Storm Event Water Quality in an Industrial Cutaway Peatland, Ireland

This dataset was collected to test the hypothesis that effluents from degraded peatland catchments are highly dynamic and pose a year-round risk to surface waters. To investigate this, we measured flow, temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, nutrients, SUVA254 (carbon aromaticity), and ions at the outlet of an industrial cutaway raised bog catchment in Ireland during 14 storm events of varying intensities.

The storm events were classified based on peak flow, with six events having peak flows <15 L/s and eight events exceeding 30 L/s. These events occurred across all four seasons (six in spring, three in summer, three in autumn, and two in winter) and resulted in datasets with varying sample sizes per event (ranging from 6 to 23 samples per event).

Our findings support the hypothesis, revealing high temporal variability in water quality between storm events. Regression models and correlation analyses indicate that climatic factors such as rainfall (as a proxy for flow) and temperature were key drivers of this variability. These data provide valuable insights for understanding the hydrochemical dynamics of degraded peatland catchments and their impacts on downstream waters.