Dataset for Nesheim et al. (2024) Assessing impacts of cemeteries on water quality in an urban headwater watershed with mixed human-built infrastructure

Cemeteries are understudied integral components to urban watersheds, which provide ecosystem services but can also export nutrients, trace elements, and other contaminants to nearby water bodies. In this study, we focus on Meadowbrook Creek, an urban headwater stream in Syracuse, New York (U.S.), which has shown significant nitrate contributions from a local cemetery. We collected biweekly surface water samples over the course of one year from 2022-2023 for analysis of major and trace elemental concentrations including Na, Ca, Mg, K, F, Cl, sulfate, and nitrate. Here, we aim to assess the impact of various human infrastructure on urban stream water quality with a particular focus on the cemetery and nitrate. A comparison between the new dataset in this study and previously reported water chemistry data in Meadowbrook in 2012 suggests a decade-long impact of road salting and the cemetery on water quality particularly with respect to Na, Cl, and nitrate. Sulfate, Mg, Ca, and K are likely mainly geogenic. Stable nitrogen isotope data, the usage of concrete or steel vaults in the cemetery in the past 50 years, and the lack of correlation between nitrate and fluoride concentrations in stream water argue against burial decay products being a major source of nitrate to the stream. Instead, other nitrate sources that exist in the cemetery, e.g., fertilizer, decaying plant material, and wastewater, are more viable dominant nitrate sources. In addition, nitrate loading calculations indicate that the groundwater-connected reach, including the cemetery, acts as an annual net sink for nitrate despite the seasonally-varying sink-source patterns.

墓地是城市流域中被研究不足的重要组成部分，它们既具备生态系统服务功能，同时也会向周边水体输出营养物质、微量元素及其他污染物。本研究聚焦于美国纽约州锡拉丘兹市的城市源头溪流梅多布鲁克溪（Meadowbrook Creek），该溪流已被证实受当地墓地影响而出现显著的硝酸盐输入。2022至2023年间，我们每两周采集一次地表水样品，采样周期持续一整年，用于分析包括钠（Na）、钙（Ca）、镁（Mg）、钾（K）、氟（F）、氯（Cl）、硫酸盐及硝酸盐在内的常量与微量元素浓度。本研究旨在评估各类人类基础设施对城市溪流水质的影响，其中重点关注墓地与硝酸盐相关的影响。将本研究的全新数据集与2012年梅多布鲁克溪已发表的水化学数据进行对比后发现，道路融雪盐作业与墓地对水质的影响已持续十余年，尤其体现在钠、氯及硝酸盐指标上。硫酸盐、镁、钙及钾的主要来源大概率为地质成因。稳定氮同位素数据、过去50年间墓地内混凝土或钢制墓室的使用情况，以及溪水中硝酸盐与氟浓度无相关性这一结果，均不支持墓葬腐烂产物为溪流硝酸盐的主要来源。与之相反，墓地内存在的其他硝酸盐来源——例如化肥、腐烂植物残体及废水——是更具合理性的主要硝酸盐贡献源。此外，硝酸盐负荷计算结果显示，包括墓地在内的地下水连通河段虽存在随季节变化的源汇模式，但整体上作为硝酸盐的年度净汇。