IMPACT OF WATER QUALITY ON THE FLUXES OF GREENHOUS GASES FOR REGULATED RIVERS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1028558
• Grant No.: 2022-38821-37347
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $268,000.00
• Proposal No.: 2021-12844
• Project Start Date: May 1, 2022
• Project End Date: Apr 7, 2025
• Grant Year: 2022
• Program Code: [EQ]- Research Project

Recipient Organization
WEST VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY
PO BOX 1000
INSTITUTE,WV 25112

Performing Department
West Virginia State University

Non Technical Summary
Regulating a river has multiple benefits such as transport, irrigation, flooding control, hydropower electricity and also in drinking water supply. This regulation modifies the natural river flow by imposing field conditions to the aquatic life and water quality. The imposed field conditions favor the production of greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide which are emitted to the atmosphere. For example, methane is a potent greenhouse gas of concern in climate change. Greenhouse gases are easily identified by bubbling in shallow bay zones where sedimentation and stagnant water occur. To know the role of water quality, atmospheric conditions and sediments in the production of greenhouse gases, this study focuses on the water quality conditions producing methane and carbon dioxide for the Kanawha River, West Virginia as an example of a regulated river. The high temporal and spatial variability of greenhouse gas fluxes will be investigated with the aim to explain the role of water quality. Also, the use of statistics will allow to identify the more important water quality variables determining greenhouse gases as well as the possibilities to reduce instrumentation in the field. Finally, field data collection and statistical analyses will serve as a framework to know the impact of greenhouse gases from regulated rivers in other regions in the country and elsewhere.

Animal Health Component

80%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

80%

Developmental

20%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
112	0310	1070	100%

Knowledge Area
112 - Watershed Protection and Management;

Subject Of Investigation
0310 - River basins;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

ecohydrology

methane

sediments

water chemistry

Goals / Objectives
The major goal in this research is understanding the role of water quality in the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions for regulated rivers. Since GHG emissions is a multi-factor problem, there will be simultaneous monitoring of GHG fluxes, water quality, meteorological conditions and sediment characterization in representative water columns. The following objectives are proposed. Objective 1: Conduct field data collection of sediments, water quality and GHGs emissions assisting in the identification of the forcing mechanisms explaining fluxes of GHGs. It implies identification of the variables, periodic sampling and continuous monitoring to get useful datasets for the relationship analyses with the aim to explain GHGs fluxes. It is planned that locations where observations will be conducted cover a variety of water quality and climate conditions in a regulated river to successfully explain GHG fluxes from representative water columns. It will require collaboration of the PI, co-PI's, students and a research technician during the first and second year.Objective 2: Analyze relationships of the variables related with water quality and fluxes of GHGs using frames of physical, chemical and biological processes. It is developing a process-based and data-driven analyses of datasets. The process-based approach will facilitate the analyses of phenomena associated with atmospheric conditions at the water-air interface such as water evaporation and flow regimes through a hydrologic-hydrodynamic model, whereas the data-driven will address the sediment-water interface in order to explain gas transfer and the role of water quality. Both approaches will establish relationships of the water column components at the site of study covering the CH4 and CO2 fluxes observed at the water-air interface, water quality conditions and sediment characterization. This stage will allow to explain GHGs fluxes subjected to a spatiotemporal variability, and will accomplished between the second and third year with the PI, a research technician and students.Objective 3: Identify key relationships between water quality and fluxes of GHGs and analyze their spatiotemporal variability. It will show the more important statistical relationships of the water column variables to know the role of water quality, atmospheric conditions and sediments characteristics on GHG fluxes. This approach will show alternatives to simplify the number of variables to monitor and the processes to observe in order to explain GHGs fluxes under limited instrumentation. Additionally, based on the spatiotemporal resolution of measurements of GHGs fluxes, it will be quantified the uncertainty of them. This work will be accomplished during the third year, participating PI, Co-PI's, a research technician and students.

