Impact of short‐term regulation on hyporheic water quality in a boreal river

Abstract Water regulation may alter hydraulic head gradients with consequences for the exchange of water between the river and the hyporheic zone. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of discharge on hyporheic water quality in a regulated Swedish boreal river during a 10‐day experimental period with a sequence of alternating high‐ and low‐flow episodes. A 250 m reach was instrumented with 28 piezometers placed at 150 and 300 mm below the river bed or below the mean groundwater level in the floodplain, and these piezometers were used to measure temperature, oxygen, electric conductivity and pH. High daily variation in air temperature during the first 3 days was transmitted vertically through the stream water into the hyporheic zone within hours. An oxygen saturation of 100% in the river water corresponded to 60–70% saturation at 150 mm depth and 30% at 300 mm depth. The hyporheic oxygen concentration at 150 mm depth decreased during the experimental period, falling into a range that is potentially harmful to incubating salmonid eggs. This was interpreted as a long‐term response to the overall regulation regime, rather than a response to short‐term water regulation during the experiment. Even though the effect of short‐term regulation on the quality of hyporheic water in the river bed was limited, there was a more pronounced effect on the quality of floodplain hyporheic water. Most of the driving forces for temporal variation of water quality in the river bed came vertically from the river water, rather than from the lateral exchange. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.