climatic and anthropogenic change on small mountainous rivers: the Salinas River example. Global and Planetary Change 39: 53–64. Fausch KD, Lyons J, Karr JR, Angermeier PL. 1990. Fish communities as indicators of environmental degradation. American Fisheries Society Symposium 8: 123–144. Fausch KD, Torgersen CE, Baxter CV, Li HW. 2002. Landscapes to riverscapes: bridging the gap between research and conservation of stream fishes. BioScience 52: 483–498. Fleming IA. 1998. Pattern and variability in the breeding system of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), with comparisons to other salmonids. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 55(Suppl. 1): 59–76. Foster IDL. 2006. Lakes in the sediment delivery system. In Soil Erosion and Sediment Redistribution in River Catchments, OwensPN, CollinsAJ (eds). CAB International: Wallingford, UK; 128–142. FWPCA. 1968. Federal Water Pollution Control Administration Report of the Committee on Water Quality Criteria (Green Book). Gallegos CL, Bergstrom PW. 2005. Effects of a Prorocentrum minimum bloom on light availability for and potential impacts on submersed aquatic vegetation in upper Chesapeake Bay. Harmful Algae 4: 553–574. Gammon JR. 1970. The effect of inorganic sediment on stream biota. US Environmental Protection Agency, Water pollution control research series, 18050 DWC 12/70; 141. Gaugler R, Molloy D. 1980. Feeding inhibition in black fly larvae (Diptera, Simuliidae) and its effects on the pathogenicity of Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis. Environmental Entomology 9: 704–708. Gibbons RD. 2003. A statistical approach for performing water quality impairment assessments. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 39: 841–849. Gippel CJ. 1989. The use of turbidity instruments to measure stream water suspended sediment concentration. Department of Geography and Oceanography, University College, The University of
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/4145

Actions (login required)

Edit Item Edit Item