Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2010DE185B

Quality of Dissolved Organic Matter in Runoff from Various Watershed Sources

Institute: Delaware
Year Established: 2010 Start Date: 2010-06-01 End Date: 2011-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $1,500 Total Non-Federal Funds: $3,000

Principal Investigators: Shreeram Inamdar, Suneil Seetharam

Project Summary: Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is an important carrier of pollutants in the watershed. Organic contaminants and metals are adsorbed onto DOM and are thus transported with runoff. Not only is the total amount of DOM important, but so is the quality of DOM. For example, metals and organic toxins move preferentially with hydrophobic compounds in DOM; whereas, chemicals such as nitrogen are transported with the hydrophilic fractions. Therefore, knowing the quality of dissolved organic matter (the hydrophilic and hydrophobic contents), provides a better idea of the types of pollutants that can be transported with runoff. Thus, the main goal in this research is to characterize the chemistry of DOM and the various constituents that make up DOM and specifically the various hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds of DOM.