Water Quality in the Saco River: Indicators of Watershed Health

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1 Water Quality in the Saco River: Indicators of Watershed Health Tyler Spillane Stephan Zeeman, PhD Shelby Braese, Claire Whalen, Linda Jordan, Emily Brzycki, Amanda Liebau, Allegra Tedder, Kim Malkoski, Stephen Giunta, Bailey Rahn, Megan Perry, Marissa Redding, Amanda Rosa

2 Water Quality Indicator Bacteria Population Growth Chlorophyll Nutrients t Dissolved Oxygen Indicator Status Future Issues Outline

water Types: coliform bacteria: Escherichia coli E.

3 Why Monitor Bacteria? Indicator Bacteria: Bacteria used to measure levels of other pathogens and contaminants in water. Used for testing in: Recreational waters Shellfish growing go gwater Public water Types: coliform bacteria: Escherichia coli E. coli bacteria enterococci and streptococci A Maine Beach. /Pictures/Oct13/Main e%20beach.jpg / / ommons/thumb/3/32/escherichiacoli_ni AID.jpg/250px EscherichiaColi_NIAID.jpg

4 The other reason Indicator bacteria are just that they indicate sources of other possible pollutants. Mostly point source fromtreated sewage discharges, but also some non point sources wildlife, runoff, etc. What other kinds of pollutants? Pharmaceuticals, personal care products, other organic pollutants, nutrients

5 The Saco River and Bacteria Watershed spans 1700 square miles Runs through 29 towns, 3 counties, and 2 states, with 11 drainage areas.

8 Sampling Sampling 18 sites along the river Sampled roughly monthly since December 2010 Somewhat more inconsistent since Measured Total coliform bacteria and E. coli very good (mostly) Dissolved oxygen excellent Nutrients very good Chlorophyll very good

9 Methods: Monitoring Bacteria Sample entire river once a month Collect 100ml samples in sterile bottles Samples are kept on ice until brought in for processing. Samples are processed using the Idexx Colilert 18 system Most Probable Number (MPN)

10 2012Recreational Water Quality Criteria US EPA OFFICE OF WATER 820 F

11 Geometric Mean E. coli numbers Mean MPN RWQC Site

12 Relation of Total Coliform bacteria to E. coli 25 i Geom metric mean E. coli y = x R² = Geometric Mean Total Coliforms

13 Seasonal Variability Geom metric Mean (MPN) Winter Spring Summer Fall 2012 RWQC Site

15 3 2

16 North Conway Treatment Plant No direct discharge to the river Rapid infiltration to groundwater Uses a nitrogen and phosphorus removal Uses a nitrogen and phosphorus removal process

17 Seasonal Variability Geom metric Mean (MPN) Winter Spring Summer Fall 2012 RWQC Site

18 14 15

19 Saco River Corridor Commission The SRCC has collected water quality data for many years. Some sites near the Saco/Biddeford: Swan Pond Brook Impaired (E. coli) Thatcher h Brook Impaired d( (urban stormwater, non point source) Saco River Estuary Et Impaired d(cso)

20 Saco R. 19 Swan Pond Brook Saco R. Estuary Thatcher Brook

21 Saco River 19, Escherichia coli Above Skelton Dam s/100ml) E. coli (colonie April May June July August September October Average Year

22 Swan Pond Brook 26 Escherichia coli nies/100ml) E. coli (colo April May June July August September October November Average Year

23 Thatcher Brook 27, Escherichia coli E. coli (colo onies/100ml) April May June July August September October November Average Year

24 Saco River 21, Escherichia coli Saco Bay Yacht Club ramp E. coli (colonie es/100ml) April May June July August September October November Average Year

25 Saco River Corridor Commission Results TheSRCC data also confirm the lower values upstream from Biddeford and Saco, and higher values in theestuary estuary. They point to localized hot spots in some tributaries.

26 Bottom line Most of the time the E. coli along the river are below EPA criteria. Higher levels are observed near Conway, NH and below the dam at Saco and Biddeford. Seasonal trends are observed with ihhigher h values in summer and fall. Spring, summer and fall around Biddeford and Saco.

27 Relation to Population Size 25 45,000 40, ,000 metric Mean (MPN N) Geo * 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 ize Estim mated Population Si Average MPN Pop. Size 5 10,000 5,000 0 Sites 1 5 Sites 6 12 Sites Region Location

28 Population Growth To model population growth and land use changes we looked at Conway, NH, as an example. We used IDRISI from Clark Labs and its Land Change Modeler Using Data from 1992, 2001, and 2010 we predicted d conditions i for 2030.

29 Conway, NH Pay attention to! Maine Predicting growth New Hampshire

30 Fryeburg 1992 North Conway 2001 Conway predicted

31 Gauging the Health of New England s Lakes and Ponds, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, 2010

32 Gauging the Health of New England s Lakes and Ponds, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, 2010

33 Chlorophyll Chlorophyll (mg/l) Chlo orophyll µg/l) /4/ /2/ /7/2013 2/2/2014 4/6/ Site

34 Chlorophyll Seasonal Trend Chlorophyll Mean for all samples Chlorop phyll Mean (µg/l) Mean Month

35 Nutrients Nutrients are substances required for growth In the case of water quality, it refers specifically to plantor algaegrowthgrowth The important plant nutrients are Nitrogen Nitrate, nitrite, ammonium Phosphorus Soluble reactive phosphorus

36 Nitrate Nitrate tate tration (mg/l) Concent Nitrate Mean Site

37 Phosphate Phosphate Conc centration (mg/l) Phosphate Mean Site

38 Saco Bay Nutrients EPA sampling 7/2/2010 Site Depth TP (mg/l) TN (mg/l) 1.00 Surface Mid Bottom Surface Mid Bottom

39 Dissolved Oxygen Dissolved Oxygen 8 6 5/26/2011 6/30/2011 9/24/ /6/ Site

40 Report Summary Water Quality E. coli very good (mostly) Chlorophyll very good Nutrients very good Dissolved oxygen excellent

41 Report Summary Caveats There are areas and times that show reduced water quality Futuregrowth may have deleterious effects unless we plan for it. New and legacy pollutants may be problematic we did not measure these.

42 Water Quality in the New England Coastal Basins, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachussets and Rhode Island, Robinson et. al USGS Circular 1226.

43 Things Not Measured PAHs PCBs pesticides lead mercury (and PAHs, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury (and methyl mercury)

44 Watersheds with less than 5% urbanization usually had no detections above µg/l.

48 Questions?

Continuous records for the Chariton River indicate that 2004 was an average water year, with total flow approximately equal to the average annual

Continuous records for the Chariton River indicate that 2004 was an average water year, with total flow approximately equal to the average annual 2004 Rathbun Report Iowa State University Limnology Laboratory John A. Downing, Ph.D. George Antoniou, Assistant Scientist For Rathbun Land and Water Alliance August 31, 2005 A. Tributaries Personnel of