Project Methods
Field data collection will focus on points of observations to identify the day/night, cooling/heating and wet/dry seasonal patterns along the year in order to know their influences on fluxes of GHGs. Also, in these periodic monitoring, there is going to be an assessment in the short-term (scales of seconds, minutes and hours) for the best overall calculations of the different GHGs pathways such as ebullitive (bubbling) and diffusive fluxes. Field data collection of GHGs will be accomplished with a portable gas analyzer (GLA131-GGA) to measure gas fluxes at the water-air interface with a time step of 1 second. At the same time, water quality data will be monitored by means of a multi-probe sonde reading water temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, nitrates, chlorophyll, pH, specific conductance and ORP with a time step of 1 min. Additionally, it will be installed two separate probes to measure dissolved CO2 and CH4 at the sediment layer of the same location with time step of 2 seconds. To know climate conditions, it will be installed a ClimaVUE™50 climate station logging precipitation, solar radiation, air temperature, humidity and barometric pressure with a time step of 1min. Also, a RM Young 81000 Ultrasonic 3D sonic anemometer logging wind speed and direction at a frequency of 20Hz to retrieve turbulence of atmospheric conditions. Temporal GHG data will be collected with continuous monitoring at four locations (three between dams and one in a tributary to the Kanawha River as non-regulated river flow) for 24h to measure GHG fluxes, water quality and meteorological data. This temporal analysis will be conducted once per season (winter, spring, summer and fall). This field data collection will generate 16 datasets aiding to identify the periods during the day with representative GHG emissions as well as the estimation of diffusive and ebullitive fluxes. Spatial GHG data will be collected with periodic monitoring of GHG, water quality and meteorological data will be conducted for a river section between dams and also for a tributary to the Kanawha River as non-regulated river flow to know the spatial variability. The two river sections will be monitored during 3h in 10 representative different locations that will be conducted at every season (winter, spring, summer and fall). This field data collection will generate 80 datasets aiding to explain spatial variability between dams and also the potential difference with respect to a non-regulated river. For each dataset also sediment characterization in the lab at the WVSU estimating total organic carbon, ions concentration and soluble metals.Statistical analyses will focus on identifying relationships of the variables describing the water column in terms of water quality, sediment composition and atmospheric conditions. From all datasets, the first step is conducting a filtering and homogenization of time step for all variables as well as definition of the field conditions in terms of sediment composition for each dataset. The second step is conducting a statistical test to analyze variance (ANOVA) and identification of contrasting field conditions (t-test paired two samples for means). And the third step is focused on the identification of relationships between GHG fluxes and water quality (Spearman and Pearson coefficients) as well as exploring the possibility to establish global linear models. All these tasks will identify the field conditions and variables ranges triggering GHG fluxes in regulated rivers.

Progress 05/01/24 to 04/30/25

Outputs
Target Audience:Accomplished work gave the opportunity to train a research technician and undergraduate students at the WVSU. Description of our work was documented and shared as a preprint manuscript to the public with focus on the scientific community. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Computational modeling was an opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary team. Also, it was an experiential learning since we aimed to realistically reproduce a real-world problem conducting a deep analysis on the challenges to count on accurate fielddata, capabilities of the mathematical models and computational resources. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A document explaining the model, input data and analysis was published online as a preprint,including computational simulations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Major effort was focused on Objective 3 by developing a spatiotemporal model illustrating transport and fate of sediments. A two-dimensional computational model integrating a hydrologic and a hydrodynamic frame was accomplished and it was used to simulate the effects of river flow dynamics by following the shallow water equations. Over this model was simulated transport of sediments by means of particulate loads. These computational simulations provided a further insight about the effects of dispersion along the river and the effects of the river junctions.

Publications

• Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2025 Citation: Preprint: Rojano, Fernando. 2025. Modeling Hydrodynamic Dispersion of Suspended Particulate Loads in the Regulated Kanawha River, West Virginia. [Preprint] DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12182.05449.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2025 Citation: Rojano, Fernando (2025). Computational simulation of dispersion effects in the Kanawha River, WV. figshare. Media. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28727156.v1

