Budgets of major ionic species and nutrients on a dam reservoir in forested watershed

To evaluate the role of a dam reservoir in the runoff of pollutant loadings from a forested watershed, the input–output budgets in the Ikuno dam reservoir had been investigated for eight years since 1996. The T-N, T-P, TOC and major ionic species in the bulk precipitation, stream water, and outflow were measured. The residence time calculated by using the data of the inflow and outflow was 0.3 year. The average precipitation was 1,772 mm during the investigation period (1996–2004). The direct deposition to water surface was less than one percentage to total loadings of nutrients and major ionic species. The ratios of output to input of TOC, TN, and TP were 1.04 to 1.42, and those of major ionic species were from 0.83 to 0.99 except for NO₃⁻, which was 1.12. However, the ratios of output to input of major ionic species except for NO₃⁻ at the Ikuno dam reservoir will be larger, and those of NO₃⁻, TOC, TN, and TP will be smaller, if we also include rain events. These results suggested that the dam reservoir played a role as a sink for pollutants in forested watershed, and that the pollutant loadings to downstream may decrease.