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since 1961 BALTICA Volume 31 Number 2 December 2018: 154–164 https://doi.org/10.5200/baltica.2018.31.15 The supply of total nitrogen and total phosphorus from small urban catchments into the Gulf of Gdańsk Roman Cieśliński, Alicja Olszewska, Łukasz Pietruszyński, Marta Budzisz, Katarzyna Jereczek-Korzeniewska, Agata Ossowska Cieśliński, R., Olszewska, A., Pietruszyński, Ł., Budzisz, M., Jereczek-Korzeniewska, K., Ossowska, A. 2018. The supply of total nitrogen and total phosphorus from small urban catchments into the Gulf of Gdańsk. Baltica, 31 (2), 154–164. Vilnius. ISSN 0067-3064. Manuscript submitted 19 August 2018 / Accepted 26 October 2018 / Published online 10 December 2018 © Baltica 2018 Abstract The main goal of work was to quantify the nitrogen and phosphorus loads transported by small streams to the Gulf of Gdańsk. The research aims to determine wastewater release volumes over time, instead of focusing only on spatial distributions. Another aim is to identify the main determinants potentially affecting water quality in rivers flowing across the city of Sopot. The study area consists of six small river catchments located in the city of Sopot, each with an open flow channel, which lies along the bay. Studies were conducted 12 times per year in the period from March 2014 to February 2015. Laboratory analyses were performed to determine the concentration of both total nitrogen and total phosphorus. In order to calculate pollutant loads, discharge was also measured in each of studied rivers. Conducted research has shown that all analyzed streams were characterized by low total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations. The mean annual values ranged from 0.60 to 1.28 mg·dm-3 in case of total nitrogen and from 0.066 to 0.100 mg·dm-3 in case of total phos- phorus. In 2012, the total nitrogen load from Poland to the Baltic Sea was 210.768.000 kg N while the total phosphorus load was 15.269.000 kg P, which means that streams analyzed in this paper supplied barely 0.002 % of the biogenic load supplied to the Baltic Sea by Poland as a whole. Keywords • city of Sopot • the Gulf of Gdańsk • total nitrogen • total phosphorus • loads, water pollution Roman Cieśliński ([email protected]), University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, Department of Hydrology, Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland; Alicja Olszewska ([email protected]), University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, Department of Hydrology, Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland; Łukasz Pietruszyński ([email protected]), University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, De- partment of Hydrology, Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland; Marta Budzisz ([email protected]), Uni- versity of Gdańsk, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, Department of Hydrology, Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland; Katarzyna Jereczek-Korzeniewska ([email protected]), University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, Department of Hydrology, Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland; Agata Ossowska (agata_ossowska@ wp.pl), University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, Department of Hydrology, Bażyńskiego 4, 80- 309 Gdańsk, Poland INTRODUCTION anthropogenic pressures, e.g. nutrient loadings and possible interactions with climatic disturbance. Re- The Baltic Sea is the second largest brackish sea in search on marine sediments also indicates a strong eu- the world and its hydrographic and environmental con- trophication of the Baltic Sea caused by man (Warnock ditions are strongly dependent on the frequency of sa- et al. 2018). The influence of bottom sediments on the line water inflows from the North Sea (Binczewska et quality of the Baltic Sea was also described by Vallius al. 2018). The waters of the Gulf of Gdańsk are one of (2016) or Ryabchuk et al. (2017). Climate disturbances the most eutrophic coastal areas of the Baltic Sea. This are extremely important in the aspect of emerging ex- is confirmed by studies by Tomczak et al. (2016) who treme phenomena. This applies in particular to extreme observed changes in the fauna and flora, resulting from rainfall, which can cause in urban areas an increased 154 surface runoff of contaminated waters (often linked to Poland is also the country providing the largest load the phenomenon of floods). This can be confirmed by of phosphorous to the Baltic Sea, approximately 50% research in the Potok Oliwski catchment, which car- of total load”. An analysis provided by Andrulewicz ries away significant amounts of water from the city of and Witek (2002) shows that the average input of to- Gdańsk. According to Matej-Łukowicz et al. (2018), tal nitrogen from the Vistula River was 118,000 tons the Potok Oliwski supplies to the Gulf of Gdańsk 4 per year (15% of the total) and the input of total phos- tons of total nitrogen and 2 