Progress 05/01/22 to 04/29/25

Outputs
Target Audience:In the first year of the project, research progress was shared in a regional symposium event "Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education (ORBCRE)", which took place on October 6-7, 2022, at Youngstown State University, inviting researchers and students engaged in rivers and water quality. Research progress in the subsequent year involved training and experiential learning of graduate students, research technicians under supervision of faculty at the West Virginia State University (WVSU). As results of these efforts, research advancements were presented at three scientific events for audiences interested in these themes. And research progress of the third year was documented and disseminated as a preprint manuscript and a computational simulation for public access for the scientific community and stakeholders. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This research project involved a multidisciplinary team composed of a graduate student who worked the first year with three faculty members, two research technicians, and a postdoctoral researcher. Our primary objective was to identify the main drivers in biogeochemical processes in regulated rivers. The progress of the research was shared at a specialized symposium, and additional findings were scheduled for presentation at conferences focusing on ecology and water resources. In addition, the second year two graduate students from the Master Program in Biotechnology at WVSU participated actively by engaging in field sampling and experimental preparation. Their involvement provided them with practical experience in conducting sampling and experiments. During the third year, this project also incorporated computational modeling, which served as an experiential learning module by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, one faculty member and two students were involved. This approach enabled the team to simulate a regulated river, while also finding ways to incorporate accurate field data, evaluating the capabilities of mathematical models, and utilizing available computational resources. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Research progress was presented as posters, oral presentations in various scientific events, also a preprint and a computational simulation are publicly available. The list of these presentations were as follows: Posterat the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education (ORBCRE) symposium held at Youngstown State University on October 6-7, 2022. Oral presentationsat the 2023 Annual Water Resources Conference,the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society, the 2023 Annual Water Resources Conference, and the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society. Also an oral presentation at the 2023 American Geophysics Union and a poster presentation at the ARD Research Symposium 2024 organized by the Association of 1890 Research Directors. For 2025, it has been published online a preprint and a computational simulation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project's first goal was to explain the roles of land-use/land-cover classifications and the rural/urban gradient in determining water quality for the Kanawha River, WV. This regulated river by dams has multiple utilitarian roles, since water is used for human consumption, agriculture, recreation, navigation, and hydropower generation. An area of interest (AOI) for sampling was a 58 km-length of the Kanawha River, where it was included the urban area of Charleston, WV. This AOI has sediments which are a mix of upstream deposits and urban discharges. The degradative processes in these sediments, rich in organic matter, are linked to biogeochemical processes, which in turn define water quality and have potential impacts on aquatic life, increasing its ecological relevance of understanding primarily organic matter decomposition. As main task in Objective 1, the study examined accumulated sediments in shallow areas, through digital map analyses, providing targeted locations for sediment sample collection. Such sediment samples were the basis for laboratory analyses. In the laboratory, initial analyses of collected sediment samples allowed for the determination of water quality and sediment changes which facilitated an analysis of relationships between them. Additionally, a temperature-dependent approach was used to project changes on CO2 and CH4 from sedimentsusing the Arrhenius equation, thereby providing insights into the potential variability along a year. As Objective 2, research work was focused on knowing water quality changes in sediment samples. Experiments were conducted by incubating sediment samples in closed chambers while monitoring water chemistry parameters (specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, temperature, and oxidation-reduction potential) over time. Simultaneous monitoring of CO2 and CH4 fluxes indicated a rapid response of the sediment samples, with observed CH4 fluxes being about 1/20 of the CO2 fluxes in sediments containing between 53% and 61% organic matter. Notably, different water chemistry parameters exhibited asynchronous stabilization patterns; for instance, temperature, turbidity, and ORP reached steady values over a period of two days, whereas specific conductance and pH required more than five days. These findings remark the complexity of biogeochemical interactions among bacteria, nutrients, and environmental conditions in sediment matrices. On the other hand, a major effort of the project was dedicated to Objective 3, which involved the development of a spatiotemporal model to assess the transport and fate of river sediments. A two-dimensional computational model, integrating both hydrologic and hydrodynamic frameworks was established based on the shallow water equations. This model simulated the transport of sediments through the incorporation of particulate loads, thus providing further insights into the effects of dispersion and the influence of river junctions on sediment distribution along the Kanawha River.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Poster: Saenz-Garcia, Daniel, Fernando Rojano, Flor Guerrero, Maria Gonzalez and David Huber Estimate methane generation on the Kanawha River watershed. 2022. Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education (ORBCRE), October 6-7. Youngstown, OH.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Rojano, Fernando. 2023. Riverine Fluxes of CO2 and CH4 of a Regulated River 2023 at the UCOWR/NIWR Annual Water Resources Conference, Jun. 13-15, Fort Collins, CO.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Rojano, Fernando. 2023. CO2 and CH4 diffusive fluxes of a regulated and urban river shoreline. 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society. Jun. 6-9, Tampa, FL.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Rojano, Fernando, Graciela Martinez-Ramirez, David H Huber, Flor de Maria Guerrero-Toledo, Amir Hass. 2023. Fluxes of CO2 and CH4 of deposited sediments in a regulated river. American Geophysics Union 2023. Dec. 11-15, San Francisco, CA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Martinez-Ramirez, Graciela, Fernando Rojano, David H. Huber, Flor de Maria Guerrero-Toledo, Maria del Carmen Gonzalez-Rangel, Bhuparaj Bhattarai, Sailesh Phuyal, Amir Hass. 2024. CO2 and CH4 fluxes and water chemistry in ex-situ river sediments samples. Association of Research Directors Symposium 2024. Apr. 6-9, Nashville, TN.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2025 Citation: Rojano, Fernando. 2025. Modeling Hydrodynamic Dispersion of Suspended Particulate Loads in the Regulated Kanawha River, West Virginia. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12182.05449. [Preprint]
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2025 Citation: Rojano, Fernando. 2025. Computational simulation of dispersion effects in the Kanawha River, WV. figshare. Media. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28727156.v1

