Estimating phosphorus concentrations following alum treatment using apparent settling velocity

John Panuska; Dale M. Robertson

doi:10.1080/07438149909353949

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Estimating phosphorus concentrations following alum treatment using apparent settling velocity

John Panuska·Dale M. Robertson

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Abstract

he apparent settling velocity (Vs) is a term used in empirical, steady-state, mass-balance lake models to represent the net phosphorus flux from the water column. The Vollenweider (1969) mixed-reactor lake model was rearranged and used to calculate Vs values for total phosphorus (TP) for three lakes treated with alum to reduce the internal flux of P to the water column (Delavan Lake, Wisconsin; Lake Morey, Vermont; and West Twin Lake, Ohio). An analysis of Vs values was conducted using data from these three lakes for both the pre- and post-alum treated conditions. Analysis of Vs values for both the pre- and post-alum conditions in Lake Morey and West Twin Lake resulted in a post-treatment mean Vs value of 7 ± 2.0 m·yr −1 . The effect of the alum treatment, although short-lived in Delavan Lake, resulted in a mean post-treatment Vs value of 3.4 ± 0.3 m·yr −1 . The consistency in the post-treatment Vs values in Lake Morey and West Twin Lake is used to demonstrate a predictive analysis method for water column TP concentrations in lakes following a successful treatment of the anoxic sediment area with alum. Additional pre- and post-alum in-lake and watershed loading data are needed to advance this concept into a management model.

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Lake and Reservoir Management Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 38.403202° to 47.075956° latitude; -92.887067° to -71.464555° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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BibTeX RIS

John Panuska, Dale M. Robertson. 2009. Estimating phosphorus concentrations following alum treatment using apparent settling velocity. https://doi.org/10.1080/07438149909353949

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