From a water resource to a point pollution source: The daily journey of a coastal urban stream

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand how a stream ecosystem that flows from its fountainhead to its mouth inside a city, changes from a water resource to a point pollution source. A multidisciplinary descriptive approach was adopted, including the short-term temporal and spatial determination of physical, chemical, biological and ecotoxicological variables. Results showed that water quality rapidly decreases with increasing urbanization, leading the system to acquire raw sewage attributes even in the first hundred meters after the fountainheads. Despite the tidal circulation near the stream mouth being restricted by shallowness, some improvement of the water quality was detected in this area. The multidisciplinary evaluation showed to be useful for obtaining a more realistic understanding of the stream degradation process, and to forecast restoration and mitigation measures.