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Nutrient uptake and macroinvertebrate community structure in a highly regulated Mediterranean stream receiving treated wastewater

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Abstract

Streamflow augmentation with treated wastewater has been suggested as a strategy for increasing flow in streams, but at the same time, concern has been raised regarding the possible deterioration of water quality. In this study, the spatial and temporal distributions of nutrient uptake rates and macroinvertebrates were measured in a Mediterranean lowland stream (Yarqon, Israel), upstream and downstream of treated wastewater input. Over the last decade, the average downstream reach’s nutrient demand, depicted as the uptake velocities of NH4 +–N, NO3 −–N, and PO4 3−–P, increased by factors of 50, 10, and 6, respectively. The decrease in the ambient concentration of NH4 +–N, from an average of 39 to 2.8 mg L−1 after upgrading the effluent quality, was the main reason for the observed improvements in uptake velocities. Nevertheless, the uptake length in the Yarqon Stream after the improvement in the quality of the treated wastewater was improved only for NH4 +–N, and deteriorated for NO3 −–N, and PO4 3−–P. Following the improvement in water quality, the uptake velocities and the macroinvertebrate communities in the downstream section are currently not significantly different from those in the upstream section. The macroinvertebrate assemblage structure reveals that tolerant taxa dominate the stream, and the increase of the taxa richness in the downstream section is attributed to rare and more sensitive taxa that recolonized this section following water quality improvement. The results suggest that improving the quality of the treated wastewater that is used for stream flow augmentation can have a positive effect on nutrient uptake velocities and macroinvertebrate assemblage structure. However, further ecological and economical cost-benefit analysis is needed to evaluate the feasibility of using treated wastewater augmentation for Mediterranean stream restoration.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by generous funding from the Ellis Goodman Family Foundation, by the European Commission FP5 project STREAMES (EVK1-CT-2000-00081), and by the Yarqon River Authority. We thank Dr. Gitay Yahel for help with the macroinvertebrate statistical analysis, and Dr. David Pargament, Jonathan Raz, and Philip Rubinzaft from the Yarqon River Authority and Irina Rabinski and Natasha Segal for technical assistance in the field and laboratory and for helpful discussions. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor for providing constructive comments that greatly improved this paper.

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  1. Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84990, Sede Boqer, Israel

    Shai Arnon & Nimrod Avni

  2. Ruppin Academic Center, School of Marine Sciences, 40297, Michmoret, Israel

    Sarig Gafny

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  1. Shai Arnon
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  2. Nimrod Avni
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Correspondence to Shai Arnon.

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Arnon, S., Avni, N. & Gafny, S. Nutrient uptake and macroinvertebrate community structure in a highly regulated Mediterranean stream receiving treated wastewater. Aquat Sci 77, 623–637 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0407-6

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