Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Assabet River StreamWatch: Monitoring and Timely Reporting of Streamflow and Water Quality to Assess Habitat Stress for Native Fish Populations in the Assabet River Watershed, Massachusetts
EPA Grant Number: R829323Title: Assabet River StreamWatch: Monitoring and Timely Reporting of Streamflow and Water Quality to Assess Habitat Stress for Native Fish Populations in the Assabet River Watershed, Massachusetts
Investigators: Blazar, Paul , Armstrong, D. E. , Blatt, Julia , Bennett, Laurie , Wagner, Lou , Weiskel, Peter , Socolow, Roy , Beede, Susan , Flint, Suzanne , Richards, Todd
Institution: Town of Hudson , United States Geological Survey , Massachusetts Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Environmental Law Enforcement , Massachusetts Audubon Society , Organization for the Assabet River
Current Institution: Town of Hudson , Massachusetts Audubon Society , Massachusetts Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Environmental Law Enforcement , Organization for the Assabet River , United States Geological Survey
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: January 1, 2002 through December 31, 2003 (Extended to December 31, 2004)
Project Amount: $432,692
RFA: Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) (2001) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Statistics , Water , Aquatic Ecosystems , Air , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
The objectives of the StreamWatch research project were to characterize summertime fish habitat conditions in the main tributaries of the Assabet River and to provide timely, accurate information to the public, local decision makers, and scientists. The Assabet River mainstem is nutrient-saturated, and large reductions in nutrient loads are needed to restore water quality in the river. For load reductions to be effective, base flow in the river and its major tributaries must be preserved or augmented. The water resources of the entire basin are already under the combined strain of a rapidly growing population and water management practices that result in the net transfer of water out of the sub-basins. Solving these problems will require (1) a better understanding of water budgets and water quality in the sub-watersheds and (2) a public constituency willing to change their personal water consumption habits and allocate the resources needed to change water management infrastructures.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Approach
This research project focused on fish habitat in the tributary streams of the Assabet River watershed. The StreamWatch Stream Health Index was developed as the main data integration and delivery mechanism for the project. This was the first time, to our knowledge, that an integrated flow, water quality, and habitat availability index was developed to rate stream conditions for fish in near real-time. Measurements of streamflow, groundwater levels, channel flow status, dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and total suspended solids were scored from 1 (worst) to 100 (best). Streamflow data were scored against minimum streamflow recommendations of several standard-setting methods being tested in Massachusetts. Groundwater levels were scored against expected conditions from long-term records. Water quality metrics were scored against published fish tolerances, Massachusetts standards, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) criteria. For nutrient concentrations, where the effect on fish habitat is indirect, measurements were scored against expected conditions for the ecoregion. Channel flow status was scored using EPA’s Rapid Bioassessment Protocol method. These parameter scores were aggregated to give streamflow, water quality, and habitat availability index scores; these three index scores then were combined into an overall Stream Health Index. For posting results, the index scores were broken into five ranges and each range given a descriptor . Over the summer monitoring period, weekly index readings were posted on signboards in the project towns or in local newspapers and on the project Web page. The Web page (http://www.assabetriver.org/streamwatch Exit ) provides timely dissemination of geospatially linked data and background information. A series of workshops were developed to present and promote water conservation via ecological landscaping.
Since the beginning of the project in January 2002, StreamWatch project partners developed permanent monitoring sites at eight locations in the Assabet River watershed and one in the Concord River watershed, assessed streamflow requirements at six of those sites, developed the Stream Health Index, created an Access database for data management, and developed the project Web page and curb-side signs for data delivery. From June 15 to October 1, 2002, the Organization for the Assabet River (OAR) staff and volunteers conducted the pilot project, posting weekly data for Danforth Brook on the project Web page. From June 15 to October 1, 2003, data delivery for the project was expanded to six project sites. Index readings were posted on curb-side signs in five towns; both raw data and index readings were posted on the project Web page. In 2004, the project continued summertime data delivery for six project streams and completed site development for three additional sites. Partnering with the River Meadow Neighborhood Association and the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Riverways Program, OAR extended its StreamWatch monitoring program to the downstream Concord River watershed by adding a site on River Meadow Brook, the largest tributary of the Concord. The signs and project generated local notice and articles in local newspapers. The development of the Stream Health Index and findings from the first 3 years of the project were presented at one national and one regional meeting.
Public Outreach and Education
OAR developed the project Web page, including an interface for weekly data delivery and background information. Background information includes water use in the basin, the groundwater and surface water cycle, local histories for each stream, fish in the watershed (from 2001 and historic surveys), and information on protecting streams and fish. For the fish description section, OAR used pictures, with permission, from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Karsten Hartel at the Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the American Fisheries Society. The innovative and comprehensive StreamWatch Web pages earned OAR’s Web site an Eddy award from American Rivers, Inc., a national river conservation group, in the fall of 2002.
The Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Ecological Landscaping Association, and OAR developed and presented four workshops on ecological landscaping (two each in spring 2002 and 2003). The workshops emphasized the connection between outdoor water use, landscaping and lawn care practices, and the health of local streams. Each workshop attracted 60-70 attendees.