Progress 05/01/23 to 04/30/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The second year of this project we accomplished field surveys for sampling sediments within the Kanawha River watershed with focus on the urban area of Charleston, WV. This stage investigated emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) and water chemistry from river sediments. Measurements were conducted in laboratory conditions, placing river water and sediment samples from various locations in closed chambers. This approach allowed us to know transient responses for greenhouse gases and water chemistry. This work involved research technicians and faculty members and it became an experiential learning for graduate students at the WVSU. Also, research progress was presented in four events to the scientific community interested in this theme. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate students from the Master Program in Biotechnology at the WVSU were involved insampling and preparing experiments related to this project. So they gained knowledge about how to conduct researchon environmental engineering. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of our experiments were presented in four scientific meetings: 2023 Annual Water Resources Conference, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society, the American Geophysics Union and the ARD Research Symposium 2024 by the Association of 1890 Research Directors. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our project will cover a set of experiments with river water and sediment samples in order to determine emissions of greenhouse gases and the relationship with water chemistry. This set of experiments is focused on methane and carbon dioxide fluxes with water chemistry (specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, temperature and ORP) when samples are incubated and monitored over time. As expected, several repetitions are neededto identify emission ratesof greenhouse gases and water chemistry changes. Since laboratory conditions reduces variability related to environment conditions, we should be able to identify the role of initial conditions of water chemistry and sediment composition and better explain theresponses over time.Additionally, multiple experiments will serve todefine the accuracy of thefluxesand water chemistry changes. After statistical analysis and identification of fluxes and water chemistry changes, we plan toinfer what may be occurring in the field.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project investigates sediments from a river having regulated flow by dams. The effect of regulating flow contributes to accumulation of sediments in bays and shores. These sediments become an environmental concern due to high emissions of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide and also may change water quality of the river. The Kanawha River, WV watershed has been chosen, in particular the urban area of Charleston, WV, as the area of study. This urban area has several locations with sediment deposition which are a mixture of sediments coming from upper regions of the watershed and urban discharges. The high content of organic matter in sediments undergoes decomposition causing greenhouse gases emissions and some changes in water quality that may impact aquatic life. The Kanawha River, WV has several purposes in the region, from agriculture, recreation, navigation to hydropower. Due to the multiple benefits, it is relevant to understand the capacity of the river to store sediments, the relationship with water quality once those sediments undergo breakdown and the ecologic role due to emissions of greenhouse gases. For an accurate assessment of the river sediments, we followed the approach of taking samples to the lab, which were incubated in closed chambers. Those sediments were monitored over time to know how water chemistry was changing (specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, temperature and ORP). Simultaneously, methane and carbon dioxide were monitored to know how they evolve over time too. In addition, we characterized the river water and sediments composition before and after incubating those sediments. Our current progress indicated that incubated sediments samples quickly responded over time for emissions of methane and carbon dioxide; however, methane fluxes were 1/20 when compated to carbon dioxide fluxes for our samples of sediments containing between 53% and 61% of organic matter. For the same sediments samples, we have also monitored water chemistry over time, which had asynchronous responses. For instance, temperature, turbidity and ORP may take two days for steady measurements whereas specific conductance and pH may need more than five days. Nonetheless, the complex interaction among bacteria, nutrients and environment for each river sediment sample requires additional experiments that may help to estimate the potential of greenhouse gases emissions as well as water chemistry changes.

