Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Lake Access: Managing Urban Runoff Using Real-Time, Community-Based Monitoring to Improve Lake Water Quality
EPA Grant Number: R828579Title: Lake Access: Managing Urban Runoff Using Real-Time, Community-Based Monitoring to Improve Lake Water Quality
Investigators: Barten, John , Host, George E. , Liukkonen, Barbara , Munson, Bruce , Owen, Christopher , Hagley, Cindy , Axler, Richard
Institution: Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District, MN , University of Minnesota - Duluth , Minnehaha Creak Watershed District
Current Institution: Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District, MN , Minnehaha Creak Watershed District , University of Minnesota - Duluth
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: September 1, 2000 through September 1, 2002
Project Amount: $480,690
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 Lake Access project was designed to provide public citizens with near real-time water quality data from urban stormwater runoff, streams, and lakes. It was implemented through a cooperative effort among The Three Rivers Park District, the Natural Resources Research Institute (University of Minnesota-Duluth), Minnesota Sea Grant, and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.
The Lake Access project was designed to demonstrate the path that nutrients take in traveling from their sources within a watershed to the final receiving waters, and show how these mobilized nutrients affected the water quality of typical Minnesota lakes. Medicine Lake, located 10 miles west of Minneapolis, MN, was chosen as the subject of this project because of its high public visibility, degraded water quality, and location in a suburban metropolitan area. To demonstrate the relationship between watershed activities, nutrient mobilization, and water quality, we monitored stormwater runoff from subwatersheds within the Medicine Lake watershed, urban streams that drained main areas of the watershed, and the in-lake water quality of Medicine Lake.
Monitoring of stormwater runoff from small residential areas was used to show how land use affects the quality and quantity of water running off of the watershed. Stream monitoring was used to estimate the total nutrient loading to Medicine Lake and to demonstrate how stream conditions were affected by suburban development. Real-time in-lake monitoring showed how Medicine Lake responded to what flowed in from the watershed.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
To characterize the link between land use practices within a watershed and runoff quality, six small residential subwatersheds within the Medicine Lake watershed were monitored in 2001 and 2002. The data collected from these stormwater sites were primarily used to characterize residential nutrient loading and track the effects of local lawn-care practices on nutrient loading; specifically the potential effectiveness of restrictions on the use of phosphorus fertilizers to reduce phosphorus levels in runoff. Runoff from these residential subwatersheds was monitored with automated samplers and flow loggers installed in storm sewers that drained each area.
To determine the total amount of nutrients and water flowing into Medicine Lake from its surrounding watershed, two major inflow points to Medicine Lake were monitored in 2001 and 2002. Automated sampling equipment was used to collect flow data and flow-weighted water samples for runoff events associated with rainfall. The flow and water chemistry data enabled us to determine the nutrient loading from each stream.
To demonstrate the link between watershed runoff and in-lake water quality, we monitored Medicine Lake with Remote Underwater Sampling Stations (RUSS units). The lake data collected in 2001 and 2002 were posted on the Lake Access Web site along with historical water quality data.
The results from all three of these data collection programs: the residential subwatershed monitoring, stream monitoring, and RUSS units, were incorporated into public education programs administered at local schools and at various conferences and public gatherings. In addition, these results were a key component of testimony presented at Minnesota legislative hearings that led to a statewide restriction on the use of fertilizers that contained phosphorus. The real-time lake and stream data collected as a part of this project were posted on the Lake Access Web site (http://www.lakeaccess.org Exit ) along with detailed explanations and contextual information to enhance the usability of the information.
Residential Subwatershed Monitoring
Six small residential subwatersheds were monitored in 2001 and 2002, to characterize residential runoff within the Medicine Lake watershed and determine if restricting the use of lawn fertilizers that contain phosphorus could reduce the phosphorus levels in stormwater runoff. Three of these subwatersheds were located in the city of Plymouth, MN, where the use of fertilizer that contained phosphorus was restricted; the remaining three subwatersheds were located in Maple Grove, NM, where there was no such restriction. These subwatersheds were carefully selected to include one newly developed area, one middle-aged neighborhood, and one older neighborhood within each of the cities. All of these subwatersheds were located within 10 kilometers of each other to minimize differences in precipitation patterns, soil types, and aerial loading of phosphorus. Surveys of each subwatershed were conducted to assess the potential role of other variables in leading to any observed differences in nutrient loading between Maple Grove and Plymouth.
