Proceedings of a workshop on the fluvial transport of sediment-associated nutrients and contaminants held in Kitchener, Ontario, October 20-27, 1976

The PLUARG, in its Study Plan of 1974 established a series of pilot watershed studies and other special land use studies in the United States and Canada to assess the impact of land use on water quality as related to river loadings to the Great Lakes. It was recognized that a variety of nutrients and contaminants are transported both by mineral and organic sediment. A better understanding of sediment-associated nutrient and contaminant transport in streams in time and space was needed to assess their impact on the Great Lakes. The PLUARG therefore referred this matter to the Research Advisory Board as the IJC's principal advisor on Great Lakes research. An evaluation was requested of the state-of-the-art of this topic together with recommendations for further research. The Board in turn decided to sponsor this workshop to synthesize current research and to identify research needs on nutrient and contaminant transport by sediment within fluvial systems. Clarification was sought on the interrelationships of source, in-channel storage, resuspension and transport mechanisms with long-term, seasonal and single-event flows, and including an examination of the interaction of sediment and water chemistry on key nutrients and contaminants.