Adem Bayram

Estimation of suspended sediment concentration from turbidity measurements using artificial neural networks

Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is generally determined from the direct measurement of sediment concentration of river or from sediment transport equations. Direct measurement is very costly and cannot be conducted for all river gauge stations. Therefore, correct estimation of suspended sediment amount carried by a river is very important in terms of water pollution, channel navigability, reservoir filling, fish habitat, river aesthetics and scientific interests. This study investigates the feasibility of using turbidity as a surrogate for SSC as in situ turbidity meters are being increasingly used to generate continuous records of SSC in rivers. For this reason, regression analysis (RA) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) were employed to estimate SSC based on in situ turbidity measurements. The SSC was firstly experimentally determined for the surface water samples collected from the six monitoring stations along the main branch of the stream Harsit, Eastern Black Sea Basin, Turkey. There were 144 data for each variable obtained on a fortnightly basis during March 2009 and February 2010. In the ANN method, the used data for training, testing and validation sets are 108, 24 and 12 of total 144 data, respectively. As the results of analyses, the smallest mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) values for validation set were obtained from the ANN method with 11.40 and 17.87, respectively. However these were 19.12 and 25.09 for RA. It was concluded that turbidity could be a surrogate for SSC in the streams, and the ANNs method used for the estimation of SSC provided acceptable results.

Effects of Torul dam on water quality in the stream Harşit, NE Turkey

This paper evaluates the effects of Torul dam on the stream Harşit water quality in terms of 13 physico-chemical parameters in the Gümüşhane Province, Eastern Black Sea Basin, Turkey. For this purpose, a study was fortnightly conducted during the four seasons between March 2009 and February 2010. In two monitoring stations selected in the upstream and downstream of the Torul dam, T, pH, DO and EC were determined in situ, and collected water samples were analyzed for TH, COD, NH4+-N, NO2−-N, NO3−-N, TN, TKN, PO43−-P and MBAS. According to the Turkish Water Pollution Control Regulation (TWPCR), the stream Harşit was classified, and the obtained results were evaluated for the values proposed by Turkish Standard (TS) 266 and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The results showed that the stream Harşit has high-quality water in terms of, T, pH, DO, COD, NH4+-N and NO3−-N, but slightly polluted water in terms of NO2−-N, TKN and PO43−-P, and polluted for MBAS. It was concluded that Torul dam has a positive effect on the stream water quality in terms of decrease in the annual average concentration values. The percent decreases for TH, COD, NH4+-N, NO2−-N, NO3−-N, TN, TKN, PO43−-P and MBAS were 17.1, 20.3, 56.2, 62.6, 11.7, 11.9, 11.4, 17.8 and 71.4, respectively. The reason for these decreases is probably due to the Torul dam reservoir where the water has a hydraulic residence time and the exposure to chemicals by aquatic organisms or populations that ingest the water. Also, statistical analysis shows that there are significant correlations among the studied parameters.

Variation of total suspended solids versus turbidity and Secchi disk depth in the Borçka Dam Reservoir, Çoruh River Basin, Turkey

ABSTRACT Bayram A, Kenanoğlu M. 2016. Variation of total suspended solids versus turbidity and Secchi disk depth in the Borçka Dam Reservoir, Çoruh River Basin, Turkey. Lake Reserv Manage. 32:209–221. We evaluated the influence of a hydropower dam, Borçka Dam, on the total suspended solids (TSS) carried by the Çoruh River and Murgul Stream, northeast Turkey, by studying its variation versus nephelometric turbidity. The impact of discharge from the copper mining facility to the Murgul Stream draining into the Borçka Dam Reservoir was also evaluated. In situ turbidity monitoring, Secchi disk transparency, reservoir water depth measurements, and surface water sampling were conducted monthly at 12 stations from December 2010 to November 2011. TSS carried by the Çoruh River and Murgul Stream showed 3 different deposition behaviors based on the reservoir water levels. On an annual basis, the TSS carried by the Çoruh River was 371 mg/L and the turbidity was 332 NTU, whereas the TSS carried by the Murgul Stream was 16,992 mg/L and the turbidity was >712 NTU. Based on the TSS of 41 mg/L and the turbidity of 46 NTU measured at the outlet of the Borçka Dam and hydroelectric power plant, we concluded that the Borçka Dam could trap a large portion of the TSS and could reduce turbidity considerably because of its long hydraulic residence time, and thus reduce possible silting in the downstream reservoir.

Environmental Problems from the Open Dump in Gümüşhane Province and Investigation of Biological Recycling for the Organic Solid Wastes

This paper presents a general overview of current municipal waste management in Gumushane Province. Both the drawbacks of present disposal method are discussed and solution proposals are submitted. The solid waste samples, one sample in every week and total fifty two samples in a year, were taken from the municipal solid waste open dumping area during a year, 2004 March-2005 February. Compostable organic parts of the samples, separated from the mixed municipal solid waste, were analyzed in order to determine the suitability of composting for the disposal of municipal solid wastes in Gumushane. The moisture content, C/N ratio and pH for all samples were determined and evaluated. The values with high moisture content being 78% (74% in spring, 83% in summer, and 78% in autumn and 77% in winter), relatively low C/N ratio being 21.6/1 (22.2/1 in spring, 16.2/1 in summer, 23.7/1 in autumn and 27.5/1 in winter), and low pH being 4.73 (5.50 in spring, 4.25 in summer, 4.45 in autumn and 4.72 in winter) disclose that composting of the organic wastes aren’t suitable.