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The Impact of Wastewater Treatment Effluent on the Biogeochemistry of the Enoree River, South Carolina, During Drought Conditions

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Abstract

Drought conditions should magnify the effect of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent on river biogeochemistry. This study examined the impact of WWTP effluent on the Enoree River in the piedmont region of South Carolina during a period of significant drought. The Enoree River lacks impoundments, upstream agricultural runoff, and significant industrial point sources, so the single most important human influence on river chemistry is WWTP effluent. Water samples were collected from 28 locations on the Enoree River, 13 of its tributaries, and the effluent of four WWTPs. Effluent from the WWTP furthest upstream increased the salinity of the river and temporal variation and concentrations of most ions, especially nitrate, phosphate, sulfate, sodium, and chloride. The upstream WWTP set the downstream chemical composition of the river, with increasing proportions of chloride, sodium, and sulfate and decreasing proportions of dissolved silicon and bicarbonate. Downstream WWTPs had little or no impact on the chemical composition of the river. Mixing model results show that dilution was the dominant process of the downstream decrease in solute concentrations, but in-channel uptake mechanisms also contributed to declines in concentrations of nitrate, phosphate, and carbon dioxide. Despite dilution and uptake, the chemical signature of WWTP effluent was still evident 135 km downstream. These results lead to a better understanding of the effects of WWTP effluent on the biogeochemistry of rivers.

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Acknowledgement

We thank the two anonymous reviewers that provided comments that substantially improved this paper. We thank the members of the 1999 and 2000 River Basin Research Initiative Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program for the help with collecting and analyzing samples. We also thank John and Sandy Wheeler of the Department of Chemistry at Furman University for helping with ion chromatography and ICP-AES analyses. Suresh Muthukrishnan of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at Furman provided the location map. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control provided data regarding WWTP effluent discharge. Western Carolina Sewer Authority (now Renewable Water Resources) generously allowed us to collect samples of WWTP effluent. This study was funded by NSF-REU grant #EAR-9820605, South Carolina DHEC NPS Program grant #EQ-9-461, a grant from the Associated Colleges of the South, and Furman University.

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  1. Marylea Hart

    Present address: , 112 Tyra Lane, Townville, SC, 29689, USA

  2. John Pugh

    Present address: Southern Company Services, 42 Inverness Center Pkwy, Birmingham, AL, 35242, USA

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  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC, 29613, USA

    C. Brannon Andersen, Marylea Hart & John Pugh

  2. Department of Biology, Furman University, Greenville, SC, 29613, USA

    Gregory P. Lewis

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Correspondence to C. Brannon Andersen.

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Andersen, C.B., Lewis, G.P., Hart, M. et al. The Impact of Wastewater Treatment Effluent on the Biogeochemistry of the Enoree River, South Carolina, During Drought Conditions. Water Air Soil Pollut 225, 1955 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-1955-4

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