Abstract
Motorway runoff transports mineral and organic materials to aquatic ecosystems which may provoke changes in the latter's chemical, physical and biological characteristics. We measured the water quality of a road runoff discharge and its effect on the periphyton communities in a small upland stream. The study was carried out during a summer low flow period (June to September 1998). We did not record notable, or lasting, effects of road runoff on physical and chemical parameters. Similarly, road runoff discharges did not change the mass (biomass, chlorophyll a) or the functioning (net primary production, respiration) of periphyton. The development of this community was most sensitive to rainfall and river flow conditions. The absence of impact possibly results from the fact that our monitoring was not carried out at times of more extreme road runoff. In fact, traffic and pollution, brought to the stream, were quite low and discharge dilutions were generally high during the study period. Thus this study should be continued to determine effects when discharges have potentially a high impact on the receiving water quality.
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