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Sediment-Water Interactions¹

ABSTRACT

Sediment originating from soil erosion has physical, chemical, and biological effects on water resource use. Sediment particles pollute water to the extent that their presence reduces water quality for a particular use.

The physical presence of sediment produces turbidity. Turbid water has impaired water quality for most uses. Reduction in light penetration due to suspended sediment may alter oxygen relationships in surface water. Production of fish and other aquatic life is reduced by excess turbidity. Taste and odor, temperature, and abrasiveness of water may be altered by the physical presence of sediment.

Sediment in water provides a surface for the sorption and desorption of potential pollutants. The sediment particles may scavenge or remove substances such as nutrients, pesticides, heavy metals, and radioactive isotopes from water. The sorbed substances may be fixed so that they no longer are available as pollutants. They may be contacted by aquatic organisms and concentrated, in the aquatic food chain. Deposits of sediments with their sorbed constituents may be buried by later deposition. The buried deposits may be re-exposed or transported to new locations. The effects of sorption and desorption may be different in short term and long term periods.

Sediment influences eutrophication through deposition of sediments and through nutrients released from the sediments. The deposition effects are more obvious and may have a greater effect on eutrophication than the nutrients in the sediments.

Key Words: water quality • quality interchange • water use • turbidity • sorption characteristics of sediment

¹ Contribution from Agronomy Dep., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Paper presented Aug. 18, 1971, in New York City at the annual meeting of ASA and SSSA as part of the Division S-3 symposium "Sediments and Water Quality'."

² Professor, Soil Classification Extension, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana. 61801.

Received for publication September 2, 1971.