Automated sampling equipment was installed in the storm sewer system at the outlet point of each subwatershed to collect detailed flow information and flow-weighted composite water samples of all stormwater flow. For each sampled flow event, the load of total phosphorus, dissolved phosphorus, total nitrogen, and suspended solids from each watershed were calculated using the observed flow-weighted event mean concentration and the total event flow volume.
Subwatershed Monitoring Results
Results from the residential subwatershed monitoring showed that a substantial amount of rain ran off of lawns, predominantly for rain event totals greater than 2 cm. When we compared the area-weighted phosphorus loading that occurred between sites from each city during the same rain events, we observed significantly lower area-weighted phosphorus loading in Plymouth. This suggested that Plymouth's phosphorus fertilizer ordinance had resulted in significantly lower amounts of phosphorus running off of residential areas within the city.
Tributary Stream Monitoring
To characterize the nutrient loading to urban lakes in Minnesota the two major streams that flow into Medicine Lake, Plymouth Creek and Ridgedale Creek, were monitored in 2001 and 2002. The intended use of the inflow data was to show the link between the activities in the surrounding watershed and in-lake water quality.
Medicine Lake Water Quality Monitoring
Medicine Lake is located in a relatively large, densely developed watershed. It is a highly visible and heavily used lake that has regularly experienced degraded water quality. In-lake water quality changes in Medicine Lake were monitored by deploying a RUSS near the middle of the lake. The RUSS, a floating automated lake monitoring raft, was equipped with solar panels, an on-board computer system, a cellular modem, and a profiling device. The profiling device was connected to the on-board computer by a 100-foot data cable and was free to move vertically below the platform by adjusting its buoyancy.
The profiling device carried a YSI multiprobe sonde, so as it moved vertically in the water column below the raft it was able to record temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, and chlorophyll-a data at specific depths. These readings were recorded by the on-board computer and then downloaded daily via the combination modem/cell phone. Thus, the RUSS unit was able to provide near real-time water quality data virtually independent of weather conditions and time of day.
All transmitted data were reviewed and uploaded to the Lake Access Web site (http://www.lakeaccess.org Exit ) as near real-time data. RUSS data also were accessible through a sister site, Water on the Web (http://wow.nrri.umn.edu Exit ).
Web Site Traffic
Visits to the Lake Access Web site increased 62 percent between 2001 and 2002 (1,850,895 page requests in 2002, compared with 1,139,893 in 2001). As expected, activity on the site was highest between April and October, when the Medicine Lake RUSS unit and stream data sensors were operating. The site received hits from dozens of countries—Canada, United Kingdom, Greece, Japan, and Italy were the top international user sources. By the end of 2002, the Lakeaccess.org site was the top item listed by Google when searched for "Lake Access."
Lake Access Outreach
The goal of the Lake Access project was to increase public understanding of factors affecting water quality for informed decision-making about land use in a metropolitan region in Minnesota. We promoted Lake Access at meetings, festivals, and public gatherings by distributing specially designed brochures and magnets that advertised the Web site. Results from this project were presented at local, national, and international conferences.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 26 publications | 3 publications in selected types | All 1 journal articles |
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Host GE, Will NR, Axler RP, Owen CJ, Munson BH. Interactive technologies for collecting and visualizing water quality data. URISA Journal 2000;12(3):39-45. |
R828579 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
water, lakes, streams, watersheds, subwatersheds, water quality, land, soil, precipitation, infiltration, stormwater, runoff, urban, nutrients, nutrient transport, fertilizer, lawns, impervious surfaces, phosphorus, P, decision making, restoration, environmental education, limnology, innovative technology, ecosystems, aquatic, environmental, biology, hydrology, Midwest, Minnesota, MN, monitoring, surveys, lawn care., Scientific Discipline, Water, Ecology, Hydrology, Limnology, Wastewater, Environmental Chemistry, Chemistry, Wet Weather Flows, Ecological Risk Assessment, EMPACT, watershed, downstream effects, turbidity, urban runoff, community based, fertilizer, recreational area, data management, treatment, flow monitor, water quality, water treatment, outreach and education, public policy, real-time monitoring, phosphorous, lake ecosystemsRelevant Websites:
http://www.lakeaccess.org Exit
http://www.lakeaccess.org/lakedata/frames/medicineframeset.htm Exit
http://wow.nrri.umn.edu 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.