tons of total phosphorus phorus was 7,000 tons per year on average, which is during the year. The largest amounts of nutrient loads 19% of the total riverine discharge into the Baltic Sea. are delivered in summer and autumn, i.e. during the According to Svendsen et al. (HELCOM 2017), the period of the most intense precipitation. The amount inputs of nitrogen and phosphorous to the Baltic Sea of nutrient loads according to Bowes et al. (2015) will sub-basins have decreased significantly in recent years, grow when an agricultural area is run in the catchment comparing the years 2012–2014 with the reference pe- area. Also, do not forget about global climate change riod 1997–2003. The total nitrogen input was reduced (Čerkasova et al. 2016). According to Wu and Malm- by 14% while the total phosphorus input was reduced ström (2015), nitrogen is the most sensitive to climate by 11% in the Baltic Proper. The total nitrogen and change, with a considerable increase and seasonal re- total phosphorus inputs fell during the period for the distribution of loadings. For phosphorus, loadings by entire Baltic Sea, with the share of direct point-sources different pathways are less sensitive to climate change. experiencing greatest changes (Fig. 1). Nitrogen was In 1993, nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea were reduced from 1,056,922 tons in 1995 to 825,825 tons 1,022,754 tons of nitrogen and 38,888 tons of phospho- in 2014, while phosphorus was reduced from 41,163 rus as estimated by Turner et al. (1999). The largest ba- tons in 1995 to 30,939 tons in 2014 (Table 1) (HEL- sin of the Baltic Sea, the Baltic Proper, received 85% COM 2018). of the total load of both nitrogen and phosphorous. Ac- According to the HELCOM report (2018), in 2014, cording to Turner et al. (1999), direct discharges, main- 169,941 tons of total nitrogen and 12,776 tons of total ly from sewage treatment plants in the coastal zone, phosphorus were supplied from Poland to the Baltic corresponded to about 10% of the total load. To quote Sea, but 140,371 tons (or 82.6%) of total nitrogen was Turner et al. (1999), “Poland is the largest discharging riverine nitrogen and 12,699 tons (99.4%) of the total country with respect to total nitrogen loading (28.5%), phosphorus load was riverine phosphorus (Table 1). followed by Sweden (10.4%) and Germany (10.2%). The obtained results confirm the observations of Table 1 Total nitrogen and total phosphorus sources and loads [tons] from Poland to the Baltic Sea according to HEL- COM (2018) Year 1995 2000 2006 2012 2014 Total nitrogen 262,159 201,049 207,057 107,647 169,941 Total phosphorus 14,846 11,490 11,651 6,863 12,776 Fig. 1 Sources and input of nutrients to the Baltic Sea. Sonesten et al. (HELCOM 2018–changed) 155 Beusen et al. (2016) that watercourses have been the with hydrological factors. The aim is to determine main source of nutrients to the sea since the 20th cen- wastewater release volumes during the research pe- tury, which should be considered on a global threat riod, focusing on changes over time, instead of fo- scale. The management of the Baltic Sea area should cusing only on spatial distributions. Moreover, an ad- be based on the removal of either N or P from sew- ditional goal of the presented study is to identify the age, and differences between sub-basins and between main determinants potentially affecting water quality polluted coastal and offshore areas should be taken in rivers flowing across the city of Sopot. into consideration (Granéli et al. 1990). According A large-scale eutrophication of the Baltic Sea is to Maximov et al. (2015), large amounts of nitrogen an effect of the regional and long-term variations of and phosphorus are deposited in sediments. Phospho- nutrients. The drainage area of the Baltic Sea is about rus retention in these sediments for a long time and the four times as large as the surface area of 373,000 km2 amount of nitrogen streams from sediments increase. (Wulff et al. 1990). The Polish Baltic coast receives There are several studies showing the internal loading freshwater from two large rivers – the Vistula and the of phosphorus in the Baltic Sea, for example Puttonen Odra – as well as several small rivers reaching the et al. (2014). According to these authors, the uppermost sea along the central part of the coast and the Gulf of 2 cm of sediments were calculated to contain 126,000 Gdańsk. Hence, the entire Polish coastline remains tonnes of phosphorus in the northern Baltic Sea cov- strongly affected by human impact, and the variabil- ering 19,200 km2 of the seafloor. Subtracting the as- ity of the nutrient concentration in the region is high. sumed average background content (i.e. that assumed Sopot, as one of Poland’s best-known recreational to be buried) from this total phosphorus content gave an cities found on the Gulf of Gdańsk, is crisscrossed by estimation of 31,000−37,000 tons of potentially mobile 12 watercourses collecting rainwater from the mo- phosphorus at the sediment surface.