Degradation and Improvement of Urban River Water Quality

Abstract

The need to understand urban water quality has become a very important area of research and management in the aquatic sciences. Decades of urban development generating high rates of impervious surface, complex networks of stormwater control mechanisms and declining river water quality has created a demand for greater study. In this chapter, issues such as stream bank erosion, flooding, sediment pollution, bacteria and channelization are presented as drivers of the urban water environment. Methodologies and study designs to document these impacts are discussed. Ideas to improve the urban condition such as retrofitting previous development, infiltration of surface runoff, stream restoration, dredging and rehabilitation of lakes and compartmentalization of future development are explained and detailed as ways of integrating the natural landscape features into improvement of our urban centers. Finally, the incorporation of citizen science into adaptive policy is suggested as a solution to regulatory and esthetic/recreational need for improvement.