Trends in stream power and erosion at a suburban stream in Western New York
Streambank erosion is a highly damaging and prevalent nonpoint source pollution that impacts water quality, flow, and ecology. Urban watersheds are particularly sensitive due to a greater proportion of directly connected impervious land cover resulting in increased runoff into streams. Climate change has exacerbated the problem in the Northeast United States, as precipitation quantities, along with the frequency of high intensity storm events, have risen markedly in recent decades. Cross Canal Brook is a small stream east of Rochester, NY, and a tributary to Irondequoit Creek, where erosion and flooding events have seen a recent rise that has disturbed the local ecology and damaged human property. This project uses discharge data measured in the field, lab analysis of sediment and nutrients, and hydrological modeling to diagnose the causes of these phenomena. Field observations from this study confirm that severe erosion is taking place, and modeling results indicate that directly connected imperviousness has created a high runoff response to precipitation, worsened in the winter by inflow from Erie Canal dewatering.
urban streams, hydrology, erosion, pollution, stream power
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SUNY Brockport Department of Earth Sciences