Grantee Research Project Results
2002 Progress Report: Near-Real Time Monitoring of Inland Suburban Waterways: Application to Three Critical Environmental Issues Facing the North Shore/Metro Boston
EPA Grant Number: R828582Title: Near-Real Time Monitoring of Inland Suburban Waterways: Application to Three Critical Environmental Issues Facing the North Shore/Metro Boston
Investigators: Pancost, David , Vörösmarty, Charles J. , Hopkinson, Charles S , O'Connor, Beth , Robinson, Keith , Mackin, Kerry , Tomczyk, Richard , Wolheim, Wil
Current Investigators: Pancost, David , Vörösmarty, Charles J. , Hopkinson, Charles S , O'Connor, Beth , Lantagne, Daniele , Bade, Don , Robinson, Keith , Mackin, Kerry , Wollheim, Wil
Institution: Town of Ipswich, MA , United States Geological Survey , University of New Hampshire
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: December 1, 2000 through November 30, 2002
Project Period Covered by this Report: December 1, 2001 through November 30, 2002
Project Amount: $321,621
RFA: Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) (2000) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water , Air , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
The objectives of this research project are to: (1) develop the Ipswich Parker Suburban Watershed Channel (IPSWATCH) to provide real-time monitoring information via a Web interface, archival data, maps, and other pertinent information that helps increase public awareness of environmental conditions in the Ipswich River and Parker River watersheds; (2) collect and analyze water quality information that affects the following water-related issues: (a) fish habitat quality as determined by flow and water quality conditions; (b) eutrophication caused by land use change and land management activities; and (c) high mercury levels in fish; and (3) create a dialog among scientists, local and state officials, volunteer organizations, and concerned citizens to increase awareness and better address environmental problems in the Ipswich and Parker River watersheds.
Progress Summary:
In Year 2 of the project, we made further progress towards achieving our goals. We maintained continuous and real-time water quality monitoring equipment, and we redeployed continuous monitoring equipment to four sites in the Ipswich and Parker watersheds. The information collected from one of the sites was transmitted via cell phone telemetry, which was processed daily to update the IPSWATCH Web Site in near real time. Dissolved oxygen went below the critical level of 5 mg/L in late May and stayed below that level through late October. We highlighted the water quality problems at this site on our Web site via an alert bulletin board that publicized the fact that water quality was now problematic at the site.
We continued a strong working partnership between the Marine Biological Laboratory and the University of New Hampshire and watershed association sampling programs to enhance nutrient monitoring. Nutrients were sampled monthly at a number of headwater sites of varying land use as well as along the river mainstems and major tributaries. Nutrients in headwater stations provide a clear link between land use/land management and nutrient levels in streams.
We initiated monitoring of mercury deposition, an issue of increasing concern in the watershed. The mercury deposition monitoring at the Beverly Airport in the Ipswich River watershed, being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey New England Coastal Basins Study, as part of the National Water Quality Assessment Program, has been ongoing since January 2002. The project was undertaken as part of the Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) Study in response to the assessment of high mercury levels found in fish tissue in a preliminary study in the Ipswich River watershed during 1998-2000.
We compiled archival environmental information from a number of groups. We updated our data holdings with information collected by Ipswich River Watershed Association (IRWA) in 2001. This information is now presented on our Web site. We also updated nutrient information collected in 2001 through early 2002. In addition, we are in the process of compiling fecal coliform information throughout the Ipswich and Parker watersheds that has been collected over the last several years. All the data collected by the YSI units also are available in downloadable form.
We improved the IPSWATCH Web Site to disseminate information. The IPSWATCH Web Site was enhanced with a number of new features. On our homepage, we included a bulletin board that can be used by project partners to disseminate information or highlight environmental conditions. We also now highlight current water conditions on our home page. Another addition to the Web site is a map of the water ban status for each town that withdraws water from the Ipswich and Parker watersheds. Finally, we created a similar list of local contacts where the public can contact local officials regarding the closure of beaches and other swimming areas.
We expanded our outreach activities by continuing to update and expand the IPSWATCH Web Site, the primary focus of our outreach and education component. Work is nearly complete on an IPSWATCH brochure, which introduces the Web site. We also have connected with a team of fourth grade teachers at one of the public elementary schools, who were conducting a science unit on water during the fall, and directed them to the IPSWATCH Web Site. News and updates on the EMPACT project have appeared in the monthly newsletter of one of our project partners, IRWA.
Future Activities:
With the remaining funds in the budget through our grant extension, we plan to continue monitoring water quality using the YSI units. We will maintain the Web site, which has been set up to provide automatic updates of current conditions. We will disseminate copies of the IPSWATCH brochure throughout the watershed to publicize the Web site. Nutrient sampling will not continue in 2003. We will finish the laboratory and data analysis of data collected in 2001 and 2002, and we plan to complete several papers that will describe the results.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 16 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
water, drinking water, watersheds, precipitation, chemical transport, ecological effects, human health, heavy metals, pathogens, discharge, aquatic, ecosystem, indicators, sustainable development, ecology, hydrology, environmental chemistry, modeling, monitoring, analytical, Northeast, EPA Region 1, atmospheric mercury deposition, land use, water quality, sprawl, interactive information system, Boston Harbor, marine, fish, shellfish, hydrocarbons, bacteriology, North Shore, Massachusetts, MA, outreach, geospatial, nutrient transport model., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Toxics, Air, Water, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Nutrients, Hydrology, Environmental Chemistry, Chemistry, HAPS, climate change, Air Pollution Effects, Monitoring/Modeling, Wet Weather Flows, Atmosphere, Mercury, Pathology, ecological risk assessment, aquatic ecosystem, EMPACT, hydrologic dynamics, environmental monitoring, dissolved organic matter, fate and transport, hydrological stability, nutrient supply, nutrient transport, inland suburban waterways, hydrocarbon, ecosystem evaluation, mechanistic-based watershed modeling, runoff, geo-spatial internet system, public information, community based, public reporting, pooled data resources, web site development, water quality, nutrient cycling, hydrocarbons, storm drainage, stormwater runoff, nutrient transport model, public health alertsRelevant Websites:
http://www.ipswatch.sr.unh.edu Exit
http://www.GM-WICS.sr.unh.edu Exit
http://www.pielter.org Exit
http://nh.water.usgs.gov/CurrentProjects/nawqa/hg_dep.htm Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.