Author(s): A. Giulia Valerio; Marco Pilotti

Linked Author(s): Marco Pilotti

Keywords: Phosphorus monitoring; Lake Iseo; River load estimation; High-frequency sampling

Abstract: Continuous measurements of phosphorous concentration at the mouth of Oglio river highlighted a strong variability of the incoming nutrients in Lake Iseo, casting some doubts on the methodology commonly used for monitoring the river quality. In Italy, the ordinary way to characterize the nutrient content in a river is typically based on a monthly sampling. Recent literature has shown that this procedure may be misleading because it can overlook the increase of loads related to flushing of the river network during storm events (e.g., Abell et al., 2013, Johnes, 2007). This underestimation may be challenging especially for tributaries of a lake, when the trophic condition may lead to an eutrophic state. In this contribution we make use of the phosphorous (P) data measured at high frequency in a river to (i) identify the main reasons of the P variability and (ii) quantify the P underestimation following a low-frequency sampling strategy.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/978-981-11-2731-1_238-cd

Year: 2018