An Analysis of Discharge and Water Quality of an Urban River and Implications for Stormwater Harvesting
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An analysis of discharge and water quality of an urban river and implications for stormwater harvesting Fahad Aziz Research Dissertation for the Degree of: Master of Science Department of Environmental and Geographical Science University of Cape Town October 2020 Supervised by Dr Kevin Winter University of Cape Town 1 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town DECLARATION I, Fahad Aziz, acknowledge that, 1. That plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and to pretend that it is one’s own. 2. I know the meaning of plagiarism and declare that all of the work in the dissertation, save for that which is properly acknowledged, is my own. 3. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work. 4. I am presenting this dissertation in fulfilment of the requirements for my degree. Signed: Date: 23/10/2020 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thankful to my supervisor, Dr Kevin Winter, for all his guidance and support throughout the duration of this thesis. I am grateful for all the things I have learnt through him and for patiently giving me input and advice throughout the course of this thesis. I would like to extend my gratitude to ERM and the Future Water Institute for their financial support in 2019. I would also like to thank the South African Weather Service for providing me with rainfall data. I am grateful to John Weber for the development of the sensors and for helping me with the maintenance of the sensors throughout the data collection period. Lastly, I would like to thank my friends and family for their support during my studies. 3 ABSTRACT Development in urban catchments often result in rivers being converted into large stormwater canals where stormwater is removed as quickly as possible to prevent flooding. A combination of elevated peak flows, increased nutrients and contaminants and reduced biotic richness are typical features of these urban waterways. This study explored the dynamics of an urban river in Cape Town by using high-resolution monitoring sensors and loggers to analyse and model real-time discharge and water quality data during and after 14 rainfall events. Discharge and water quality data were collected from the Liesbeek River at three sites during the rainfall events. As expected, the upper most sampling site had the lowest discharge and pollution load, compared to sites in the middle and lowest reaches of the river. An analysis showed significant correlations between the discharge and electrical conductivity at all three sampling sites. Rainfall was the primary factor in altering discharge and electrical conductivity. Predictive modelling using selected rainfall designs indicated that average discharge and total volume increases with increasing rainfall. Linear regression analysis for electrical conductivity indicated a strong relationship whereby an increase in discharge resulted in a decrease in electrical conductivity. This study revealed the discharge and water quality of stormwater in the Liesbeek River during rainfall events showed the improved water quality conditions in the river during the rainfall events particularly after the peak discharge. Furthermore, the implications of this study revealed that the Liesbeek River can become a water source for recharging groundwater and aquifers. 4 CONTENTS 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Overview .......................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Aims and objectives........................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Study site .......................................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Study design and overview of methods............................................................................... 12 1.5 Scope and limitations of study............................................................................................ 13 2. Literature Review.................................................................................................................... 14 2.1 Urban stream syndrome .................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Changes in the hydrology of urban rivers ............................................................................ 14 2.3 Relationship between rainfall, discharge and water quality.................................................. 18 2.4 Monitoring of discharge and water quality.......................................................................... 21 2.5 Hydrological modelling ...................................................................................................... 24 2.6 Stormwater Harvesting (SWH)............................................................................................ 26 2.7 Stormwater management .................................................................................................. 28 3. Methods................................................................................................................................. 30 3.1 Study design ..................................................................................................................... 30 3.2 The Liesbeek Catchment .................................................................................................... 30 3.3 Hydrological modelling: Data collection and processing ....................................................... 32 3.4 Water Quality ................................................................................................................... 38 3.5 Data analysis ..................................................................................................................... 40 3.7 Limitations of the study ..................................................................................................... 41 4. Results and Discussion ............................................................................................................ 42 4.1 Rainfall events in the Liesbeek Catchment .......................................................................... 42 4.2 Relationship between rainfall, discharge and water quality.................................................. 51 4.3 Suitable range for stormwater abstraction and potential for aquifer recharge ...................... 54 4.4 Modelling ......................................................................................................................... 61 5. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 68 5.1 Key findings ...................................................................................................................... 68 5.2 Recommendations for further research .............................................................................. 69 References ................................................................................................................................. 71 Appendix A: Rainfall events in the Liesbeek River ......................................................................... 80 Appendix B: Principal Component Analysis ................................................................................... 89 5 Appendix C: South African Water quality Guidelines ..................................................................... 92 Appendix D: EC vs Discharge scatter plots .................................................................................... 94 Appendix E: Rainfall design example used in PCSWMM................................................................. 97 6 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Catchments in the Cape Metropolitan Area, showing the Salt River catchment (3) in relation to the Liesbeek River and the other catchments in the area ...............................................................12 Figure 2: Impacts on the flow and quality of streams in an urban landscape......................................14 Figure 3: Hydrographs showing flow conditions before and after urban development has taken place.....................................................................................................................................................16 Figure 4: Flow rate and concentration of pollutants for a storm event (41.3mm rainfall)....…………….19 Figure 5: Tendency for pH to become more acidic during a rainfall event.…………………….………………..20 Figure 6: Flow rate and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) respectively over a period of 70- minutes.........................................................................................................……………………………………..21 Figure 7: Number of operating discharge monitoring stations according to the GRDC data archive...22 Figure 8: Graph comparing monthly, weekly, daily and hourly measurements of conductivity with hourly measurements of flow over a period of 460 days at Hore stream, Wales................................23