Neuse River water

Non-ideal behavior of the cupric ion electrode occurs at pECujot] > 7 in the titrations of both filtered and unfiltered Newport River water at pH 5.95 and filtered water at pH 7.0 and 8.0. At low total copper concentrations, measured pCu values approach a constant value independent of the total copper in solution. Similar behavior was observed for filtered Neuse River water at pH 8.0, but not at pH 6.78. 

Figure 6. Copper titrations of Neuse River water at 25°C. (%) Untreated water at in situ pH 6.78 glass-fiber filtered water at pH 6.78 (A) glass-fiber filtered water at pH 8.00 (0) UV-treated glass—fiber filtered water at 6.78 (4) twice filtered XJV-treated water at pH 6.78, first filtration by glass-fiber prior to UV-irradiation, second filtration by membrane (0.2fxm nuclepore) after irradiation. Model curves through data points were calculated according to stability constants determined in this work (Tables I and II). Dotted lines indicate limits on data used for calculation of conditional stability constants for organic binding.

UV-treatment of filtered Neuse River water also caused a large decrease in the binding of copper at pH 6.78 and pCCujot]... 

Microorganisms readily able to degrade hydrocarbons were found in the Neuse River estuary in North Carolina. Although the estuary was relatively free of hydrocarbon contamination, 63% of the bacteria and 71% of the fungi isolated from surface water samples were able to utilize kerosene as the sole carbon source (Buckley et al. 1976). Weathered kerosene (volatile components were allowed to escape prior to testing) was spiked with four marker hydrocarbons, and the degradation of the markers was monitored. 

Reckhow, K.H., and Gray, J. (2000) Neuse River Estuary modeling and monitoring project stage 1 stage 1 executive summary and long-term modeling recommendations. Report no. 325-A of the Water Resources Research Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C. 

Titrations were performed on untreated, filtered, and UV-treated filtered river water samples at in situ and adjusted pH values. The effect of pH on copper speciation was investigated by titration of filtered Newport River water at pH 7.0 and filtered Newport and Neuse waters at pH 8.0. Newport River water was adjusted to pH 7.0 by decreasing the partial pressure of CO2 from the initial ambient value of about 10 times the atmospheric level. To adjust the pH to 8.0, sodium bicarbonate was added to bring the river water samples to a concentration of 0.5 mM with subsequent adjustment of Pc02 Titrations were also conducted at pH 7,0 in model solutions consisting of 0.01 KNO3 and 0.1 mM NaHC03 with and without the addition of 0.75 histidine to test electrode behavior in solutions of known chemistry. 

As indicated by titration data (Figures 6 and 7), binding of copper in both Neuse and Newport River water decreases with increasing total copper in a manner consistant with a stepwise titration of a number of different ligands and/or binding sites. Binding of copper increases with increasing pH consistant with reactions with protonated weak acids. 

Thus, the general picture that emerges is that the binding characteristics of the organic matter in the Newport River water is similar to that in the Neuse with the major difference being the quantity of binding sites present as indicated by the difference in the quantity of dissolved organic carbon. 

Figure 9. Relationship between the log of the conditional stability constant and the log of the binding site concentration per gram dissolved organic carbon for individual binding sites. Newport River pH 8.00 ( ) Neuse River pH 8.00 (O) Newport River pH 7.00 (%) Neuse River pH 6.78 (A) Newport River pH 5.95 (A) water fio).

Diverse N2 fixers have been detected in the water column of temperate estuaries such as the Chesapeake Bay (Affourtit et al., 2001) (Table 4.1). Affourtit et al. (2001) found a variety of diazotrophs from Cluster I (which includes cyanobacteria and most proteobacteria) with rarer samples yielding Cluster II (some 8-proteobacteria, spirochaetes and some Archaea, some alternative nitrogenases) and III (firmicutes, spirochaetes and Archaea) in samples from the Neuse River. Short et al. (2004) reported the densities of two representative nJH sequences in the Chesapeake Bay using a quantitative PCR approach, and they detected specific seasonal and spatial patterns for each. Interestingly, expression of niJH was never detected. 

Figure 11.3 Low oxygen, hypoxic (less than 2 mg O2) conditions in the bottom waters of the N-enriched, entrophic Nense River Estuary, located in coastal North Carolina (upper left hand side). Upper right hand side shows the lateral extent of hypoxia along the central channel of the estuary during summer (data from the Neuse River Monitoring and Modeling Program, www.marine.unc.edu/neuse/modmon, see Buzzelli et al., 2002). The lower part of this figure shows hoth the spatial and temporal extent of hypoxia in this estuary (adapted from Buzzelli etal.,2002).

Paerl, H. W., MaUin, M. A., Donahue, C. A., Go, M., and Peierls, B. L. (1995). Nitrogen loading sources and eutrophication of the Neuse River estuary, NC Direct and indirect roles of atmospheric deposition. UNC Water Resources Research Institute Report No. 291. 119p. NC. State Univ., Raleigh, NC. 

Piehler, M. F., Thompson, S., Dyble, J., Moisander, P., Fear, J., and Paerl, H. W. (2002). Biologically mediated nitrogen dynamics in eutrophying estuaries. Assessing denitrification, nitrogen fixation and primary productivity responses to proposed N loading reductions in the Neuse River Estuary 339, Water Resources Research Institute of the University of North Carolina, Raliegh, NC. 

Even nature produced such a weapon in the bombardier beetle, which combines two chemicals that actually combust, creating a poison gas when the beetle is attacked. One recent possible example of a naturally occurring binary compound could be the dinoflagellate, Pfiesteria piscicida, of the Neuse River in North Carolina. This microorganism has been around for a long time but apparently only reaches its most toxic state in water that has hog or chicken manure contamination, though the precise chemical formula has not yet been discovered. Most probably, the pollution from manure or possibly from other farm chemicals adds an organophosphate structure to the less toxic compound. 

Line, D. E., N. M. White, D. L. Osmond, G. D. Jennings, and C. B. Mojonnier. 2002. Pollutant export from various land uses in the Upper Neuse River Basin, Water Environ. Res. 74( 1) ... 

Table 5-2 presents plutonium levels detected in several surface waters and groundwaters. The Pacific Ocean was sampled for plutonium and Northern Pacific concentrations were, on the average, greater than those detected in the Southern Pacific for both plutonium-239, -240 and plutonium-238 (Miyake and Sugimura 1976). The plutonium content of the particulate matter in three South Carolina estuarine systems was investigated by Hayes et al. (1976). The Neuse and Newport River estuaries received plutonium only through atmospheric fallout the Savannah River estuary received effluent from the Savannah River Plant. Concentrations detected in the three estuaries are comparable. 

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