Results
Pilot Project (2002): In the first year of the project, the Stream Health Index and data delivery system was piloted on Danforth Brook. Results of the U.S. Geological Survey minimum streamflow analyses for Danforth Brook were used in developing the StreamWatch Habitat Health Index and are available at http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/of/ofr02-340/ Exit . A mild drought affected New England throughout 2002 ; precipitation from June to September was 84 percent of normal (as measured at the National Weather Service [NWS] Worcester, MA station). Streamflows in Danforth Brook dropped rapidly from 3.3 cubic feet per second (cfs) in the middle of June to less than 0.5 cfs by mid-July and remained low for the rest of the summer. Overall Stream Health Index readings dropped from “good” for the week of June 15, 2002, to “very poor” by the week of August 17, 2002, and remained “very poor” through the end of the monitoring season on October 5th. In general, the lowest scoring parameter was streamflow.
In contrast, from June to September 2003 rainfalls were 114 percent of normal (as measured at the NWS station in Worcester, Massachusetts). The Stream Health Index was calculated for each of six tributary streams (including Danforth Brook) in 2003. The overall Stream Health Index readings for Danforth Brook were “excellent” in June and in the “good” to “fair” range for much of the rest of the summer. Again, the lowest scoring parameter tended to be streamflow.
The stream health was rated “excellent” or “good” in the other project streams for most of the 15 weeks assessed: Hop Brook–15 of 15 weeks, Cold Harbor Brook–10 of 15 weeks, Fort Meadow Brook–13 of 15 weeks, Elizabeth Brook–12 of 15 weeks, and Nashoba Brook–12 of 15 weeks. The lowest Stream Health readings for Nashoba Brook occurred in early August and mid-September, when streamflows were at their lowest. Early in the summer (June through early-August), the lowest-scoring parameter was total nitrogen; later in the summer (early-August through September), the lowest-scoring parameters were temperature and streamflow.
From June to September 2004, rainfall at the NWS station in Worcester, Massachusetts, was 113 percent of normal, with most of the precipitation coming in September as hurricanes. Stream Health was rated in the “excellent” or “good” range for the project streams as follows: Hop Brook–10 of 17 weeks, Cold Harbor Brook– 5 of 17 weeks, Danforth Brook–5 of 17 weeks, Fort Meadow Brook–14 of 17 weeks, Elizabeth Brook–12 of 17 weeks, and Nashoba Brook–10 of 17 weeks. Again, streamflow was the lowest scoring parameter for Danforth Brook throughout the summer. Total nitrogen and water temperature were the low-scoring parameters for Nashoba Brook. Complete data can be accessed on the project Web page.
Conclusions:
Results from the first three seasons suggest that the Stream Health Index developed for this project is useful in integrating, comparing, and communicating streamflow, water quality, and habitat availability information. By calculating subindices for each of the parameters and then combining those subindices into an overall index, spatial and temporal trends in both the individual parameters and in the overall index can be analyzed. The index can be readily adapted for use in other watersheds throughout New England. Over time, the project will add to the body of data available on streamflow conditions in the small streams of Massachusetts and will help to raise awareness of streamflow issues facing the state.
Several trends emerged from the first 3 years of data collection. Danforth Brook appeared to be affected by the lowest streamflows of the six project streams evaluated; further work is needed to determine whether this is a natural or anthropogenic condition. In other project streams, including the largest of the streams in the study, Nashoba Brook, high total nitrogen concentration and water temperature followed by dissolved oxygen and streamflow are generally the lowest scoring parameters. Elevated total nitrogen concentrations are most likely from nonpoint sources and should be investigated further.
The StreamWatch project allowed OAR to adapt its long-standing volunteer water quality monitoring program to collect streamflow data, evaluate conditions in the tributary streams of the basin, and deliver data to the public on a weekly basis. Using the volunteer-based data collection keeps the program economically feasible and sustainable. The volunteer program also provides a hands-on opportunity for watershed residents to learn about the streams of the Assabet and Concord watersheds and helps them become better stewards of the rivers.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 8 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Northeast, Massachusetts, MA, EPA Region 1, EPA Ecoregion XIV, hydrology, biology, ecosystem protection, civil/environmental engineering, ecological risk assessment, water and watershed, wet weather flows, Assabet River, aquatic ecosystem, community water quality information system, nutrient monitoring, stream ecosystem, streams, watershed assessment, water quality,, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Water, ECOSYSTEMS, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, RESEARCH, Ground Water, Water & Watershed, State, Monitoring/Modeling, Monitoring, Civil/Environmental Engineering, Wet Weather Flows, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Environmental Monitoring, Ecological Risk Assessment, Urban and Regional Planning, Watersheds, aquatic ecosystem, EMPACT, remote sensing, hydrologic dynamics, Assabet River, nutrient transport, wetlands, community-based approach, streams, nutrients, downstream effects, runoff, sediment transport, stream ecosystems, Massachusetts (MA), community water quality information system, stormwater, community outreach, community tracking, nutrient monitoring , water quality, Massachusetts, community partnerships, aquatic ecosystems, ecological models, nutrient transport model, stormwater runoff, ecology assessment models, water management options, watershed assessment, land management, stream ecosystem, storm water, Storm Water Management Model, land useRelevant Websites:
http://www.assabetriver.org/streamwatch Exit
http://www.assabetriver.org/wq/ Exit
http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/of/ofr02-340/ 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.