Monitoring of non-point source pollutants load from a mixed forest land use

The aim of this study was to determine the unit load of NPS (non-point source) pollutants including organic variables such as BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), COD (chemical oxygen demand) and DOC (dissolved organic carbon), nitrogen and phosphorus constituents, and suspended solids (SS) and their event mean concentration (EMC) of runoff flows from a water-shed of mixed forest land use by intensive field experiments. Field monitoring for continuous measurements of rainfall, flow, and water quality was conducted over 12 storm events during 2008-2009 using automated and manual sampling methods. The EMCs of individual runoff event were estimated for each water quality constituent based on the flow rate and concentration data of runoff discharge. The average EMCs of BOD, COD, DOC, SS, TN (total nitrogen), NH4(+)-N, NO3(-)-N, TP (total phosphorus), PO4(3-)-P from the mixed forest land were 1.794, 3.498, 1.462, 10.269, 0.862, 0.044, 0.634, 0.034, and 0.005 mg/L, respectively. The annual unit loads of BOD, COD, DOC, SS, TN, NH4(+)-N, NO3(-)-N, TP and PO4(3-)-P were estimated as 66.9, 133.2, 55.5, 429.8, 36.5, 1.6, 26.9, 1.3 and 0.1 kg/(ha x yr), respectively. In addition, affecting parameters on the EMCs were investigated by statistic analysis of the field data. As a result, significant correlations with precipitation, rainfall intensity, and total runoff flows were found in most constituents.