Predicting Suspended Sediment Transport in Urbanised Streams: A Case Study of Dry Creek, South Australia
Sediment transport in urban streams is a critical environmental issue, with significant implications for water quality, ecosystem health, and infrastructure management. Accurately estimating suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is essential for effective long-term environmental management. This st...
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MDPI AG
2024-11-01
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| author | Tesfa Gebrie Andualem Guna A. Hewa Baden R. Myers John Boland Stefan Peters |
| author_facet | Tesfa Gebrie Andualem Guna A. Hewa Baden R. Myers John Boland Stefan Peters |
| author_sort | Tesfa Gebrie Andualem |
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| description | Sediment transport in urban streams is a critical environmental issue, with significant implications for water quality, ecosystem health, and infrastructure management. Accurately estimating suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is essential for effective long-term environmental management. This study investigates the relationships between streamflow, turbidity, and SSC in Dry Creek, South Australia, to understand sediment transport dynamics in urbanised catchments. We collected grab samples from the field and analysed them in the laboratory. We employed statistical modelling to develop a sediment rating curve (SRC) that provides insights into the sediment transport dynamics in the urban stream. The grab sample measurements showed variations in SSC between 3.2 and 431.8 mg/L, with a median value of 77.3 mg/L. The analysis revealed a strong linear relationship between streamflow and SSC, while turbidity exhibited a two-regime linear relationship, in which the low-turbidity regime demonstrated a stronger linear relationship compared to the high-turbidity regime. This is attributed to the urbanised nature of the catchment, which contributes to a first-flush effect in turbidity. This contributes to sediment hysteresis, resulting in non-proportional turbidity and SSC responses to streamflow changes. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of a streamflow-based SRC for accurately predicting sediment discharge, explaining 97% of the variability in sediment discharge. The sediment discharge predicted using the SRC indicated a sediment load of 341.8 tonnes per year along the creek. The developed sediment rating curve provides a valuable tool for long-term sediment management in Dry Creek, enabling the assessment of downstream environmental risks. By addressing data limitations, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of sediment transport dynamics in urbanized environments, offering insights for informed decision-making and effective sediment management strategies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4e601eaabf6c44cb836077627beaa8a1 |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
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| series | Hydrology |
| spelling | doaj-art-4e601eaabf6c44cb836077627beaa8a12025-08-20T01:54:07ZengMDPI AGHydrology2306-53382024-11-01111119610.3390/hydrology11110196Predicting Suspended Sediment Transport in Urbanised Streams: A Case Study of Dry Creek, South AustraliaTesfa Gebrie Andualem0Guna A. Hewa1Baden R. Myers2John Boland3Stefan Peters4Sustainable Infrastructure and Resource Management (SIRM), UniSA-STEM, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, SA 5095, AustraliaSustainable Infrastructure and Resource Management (SIRM), UniSA-STEM, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, SA 5095, AustraliaSustainable Infrastructure and Resource Management (SIRM), UniSA-STEM, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, SA 5095, AustraliaIndustrial AI Research Centre, UniSA-STEM, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, SA 5095, AustraliaSustainable Infrastructure and Resource Management (SIRM), UniSA-STEM, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, SA 5095, AustraliaSediment transport in urban streams is a critical environmental issue, with significant implications for water quality, ecosystem health, and infrastructure management. Accurately estimating suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is essential for effective long-term environmental management. This study investigates the relationships between streamflow, turbidity, and SSC in Dry Creek, South Australia, to understand sediment transport dynamics in urbanised catchments. We collected grab samples from the field and analysed them in the laboratory. We employed statistical modelling to develop a sediment rating curve (SRC) that provides insights into the sediment transport dynamics in the urban stream. The grab sample measurements showed variations in SSC between 3.2 and 431.8 mg/L, with a median value of 77.3 mg/L. The analysis revealed a strong linear relationship between streamflow and SSC, while turbidity exhibited a two-regime linear relationship, in which the low-turbidity regime demonstrated a stronger linear relationship compared to the high-turbidity regime. This is attributed to the urbanised nature of the catchment, which contributes to a first-flush effect in turbidity. This contributes to sediment hysteresis, resulting in non-proportional turbidity and SSC responses to streamflow changes. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of a streamflow-based SRC for accurately predicting sediment discharge, explaining 97% of the variability in sediment discharge. The sediment discharge predicted using the SRC indicated a sediment load of 341.8 tonnes per year along the creek. The developed sediment rating curve provides a valuable tool for long-term sediment management in Dry Creek, enabling the assessment of downstream environmental risks. By addressing data limitations, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of sediment transport dynamics in urbanized environments, offering insights for informed decision-making and effective sediment management strategies.https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5338/11/11/196Dry Creeksediment dischargesediment rating curvesediment transportsuspended sediment concentration |
| spellingShingle | Tesfa Gebrie Andualem Guna A. Hewa Baden R. Myers John Boland Stefan Peters Predicting Suspended Sediment Transport in Urbanised Streams: A Case Study of Dry Creek, South Australia Hydrology Dry Creek sediment discharge sediment rating curve sediment transport suspended sediment concentration |
| title | Predicting Suspended Sediment Transport in Urbanised Streams: A Case Study of Dry Creek, South Australia |
| title_full | Predicting Suspended Sediment Transport in Urbanised Streams: A Case Study of Dry Creek, South Australia |
| title_fullStr | Predicting Suspended Sediment Transport in Urbanised Streams: A Case Study of Dry Creek, South Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Predicting Suspended Sediment Transport in Urbanised Streams: A Case Study of Dry Creek, South Australia |
| title_short | Predicting Suspended Sediment Transport in Urbanised Streams: A Case Study of Dry Creek, South Australia |
| title_sort | predicting suspended sediment transport in urbanised streams a case study of dry creek south australia |
| topic | Dry Creek sediment discharge sediment rating curve sediment transport suspended sediment concentration |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5338/11/11/196 |
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