Trends in Surface-Water Quality of the Muddy Creek asin: Carbon County, Wyoming C.. Ellison, Q. D. Skinner and L. S. Hicks Department of Renewable Resources University of Wyoming Funded by: Little Snake River Conservation District Environmental Protection gency University of Wyoming Study Justification Degraded water quality and riparian function Unstable stream channels - Muddy Creek west of SR 789 (27 stream km/17 stream miles) placed on 303(d) impaired list in 1996 because physical degradation of the stream channels and riparian areas are considered threats to aquatic life Study Justification Upper Muddy Creek Watershed Project Report, January 1999 (eatty, 2005) Coordinated Resource Management Project Little Snake River Conservation District - Improve Muddy Creek s water quality - Reduce erosion and sedimentation - Restore riparian habitats to desired condition - Reduce contaminant discharge into the Little Snake River est Management Practices In-stream structures Wetland development Vegetation management Road improvements Grazing rotation Cross fencing Upland water development (Thompson, 2001) Muddy Creek CRM Project, Carbon County, Wyoming (Upper Muddy Creek Watershed Project Report, January 1999; Thompson, 2001) 1
Study rea Climate - Precipitation: 200mm (8 in) in lower watershed 500mm (20 in) in headwaters - Hydrology is dominated by snowmelt runoff in spring - Precipitation is dominated by high intensity/short duration thunderstorms Drainage rea: 2,470 km 2 (954 mi 2 ) > 610,000 acres asin Perimeter: 336 km (209 mi) Main Channel Length: 170 km (106 mi) Highest Stream Order: 4 (Strahler) (Goertler, 1992) Lewis Shale Mesaverde Group Miocene rocks WGISC Natural Resources Data Clearinghouse, 2006 ridisols/entisols Inceptisols ridisols and Entisols WGISC Natural Resources Data Clearinghouse, 2006 2
Sagebrush Mountain big sagebrush WGISC Natural Resources Data Clearinghouse, 2006 Monitoring Sites Impaired region Tributary stream sites 3
Study Objectives 1. Investigate differences in flow duration patterns 2. ssess changes in historic hydrograph attributes 3. Determine trends in water quality parameters for the impaired stream section 4. Develop an optimum prediction model for TDS and turbidity 5. Determine trends in water quality parameters at tributary sites Methods Data Collection - Discharge was collected by University of Wyoming from 1985 to 1991 - Discharge, water quality parameters, and chemical constituents were collected by LSRCD from 1995 to 2006 - Precipitation data were collected by LM from 1985 to 2006 Methods Flow Regime nalyses - Flow duration curves were compared between upper and lower boundary monitoring sites in the impaired stream reach - Stream flow peaks were analyzed to evaluate instream structure impact on historic hydrograph attributes Methods Water Quality Parameters - Trends among years 1999 to 2006 - Differences between upper and lower boundary -- Electrical conductivity -- TDS -- Turbidity -- ph -- Temperature -- Dissolved oxygen Methods Chemical Quality Geochemical Model Cations - Calcium (Ca 2+ ) - Magnesium (Mg 2+ ) - Sodium (Na + ) - Potassium (K + ) nions - Phosphate (PO 4 3- ) - Chloride (Cl - ) - Fluoride (F - ) - Sulfate (SO 4 2- ) - lkalinity (CaCO 3 ) Results: Flow duration curves - No differences detected during pre-mp years - Significant differences detected for 10 of 18 flow intervals post- MP implementation - Downstream monitoring site flow duration percent lower for each interval 4
