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Factors controlling dissimilatory nitrate reduction processes in constructed stormwater urban wetlands

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Abstract

Water treatment wetlands are increasingly being used to reduce pollutant loads including nitrogen (N) in urban runoff. Processes such as denitrification (DNF) and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox), which remove N, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), which recycles N, play an important role in controlling NOx (NO3− + NO2−) removal versus recycling in wetlands. The relative importance of DNF, anammox and DNRA was investigated in four constructed stormwater urban wetlands in Melbourne, Australia. Rates of DNF and DNRA were variable and did not differ significantly among wetlands. However, rates of DNF and DNRA were significantly different (p < 0.05) in different seasons. The relationship between NOx reduction processes and measured concentrations of water column NOx, chlorophyll a (chl-a), sediment organic carbon (OC), porewater ferrous iron (Fe2+) and sulfide (S2−) and water column temperature were examined using multiple regression analysis (MRA). Anammox was an insignificant pathway (< 0.05% of total nitrate reduction). During winter when average water column temperatures were 12 °C, DNRA was consistently higher than DNF averaging 67 ± 23% of total NOx reduction. The MRA revealed that DNF was positively associated with NOx concentration whereas DNRA was negatively associated with temperature, and porewater Fe2+, and positively associated with chl-a. The ratio between DNF and DNF:(DNF + DNRA) showed a positive correlation with both temperature and NOx concentration in the MRA. At higher temperatures and higher NOx concentrations, DNF increased over DNRA. Overall, this study suggests that at low NOx concentrations, N is recycled internally in these urban stormwater wetlands, but the portion of N removed by DNF increases as NOx concentrations increase.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Lee James, the Supervisor of Natural Resource Areas, Parks Department (City of Kingston) for providing access to, and permission for, sampling the NR wetland and John Erwin, the Bushland Management Officer (Knox City Council), for his invaluable discussion on the KB wetland. We also thank Melbourne Water for providing important information about all four wetlands. Adam Kessler, Jesse Pottage, Dale Christensen, Douglas Russell, Michael Bourke, David Brehm, Wei Wen Wong and Bipasa Akter are all thanked for their assistance with field work. Md. Moklesur Rahman is grateful to the Co-operative Research Council for the Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) for funding support in carrying out this project. This work was also supported by the Australian Research Council Grant DP150101281 to PLMC.

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  1. Water Studies Centre, School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Md. Moklesur Rahman, Keryn L. Roberts, Fiona Warry, Michael R. Grace & Perran L. M. Cook

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  1. Md. Moklesur Rahman
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  2. Keryn L. Roberts
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  3. Fiona Warry
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Appendix

Appendix

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Table 8 Physico-chemical parameters in the four study wetlands observed from December–January 2014–2015 to January–February 2016
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Rahman, M.M., Roberts, K.L., Warry, F. et al. Factors controlling dissimilatory nitrate reduction processes in constructed stormwater urban wetlands. Biogeochemistry 142, 375–393 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-019-00541-0

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