Variation of organic carbon and nitrate with river flow within an oceanic regime in a rural area and potential impacts for drinking water production

Over the last two decades, climate change has become a major environmental and public health concern due to the increase of the mean temperature on the Earth and its consequences on extreme meteorological events such as floods and droughts. These events induce very low or very high river flows that may impair surface water quality, and therefore result in potential health impacts when used for drinking water production. The present study aims at assessing the impact of hydrologic regime on surface water quality with a particular emphasis on total organic carbon (TOC) and nitrate. Water quality data from three French rivers acquired over a 27 years period, from January 1983 to December 2009, show the influence of extreme flows. Variation in TOC and nitrate concentrations showed opposite patterns for the whole range of flow rate (from less than 10% up to more than 100% of the mean flow). Regarding fluxes, TOC increased continuously with flow rate while nitrate was stable for very high discharges. The C/N ratio expressed from TOC and nitrate concentrations showed high values for extreme flows and particularly for very low flow rates, generally in summer, where nitrate is assimilated by biomass. Considering TOC and nitrate fluxes, it is confirmed that the worst situations were encountered for very high flow rates, namely for TOC exportation during surface runoff which was related to heavy rains or floods. These findings are of great importance with regard to the adaptation for drinking water treatment in facing extreme hydrological conditions, of which the frequency is increasing with climate change.