Evaluating the Potential Impacts of Municipal Wastewater Effluent on Benthic Macroinvertebrates in the Upper Bow River

Municipal wastewater effluent (MWWE) is a common, high-volume, point source effluent that is commonly released to urban aquatic systems. MWWE is a complex mixture containing nutrients and many emerging chemicals of concern (ESOCs), which may vary due to treatment type, receiving environments, and the population served. Outputs of MWWE have been associated with nutrient enrichment (eutrophication) but as populations grow and knowledge of ESOCs improves, it is crucial to understand how nutrient enrichment, and potential interactions of nutrients and ESOCs affect aquatic ecosystems. This study provides updated data on the basal aquatic food web of the Bow River in urban areas of its higher reaches (Canmore and Calgary) through characterizations of the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in the mainstem and experimental stream systems associated with Calgary’s Pine Creek wastewater treatment plant. Changes to benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages on a longitudinal gradient and cumulative exposure to MWWE in the Bow River were statistically significant and were generally associated with nutrient enrichment (particularly phosphorus). Through the use of different sampling methodologies, MWWE exposures in the experimental streams suggest that the high-quality treated effluent produced by the Pine Creek facility causes consistent, but divergent, cumulative effects in relation to background Bow River source water. In both projects, community metrics that identify types of taxa found in assemblages also described changes to communities more effectively than traditional metrics of urban disturbance such as diversity and richness.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biological Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Sutherland, Aphra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Wrona, Frederick John

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Flanagan, Kyla Martine
• Scrimgeour, Garry Joseph
• Hanisch, Justin

• Municipal Wastewater Effluent
• Benthic Macroinvertebrates
• Bow River

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/43461

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/118619