Changes in pollutant loadings during the flowing-down of a river joined by five tributaries were estimated. The estimation involved flowing-down rates and inclusive self-purification coefficients observed weekly during one year period. The flowing-down rate of pollutant loading was obtained for three cases : (1) high water days ; (2) low water days ; and (3) both. Generally, the flowing-down rates for almost all water quality indicators in high water days were greater as compared with those in low water days. However, the flowing-down rates for NH
4-N Org-N, and PO
4-P, which are mainly drained out from point sources, showed the opposite tendency. The pollutant loadings of NH
4-N, org-N, and PO
4-P are known to account for a greater portion of the annual total loading during dry weather runoff than do during stormy weather runoff.
The flowing-down rate became nearly 1.0 when the river discharge became more than about 5.5 m3·s
-1. The self-purification coefficient,
k, was estimated for water quality indicators related with organic matter by using the first-order equation of Streeter-Phelps. In most cases, the
k values were greater in low water days than those in high water days ; however, the
k values for TOC, DOC, T-N, and DTN exhibited the opposite tendency.
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