Results: Hydrograph peak analysis Results: Multivariate nalysis - Differences in hydrograph peaks between upper and lower monitoring sites were compared pre- and post-mps - Significant reductions were observed in peak flows downstream following MP implementation Monitoring Sites Reach-3 vs Dad Water Quality Parameter EC Structure Loading -0.703 Centroid 0.800-1.012 Predicted Group Membership Classification Probabilities Monitoring Sites Correctly Classified Incorrectly Classified Prior Probability Posterior Probability Reach-3 vs 442 94 55.8 82.5 Dad 338 86 44.2 79.7 Results: Trends in Water Quality (NCOV) ox Plots Spring Runoff and ase Flow - Data separated into wet and dry years and by flow types of spring runoff and base flow - Wet years: 1999, 2004, 2006; Dry years: 2000-2003 - ase flow: = 0.028 m 3 s -1 ( 8 ft 3 s -1 ) - Discharge used as covariate Results: Trends in Water Quality Spring Runoff Results: Trends in Water Quality Spring Runoff Parameter Year 1999 Mean 466 Tukey Grouping n 214 p-value Parameter Year Mean Tukey Grouping n p-value TDS (mg L -1 ) 2004 158 < 0.001 2006 2000 2001 2002 373 234 548 469 442 C 21 119 170 117 < 0.001 Turbidity (NTUs) 2004 2006 2000 2001 2002 237 467 343 272 331 C C 158 20 105 158 117 < 0.001 < 0.001 2003 430 99 2003 182 D 90 5
Water Quality Comparisons etween Sites (SR) Results: Trends in Water Quality Tributary Sites Year 1999 TDS (mg L -1 ) 1271 Turbidity (NTUs) 16 Tukey Grouping n 19 p-value RMSE 2000 1260 33 21 TDS 440.69 0.0825 2001 19 1347 28 2002 1186 48 18 2003 1377 12 15 Turbidity 78.92 0.2235 2004 836 46 6 TDS vs Discharge TDS = 448.23*Q -0.0574 + 0.9196*R1 Turbidity vs Discharge Turbidity = 361.08*Q 0.5691 + 0.8358*R1 TDS (mg/l) 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 Discharge (cubic meters/sec) Turbidity (NTU) 1000.0 900.0 800.0 700.0 600.0 500.0 400.0 300.0 200.0 100.0 0.0 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25 2.50 2.75 3.00 3.25 3.50 Discharge (m 3 s -1 ) Results: Forecasting Contaminant Loads Results: Chemical Constituent Qualitative Review Parameter Turbidity (NTUs) Model Simple Linear Regression Time Series Observed minus predicted 164.6 66.8 R 2 0.4575 0.8361 MPE 96.2 36.0 Region Impaired Stream Sites Ca 2+ 75.88 Mg 2+ 27.38 Na + 56.63 K + 4.90 PO 4 3-0.97 Cl - 8.39 F - 0.33 SO 4 2-295.00 TDS (mg L -1 ) Simple Linear Regression Time Series 110.2 34.9 0.1317 0.8610 23.9 7.71 Tributary Stream Sites 80.58 91.96 266.58 7.74 0.09 35.50 1.63 488.58 6
Geochemical Modeling tmospheric CO 2 C O O 0.03% SummaryDiscussion Diversions were constructed to increase water storage and to curb stream energy during high flow events - Flow duration curves were reduced downstream - Hydrograph peaks were attenuated F (Reddy, 2006) Na Cl Mg ph = 8.4 Halite dissolving Gypsum dissolving Ca Ca 2+ CO 2-3 Calcite precipitating CaCO 3 o Complex Solid phase - TDS concentrations decreased during spring runoff among wet and dry years despite the fact that streamflowdeclined - Reach-3 averaged 68 mg L -1 reduction and Dad averaged 72 mg L -1 reduction per year in TDS concentrations - Reductions occurred during spring runoff when a majority of the contaminant load is transported Summary Summary - Turbidity decreased in the impaired reach during spring runoff and base flow among dry years but increased during wet years - EC and TDS were higher downstream at Dad when compared to Reach-3 during spring runoff and base flow among all years Time series modeling, developed between TDS and turbidity each, with stream flow was superior to simple linear regression in forecasting contaminant loads Monitoring for Decision Making - Currently over 3,000 miles of roads exist throughout the watershed (200 miles originally planned) - Improving infrastructure and reclaiming roads would reduce erosion into Muddy Creek - Targeting areas below the impaired reach for future improvement efforts where Oil and Gas development are impacting the watershed - Western portion of the watershed contributes sedimentladen flows below the impaired reach 7
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