A one-dimensional, steady-state, dissolved-oxygen model and waste-load assimilation study for Little Lick and Big Lick Creeks, Blackford and Delaware counties, Indiana
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Abstract
The Indiana State Board of Health is developing a State water-quality management plan that includes establishing limits for liquid wastes discharged into Indiana streams. A digital computer model was used to predict alternatives for future waste loadings on Little Lick and Big Lick Creeks that would be compatible with Indiana stream water-quality standards defined for two critical hydrologic conditions, summer and winter low flows.
The model parameters included atmospheric reaeration, carbonaceous and nitrogenous biochemical-oxygen demand, and benthic-oxygen demand. The model was calibrated with data collected during three water-quality surveys at low flow. Verification of the model was not possible owing to varied effluent discharge during sampling. During these surveys, in-stream dissolved-oxygen concentration averaged less than 3 milligrams per liter, well below the State minimum requirement of 5.0 milligrams per liter. The model indicated that these low concentrations were caused by high waste loadings, lack of dilution, low reaeration, and benthic-oxygen demand.
The hypothetical summer waste-assimilation study assumed that future reductions in discharge Loadings would decrease carbonaceous and benthic decay and increase nitrogenous decay. This hypothetical study indicated that projected effluent waste loads that would provide acceptable in-stream dis-solved-oxygen concentrations are highly dependent on rates of nitrification. Ammonia toxicity became the limiting water-quality criterion at low nitrification rates.
The hypothetical winter waste-assimilation study indicated that projected dissolved-oxygen concentrations in Little Lick and Big Lick Creeks did not fall below the State standard. Owing to a lack of dilution, however, ammonia-nitrogen concentrations would violate in-stream toxicity standards in both Little Lick and Big Lick Creeks. In order to quantify the results of the waste-assimilation study, it would be necessary to collect additional stream data.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | A one-dimensional, steady-state, dissolved-oxygen model and waste-load assimilation study for Little Lick and Big Lick Creeks, Blackford and Delaware counties, Indiana |
| Series title | Open-File Report |
| Series number | 80-73 |
| DOI | 10.3133/ofr8073 |
| Year Published | 1980 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Contributing office(s) | Indiana Water Science Center |
| Description | ix, 102 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Indiana |
| County | Blackford County, Delaware County |
| Online Only (Y/N) | N |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |