Conceptual Model of the Swan-Canning Catchment

Conceptual Model of the Swan-Canning Catchment
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Conceptual Model of the Swan-Canning Catchment
The Swan and Canning Rivers include significant natural, social, and aesthetic resources. Swan River Trust noted that the Swan Canning River system is showing similar symptoms of environmental stress compared to other waterways worldwide, including increased algal bloom episodes, decreased oxygen concentrations, and fish fatalities. Rising nutrient levels are still a top environmental concern for the river system. It is important to recall that problems with levels of nutrients are made worse by sedimentation and eroding, changes in river flow, and the loss of border plants. The study identifies three major changes in Swan-Canning catchment and ecological response to freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems.
Freshwater Ecosystem
The rising quantity and speed of stormwater or surface runoff to those ecosystems is arguably the most distinguishing feature of urban waterways. Urbanization-related impermeable surfaces decrease penetration and increase surface runoff, changing the routes taken by water and any linked pollutants to get to urban rivers. Impervious cover is a major factor in the consequences of urbanization on river ecosystems (Boulton et al., 2014). The majority of urban surfaces are impervious or sealed. They stop rainwater from penetrating the soil as it would in the water cycle naturally. Irrigation is necessary to maintain the health of vegetation, trees, and grass since inadequate moisture in urban soil can hinder healthy plant development.
River pollution can be brought on by fertilizers and other agricultural pollutants that run off into rivers. Aquatic species may suffer great harm as a result of poisoning. Farmers apply chemicals to their lands in animal manure and synthetic fertilizers, which provide plants with the phosphorus and nitrogen they need to thrive and produce the food humans eat. However, phosphorus and nitrogen can be lost from farms and harm the air and water quality downstream when the developing plants do not fully absorb them (Boulton et al., 2014). When it rains or melts, extra phosphorus and nitrogen in agricultural land may run into streams. Eventually, they can seep through the earth's surface and enter the ground. Eutrophication of water resources can be caused by high phosphate and nitrogen contents. Additionally, sediment erosion happens on land used for agriculture and can get into streams, clouding the water and reducing the absorption of sunlight, reducing plant growth and visibility.
Rivers may become contaminated by chemicals used in industrial processes due to unintentional spills or poor disposal methods. As a result, toxic compounds can enter rivers and affect human health and aquatic life. Occasionally, hazardous waste from industrial processes is unintentionally dumped into waterways. These contaminants include cyanide, zinc, lead, copper, and others. When these compounds enter water bodies, their concentrations can be so high that they instantly kill fish and other aquatic life. Pollutants can sometimes find their way into a food chain, where they can build up to dangerous levels and eventually cause death to mammals, fish, and birds. Water from the stream is used in industries to cool down or power equipment. Chemically-laden dirty water is reintroduced to the river. Cooling water is warmer than the river itself. Lowering the amount of dissolved oxygen and altering the life balance in the water are two effects of increasing water temperature.
Estuary Ecosystem
Nutrient loading brought on by runoff from farms reaching the estuary may result in hypoxia and eutrophication. The fast expansion of modern agricultural techniques, which have raised phosphorus and nitrogen flows in the ecosystem, has been linked to a rise in eutrophic and hypoxic occurrences (McLusky & Elliott, 2004). An excess of nutrients brings on algal blooms and hypoxic conditions, which can harm seagrass, marine ecosystems, and marine life. In many of these estuaries, bivalve mollusk species are also prevalent, and they naturally absorb nutrients through filter-feeding.
Over the past century, urbanization and human-led development have grown more quickly in coastal water bodies and along coastlines than in inland areas. Large land use changes for urban areas and agriculture to support city developments have increased runoff, transporting debris, pollutants, and chemicals downstream to estuarine habitats. The rise in outflow levels is only the tip of the iceberg brought on by human expansion, which also increases fecal bacteria because of growing cities and hazardous algal blooms because of excessive fertilizer from farming. Estuaries act as a natural filter between the land and the sea, but in recent years, an influx of sediment and pollution has...