Development of an electronic seepage chamber for extended use in a river

Seepage chambers have been used to characterize the flux of water across the water-sediment interface in a variety of settings. In this work, an electronic seepage chamber was developed specifically for long-term use in a large river where hydraulic gradient reversals occur frequently with river-stage variations. A bidirectional electronic flowmeter coupled with a seepage chamber was used to measure temporal changes in the magnitude and direction of water flux across the water-sediment interface over an 8-week period. The specific discharge measured from the seepage chamber compared favorably with measurements of vertical hydraulic gradient and previous specific discharge calculations. This, as well as other supporting data, demonstrates the effectiveness of the electronic seepage chamber to accurately quantify water flux in two directions over a multimonth period in this setting. The ability to conduct multimonth measurements of water flux at a subhourly frequency in a river system is a critical capability for a seepage chamber in a system where hydraulic gradients change on a daily and seasonal basis.