U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Scientific Investigations Report 2007–5186
Nutrient and Suspended-Sediment Transport and Trends in the Columbia River and Puget Sound Basins, 1993–2003
National Water-Quality Assessment Program
By Daniel R. Wise, Frank A. Rinella III, Joseph F. Rinella, Greg J. Fuhrer, Sandra S. Embrey, Gregory M. Clark, Gregory E. Schwarz, and Steven Sobieszczyk
Table of Contents
Conversion Factors, Vertical Datums, and Abbreviations and Acronyms
Foreword
Abstract
Introduction
Description of Columbia River and Puget Sound Basins
Data Sources
Methods of Analysis
Transport of Nutrients and Suspended-Sediment in Columbia River and Puget Sound Basins
Nutrients and Suspended-Sediment Yields
Trends in Nutrients and Suspended-Sediment, 1993–2003
Summary and Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References Cited
Appendix A. Results of Loadest Modeling, Flow-Weighted Concentrations, Yields, Drainage Areas, and Mean Annual Streamflows for Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, and Suspended Sediment for Water Years 1997, 2000, and 2001 (PDF, 1.86 MB)
Appendix B. Methodology for Computing Trends in Annual Streamflow, Trends in Load, and Flow- and Non-Flow-Adjusted Trends in Concentration (PDF, 119 KB)
Figures
Figure 1. Columbia River and Puget Sound Basins and locations of water-quality monitoring sites.
Figure 2. Daily mean discharge for the Columbia River at Beaver Army Terminal, Oregon, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 3. Annual mean daily streamflow in the Willamette River at Portland, Oregon, water years 1973–2003.
Figure 4. Daily mean streamflow in the Willamette River at Portland, Oregon, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 5. Comparison of monthly mean streamflow during water year 2000 with mean monthly streamflow during water years 1973–2003 for the Willamette River at Portland, Oregon.
Figure 6. Statistical distribution of the 91 delineated catchment drainage areas in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins.
Figure 7. Relations between concentrations of total nitrogen and suspended sediment and discharge for Willamette River at Portland, Oregon, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 8. Examples of data smoothing demonstrating temporal variability of daily mean streamflow and instantaneous total nitrogen concentrations for Willamette River at Portland, Oregon, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 9. Estimated point-source loads divided into quartiles for total nitrogen and total phosphorus, Columbia River basin, water year 2000.
Figure 10. Estimated discharges from point sources to the Columbia River that exceed the 75th percentile of all point sources for total nitrogen and total phosphorus, water year 2000.
Figure 11. Locations of sampling sites in the Columbia River and its tributaries and selected point sources discharging directly to the Columbia River, Oregon and Washington, water year 2000.
Figure 12. Annual mean discharge of total nitrogen loads in the Columbia River, and relative total nitrogen load contributions from Columbia River monitored tributaries and point sources, Oregon and Washington, water year 2000.
Figure 13. Annual mean discharge of total phosphorus loads in the Columbia River, and relative total phosphorus load contributions from Columbia River monitored tributaries and point sources, Oregon and Washington, water year 2000.
Figure 14. Annual mean discharge of suspended-sediment loads in the Columbia River and relative suspended-sediment load contributions from Columbia River monitored tributaries, Oregon and Washington, water year 2000.
Figure 15. Locations of sampling sites in the Willamette River and its tributaries, and selected point sources discharging directly to the Willamette River, Oregon, water year 2000.
Figure 16. Annual mean discharge of total nitrogen loads in the Willamette River and relative total nitrogen load contributions from Willamette River monitored tributaries and point sources, Oregon, water year 2000.
Figure 17. Annual mean discharge of total phosphorus loads in the Willamette River and relative total phosphorus contributions from Willamette River monitored tributaries and point sources, Oregon, water year 2000.
Figure 18. Annual mean discharge of suspended-sediment loads in the Willamette River and relative suspended-sediment load contributions from Willamette River monitored tributaries, Oregon, water year 2000.
Figure 19. Locations of sampling sites in the Snake River and its tributaries, and selected point sources discharging directly to the Snake River, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming, water year 2000.
Figure 20. Annual mean discharge of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment loads in the Snake River, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington, water year 2000.
Figure 21. Locations of sampling sites in Puget Sound tributaries, and selected point sources discharging directly to the Puget Sound and its major tributaries, Washington, water year 2000.
