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Nutrient Retention in a Northern Prairie Marsh (Frank Lake, Alberta) Receiving Municipal and Agro-Industrial Wastewater

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Abstract

Agro-industrial wastewater and municipal sewage wereused to restore Frank Lake, a 1246 ha northernprairie marsh in southern Alberta, Canada, to providewaterfowl habitat and improve water quality. Meanannual inflow wastewater nutrient concentrations were17 mg L-1 NH3-N, 30 mg L-1 NO3-Nand 11 mg L-1 SRP. Mean flows greater than 5000 m3 day-1 loaded the marsh with 23 000 kg of P annually. Summer NH3-N, NO3-N andtotal phosphorus (TP) surface water concentrationswere decreased by 76, 87 and 64%, respectively, aswaters flowed through the first basin of the marsh.Winter treatment was less successful, with surfacewater NH3-N, NO3-N and TP reductions of46, –26 (export) and 26%, respectively.Short-circuiting of water flow through the marsh andcold seasonal conditions with ice cover caused spatialand temporal variation in marsh treatment. Continuedhigh loadings to the marsh may lead to sediment saturation, eutrophication or phosphorus export from the marsh.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E9, Canada

    Jay S. White & Suzanne E. Bayley

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  1. Jay S. White
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White, J.S., Bayley, S.E. Nutrient Retention in a Northern Prairie Marsh (Frank Lake, Alberta) Receiving Municipal and Agro-Industrial Wastewater. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 126, 63–81 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005240000042

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