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Assessment of Surface Water Quality in the Big Sunflower River Watershed of Mississippi Delta Using Nonparametric Analysis

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Abstract

Assessment of surface water quality in the Mississippi Delta is essential to quantify the eutrophication of the Gulf of Mexico. This study estimated the characteristics and variations of surface water quality at three study sites in the Big Sunflower River Watershed (BSRW) within the Mississippi Delta using Kruskal-Wallis, Dunn, Mann-Kendall, and Pettitt tests. In general, contents of some water quality constituents such as nitrate-nitrogen (NO3 − N) and total phosphorus (TP) in the BSRW varied from site to site each year, whereas variations of other constituents such as pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) each year were basically not significant. The highest median concentrations were found in spring for NO3 − N and total nitrogen (TN); in summer for specific conductance (SC), Na, and Cl; and in winter for DO. Mann-Kendall trend analysis revealed that there was an increasing annual trend at Leland but a decreasing annual trend at Merigold for NO3 − N concentrations even though such changes were very small, whereas there was no annual trend for TP at any of the three study sites. Pettitt’s test further identified that the NO3 − N concentrations had an abrupt increase in February 2009 at the median value of 0.44 mg L−1 in Leland and an abrupt decrease in June 2012 at the median value of 3.65 mg L−1 in Merigold. A very good linear correlation existed between total dissolved solid (TDS) and magnesium (Mg) in the BSRW, which could be used to estimate TDS from Mg concentrations for this watershed when the data for TDS are absent.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the US Department of Agriculture and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Funding

The study was supported by USDA-NIFA-AFRI competitive grant program (Project Nos. 2013-67020-21407 and 2017-67020-26375).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, USDA Forest Service, 775 Stone Blvd., Thompson Hall, Room 309, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Ying Ouyang

  2. USDA-ARS, Crop Science Research Laboratory, 810 Hwy 12 East, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Gary Feng & Johnie N. Jenkins

  3. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA

    Prem Parajuli

  4. Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research, USDA Forest Service, 432 Stoneville Road, Stoneville, MS, 38776, USA

    Theodor Leininger

  5. Gulf Ecology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, US EPA, 1 Sabine Island Drive, Gulf Breeze, FL, 32561, USA

    Yongshan Wan

Authors
  1. Ying Ouyang
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  2. Gary Feng
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  3. Prem Parajuli
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  4. Theodor Leininger
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  5. Yongshan Wan
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  6. Johnie N. Jenkins
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Correspondence to Ying Ouyang.

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Ouyang, Y., Feng, G., Parajuli, P. et al. Assessment of Surface Water Quality in the Big Sunflower River Watershed of Mississippi Delta Using Nonparametric Analysis. Water Air Soil Pollut 229, 373 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-018-4022-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-018-4022-8

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