Septic Tank Impacts on Ground Water Quality and Nearshore Sediment Nutrient Flux

Abstract

AbstractField studies were conducted at three coastal plain sites to characterize inorganic nutrient and fecal coliform bacteria ground water quality and intertidal sediment nutrient fluxes under the influence of residential septic tank effluent. Mean drainfield DIP (dissolved inorganic phosphorus) and DIN (dissolved inorganic nitrogen) concentrations varied between 294 to 336 and 4494 to 5391 μmol/L, respectively, with mean fecal coliform bacteria densities ranging from 105.04 to 106.29 MPN (most probable number) /100 mL. DIP and fecal coliform bacteria exhibited a high degree of attenuation with shoreline concentrations at or near background levels. In contrast, septic tank nitrogen loadings to shallow ground water were significant and resulted in mean shoreline DIN concentrations ∼50 to 100 times greater than adjacent surface water concentrations. Mean site sediment DIP and DIN flux to surface waters varied from 1.1 to 1.6 and 52 to 135 μmol/m2/hr, respectively. Whereas DIP sediment fluxes were similar to reported values for sites adjacent to forested and agricultural lands, DIN fluxes were elevated compared to forested lands and near the lower end of the range reported for agricultural lands within the southern Chesapeake Bay region. Maximum measured sediment DIN flux was 1514 μmol/m2/hr. Estimated waste water nitrogen loading to shallow ground water (5.7 to 10.7 kg/household/yr) was significant and with 0.5 to 1 acre lot sizes, comparable to water table nitrogen loadings from dominant row‐crop land use in the mid‐Atlantic Coastal Plain. Given the trends in population growth in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and other coastal regions, nitrogen loads from septic tanks to these systems should also be expected to increase.