Figure 22. Contribution of monitored tributary and estimated point-source loads of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment to the Puget Sound basin, Washington, water year 2000.
Figure 23. Land use for the 91 catchments with delineated drainage areas for the Columbia River and Puget Sound Basins, calendar year 2000.
Figure 24. Estimated annual catchment yields divided into quartiles for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and sediment for the Columbia River and Puget Sound Basins, water year 2000.
Figure 25. Estimated annual point-source loads as a percentage of annual in stream loads for total nitrogen and total phosphorus, Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water year 2000.
Figure 26. Summary of annual nutrient load to delineated catchments for total nitrogen and total phosphorus in the Columbia River and Puget Sound Basins, water year 2000 and calendar year 2002.
Figure 27. Distribution of flow-adjusted trends in concentration of total nitrogen in percentage per year and milligrams per liter per year, Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 28. Distribution of flow-adjusted trends in concentration of total phosphorous in percentage per year and milligrams per liter per year, Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 29. Distribution of flow-adjusted trends in concentration of suspended sediment in percentage per year and milligrams per liter per year, Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, for water years 1993–2003.
Figure 30. Flow-adjusted trends in concentration of total nitrogen, Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 31. Flow-adjusted trends in concentrations of total phosphorus, Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 32. Flow-adjusted trends in concentration of suspended sediment, Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Figure 33. Measured suspended-sediment concentrations, Hood River, Oregon, water years 1993–2003.
Tables
Table 1. Description of water-quality monitoring sites in the Columbia and Puget Sound River Basins.
Table 2. Streamflow sites used for nutrient and suspended-sediment load computations in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins for selected water years.
Table 3. Rules for computing total nitrogen concentration from total Kjeldahl nitrogen and dissolved nitrite plus nitrate as nitrogen.
Table 4. Comparison of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended-sediment loads based on sampling results from co-located sites operated by U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies.
Table 5. Industrial categories contributing to total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads in the Columbia and Puget Sound basins.
Table 6. Quartile ranges for total nitrogen and total phosphorus point-source loads in the Columbia and Puget Sound basins, water year 2000.
Table 7. Accounting for annual mean streamflow in the main stem of the Columbia River, water year 2000.
Table 8. Annual mean discharge of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment loads in the Columbia River, monitored Columbia River tributaries, and point sources discharging directly to the Columbia River, Oregon and Washington, water year 2000.
Table 9. Relative discharge of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment loads from three major tributaries to Columbia River between Vernita Bridge, Washington, and Warrendale, Oregon, water year 2000.
Table 10. Mean annual discharge of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment loads in the Willamette River, monitored Willamette River tributaries, and point sources discharging directly to the Willamette River, Oregon, water year 2000.
Table 11. Accounting for annual mean streamflow in the Willamette River, Oregon, water year 2000.
Table 12. Annual mean discharges of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment loads in the Snake River, monitored Snake River tributaries, and point sources discharging directly to the Snake River, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington, water year 2000.
Table 13. Summary of annual yields for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1997, 2000, and 2001.
Table 14. Quartile ranges for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment annual yields for the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water year 2000.
Table 15. Summary of total point-source annual nutrient loads as a percentage of predicted instream annual loads, Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water year 2000.
Table 16. Results from multiple linear regression of catchment characteristics on catchment yields in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water year 2000.
Table 17. Number of sites with significant decreasing, increasing, or no flow-adjusted trend in concentration by collecting/analyzing agency in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Table 18. Summary of flow-adjusted trends in concentration of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended sediment in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Table 19. Flow-adjusted trends in concentration, non-flow-adjusted trends in concentration, and trends in annual loads for total nitrogen in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Table 20. Flow-adjusted trends in concentration, non-flow-adjusted trends in concentration, and trends in annual loads for total phosphorus in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Table 21. Flow-adjusted trends in concentration, non-flow-adjusted trends in concentration, and trends in annual loads for suspended sediment in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water years 1993–2003.
Table 22. Summary of sources and stream annual loads for total nitrogen and total phosophorus in the Columbia River and Puget Sound basins, water year 2000 and calendar year 2002. (PDF, 535 KB)
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Send questions or comments about this report to the author, D.R. Wise, (503) 251-3213.
For more information about USGS activities in Oregon, visit the USGS Oregon Water Science Center home page.