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Fernando Rojano, Riverine Fluxes of CO2 and CH4 of a Regulated River 2023 at the UCOWR/NIWR Annual Water Resources Conference, Jun. 13-15, Fort Collins, CO.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Fernando Rojano, CO2 and CH4 diffusive fluxes of a regulated and urban river shoreline. 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society. Jun. 6-9, Tampa, FL.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Fernando Rojano, Graciela Martinez-Ramirez, David H Huber, Flor de Maria Guerrero-Toledo, Amir Hass. Fluxes of CO2 and CH4 of deposited sediments in a regulated river. American Geophysics Union 2023. Dec. 11-15, San Francisco, CA.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Graciela Martinez-Ramirez, Fernando Rojano, David H. Huber, Flor de Maria Guerrero-Toledo, Maria del Carmen Gonzalez-Rangel, Bhuparaj Bhattarai, Sailesh Phuyal, Amir Hass. CO2 and CH4 fluxes and water chemistry in ex-situ river sediments samples. Association of Research Directors Symposium 2024. Apr. 6-9, Nashville, TN.

Progress 05/01/22 to 04/30/23

Outputs
Target Audience:During the first year there was an internship of a graduate student, whose effort was understanding the main drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in regulated rivers. Results were summarized in a poster "Estimate methane generation on the Kanawha River watershed. This work was coauthored by Daniel Saenz-Garcia, Fernando Rojano, Flor Guerrero, Maria Gonzalez and David Huber". This poster was presented in a regional symposium: the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education (ORBCRE) which has held on October 6-7, 2022 and hosted at the Youngstown State University. https://ysu.edu/orbcre-symposium. The target audience was the community of researchers and students involved in environmental studies in the region. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?There was a graduate student as internship who started this research and three faculty members, two research technicians and a postdoc collaborated in this study to identify the main drivers generating greenhouse gases in regulated rivers. Also, it was the opportunity to present this research progress in a specialized symposium and other results will be presented in conferences related with the themes of ecology and water resources. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Research progress was presented in a poster "Estimate methane generation on the Kanawha River watershed. This work was coauthored by Daniel Saenz-Garcia, Fernando Rojano, Flor Guerrero, Maria Gonzalez and David Huber". It was presented in a regional symposium: the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education (ORBCRE) which was on October 6-7, 2022 and hosted at the Youngstown State University. Current progress will be presented in two conferences: 2023 Annual Water Resources Conference, and the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I plan to continue measuring fluxes in the field as well as in the lab, at the same time knowing water chemistry and sample composition in order to identify relationships with fluxes of greenhouse gases. The implementation of before-after control-impact approach will be explored and the transient responses of the gases emissions will be monitored. Also, these findings will be used as input data for spatial and temporal distribution of the potential greenhouse gases emissions along a regulated river.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have addressed Objective 1 in the first year, investigating the watershed of the Kanawha River, WV as the area of interest. The purpose was to identify the role of the land-use/land-cover and rural/urban areas in the estimations of the potential production of methane. Then, shallow areas were identified by means of digital maps, from these analyses there were locations to be sampled. As first stage of these studies a set of samples were taken to the laboratory in order to measure carbon dioxide and methane. Measurements of these two gases allowed to know emission rates under fixed environment conditions (temperature, air humidity and atmospheric pressure) and analyses of the samples in order to identify relationships between composition of samples and fluxes. Knowing the greenhouse gas emissions and relying on digital maps defining the areas where sediments can be potentially accumulated, it was found a first estimation of fluxes for a section of the 58km of the Kanawha River, WV. Additionally, this estimation was adjusted by means of the Arrhenius equation to predict under a temperature-dependent approach the expected annual CO2-eq emissions during a year.

Publications