Eutrophication and cyanobacteria blooms in run-of-river impoundments in North Carolina, U.S.A.

Abstract We compared monthly data taken during the dry summer growing season of 2002 in 11 potable water supply reservoirs (19–85 years old based on year filled) within the North Carolina Piedmont, including measures of watershed land use, watershed area, reservoir morphometry (depth, surface area, volume), suspended solids (SS), nutrient concentrations (total nitrogen, TN; total Kjeldahl nitrogen, TKN; nitrate + nitrite, NO3− + NO2−; total phosphorus, TP; total organic carbon), phytoplankton chlorophyll a (chla) concentrations, cyanobacteria assemblages, and microcystin concentrations from monthly data taken during the dry summer 2002 growing season. The reservoirs were considered collectively or as two subgroups by age as “mod.” (moderate age, 19–40 years post-fill, n = 5) and “old” (74–85 yr post-fill, n = 6). The run-of-river impoundments were meso-/eutrophic and turbid (means 25–125 μg TP/L, 410–1,800 μg TN/L, 3–70 μg chla/L and 5.7–41.9 mg SS/L). Under drought conditions in these turbid systems, the...