Emily Su
M.Sc. Student
Geography & Planning
Queen's University
2018 -2019
Supervisor(s): Neal Scott
Research Project: Modeling the impacts of headwater stream burial within Kemptville Creek subwatershed
Headwater streams can compose up to 80% of the total stream length within a watershed but remain most susceptible to stream burial during land-use change. Stream burial within agricultural landscapes involves rerouting streams into tile drains, culverts, and non-perforated pipes in order to increase crop production area and manage irrigation. Stream burial alters the stream’s physical, chemical and biological processes resulting from land-use change. My research models the impact of headwater stream burial within an agricultural landscape, to quantify the impacts of headwater stream burial at a subwatershed scale. I am using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to model the impacts of headwater stream burial on downstream processes in the Kemptville Creek subwateshed of the Rideau River Watershed in Kemptville and surrounding area, Ontario, Canada. Results from this work will highlight the importance of headwater streams to subwatershed dynamics, including subwatershed hydrologic dynamics and biological productivity following headwater stream burial.