Citation:

WICKHAM, J. D., B. JONES, T. G. WADE, AND K. H. RIITTERS. UNCERTAINTY IN SCALING NUTRIENT EXPORT COEFFICIENTS. Chapter 12, Methods and Applications. Springer, New York, NY, , 225-237, (2006).

Impact/Purpose:

Overarching Objectives and Links to Multi-year Planning

This research directly supports long-term goals established in ORD's multi-year research plans related to GPRA Goal 2 (Water Quality) and Long Term Goal WQ-2 Assessment of aquatic systems impairment. Relative to the GRPA Goal 2 Water Quality multi-year plan, this research will "provide tools to assess and diagnose impairment in aquatic systems and the sources of associated stressors" and "provide the tools to restore and protect aquatic ecosystems and to forecast the ecological, economic, and human health outcomes of alternative solutions" (Water Quality Long Term Research Goals 2 and 3).

Subtask 1 - Impervious Surface Evaluation

This subtask addresses the development of impervious surfaces estimators for local to regional scale assessments of watersheds and their landscape relationship to stream ecology. The amount of impervious surface area in a watershed is a key indicator of landscape change. As a single variable, it serves to integrate a number of concurrent interactions that directly influence a watershed's hydrology, stream chemical quality, and in-stream habitat. It is our working hypothesis that impervious surface area within a watershed, as an independently mapped predictor variable, can be used to generally track a range of watershed ecological parameters (e.g., NPS pollution, biological integrity, TMDLs) that are of concern to local, state and federal environmental managers. The specific objectives of this research are: 1) to quantitatively evaluate the varying remote sensing methods used in mapping impervious surfaces at multiple scales (local to regional), and 2) to relate the varying levels of impervious surface area in watersheds to the environmental condition of multiple water resource endpoints such as streamflow, temperature, and biota.



Subtask 2 -- Landscape Assessments and Evaluations of Best Management Practices: Watershed Demonstrations

Best Management Practices (BMP) encompass a range of strategies to reduce water pollution related to urban and agricultural activities. EPA, through Section 319(h) of the Clean Water Act [PL 92-500], provides grants to states to implement BMPs in areas with suspected or known water-quality problems. Grants for implementation of BMPs have not been tracked or monitored to document their effectiveness. Although effectiveness can be measured in many different ways, one straightforward but important measure is existence. Implementation of BMPs is a voluntary process and actual implementation is not always executed (Nowak 1992). The primary objective of this project is to assess the feasibility of using high-resolution aerial photography and other remotely sensed data to identify the existence of BMPs that were planned under the 319 program. An additional objective is to evaluate the effectives of BMPs implemented by examining monitoring data from about 5 sites in the OW National NPS monitoring system.

There are several potential benefits to determining the feasibility of using the aerial photography for identifying BMPs: 1) since BMP implementation is voluntary and some may not be implemented due to a variety of social and economic factors (Nowak 1992), remote detection of BMPs can provide data to estimate the ratio of BMPs implemented to BMPs planned; 2) remote detection of BMPs provides validation data that can be input into EPA's Grants Reporting and Tracking System (GRTS), and 3) remote monitoring of BMPs over time could be used to develop data on BMP lifespans, providing important data related to social- and cost-effectiveness.

Subtask 3 -- TMDL Non-point Source Assessment Tool

This subtask involves the development of a software tool to assess the potential risks of water bodies to exceed TMDL threshold values established by States. When completed, the tool will allow the user to evaluate watersheds over entire regions. The too

Description:

The Innov-X XT400 portable XRF analyzer features a miniature, rugged x-ray tube excitation source for analyzing a wide variety of elements and sample materials, including alloys, environmental solids, and other analytical samples. The x-ray tube source and Light Element Analysis Program (LEAP) technology analyzes elements that would require three isotope sources in an isotope-based XRF analyzer. Other features of the XT400 include: multiple x-ray beam filters, multiple calibration methods, and adjustable tube voltages and currents. The analyzer weighs 4.5 pounds and can be powered in the field with a lithium-ion battery or 110-volt alternating current (AC). The XT400 XRF analyzer utilizes a Hewlett-Packard (HP) iPAQ personal data assistant (PDA) for data storage of up to 10,000 tests with spectra in its 64 megabyte memory. The iPAQ has a color, high resolution display with variable backlighting and can be fitted with Bluetooth® wireless printing and data downloading, an integrated bar-code reader, and wireless data and file transfer accessories. The XT400 analyzer can analyze elements from potassium to uranium in suites of 25 elements simultaneously. This report describes the results of the evaluation of the XT400 analyzer based on the data obtained during the demonstration. The method detection limits, accuracy, and precision of the instrument for each of the 13 target analytes are presented and discussed. The cost of element analysis using the XT400 analyzer is compiled and compared to both fixed laboratory costs and average XRF instrument costs. The Innov-X XT400 portable XRF analyzer features a miniature, rugged x-ray tube excitation source for analyzing a wide variety of elements and sample materials, including alloys, environmental solids, and other analytical samples. The x-ray tube source and Light Element Analysis Program (LEAP) technology analyzes elements that would require three isotope sources in an isotope-based XRF analyzer. Other features of the XT400 include: multiple x-ray beam filters, multiple calibration methods, and adjustable tube voltages and currents. The analyzer weighs 4.5 pounds and can be powered in the field with a lithium-ion battery or 110-volt alternating current (AC). The XT400 XRF analyzer utilizes a Hewlett-Packard (HP) iPAQ personal data assistant (PDA) for data storage of up to 10,000 tests with spectra in its 64 megabyte memory. The iPAQ has a color, high resolution display with variable backlighting and can be fitted with Bluetooth® wireless printing and data downloading, an integrated bar-code reader, and wireless data and file transfer accessories. The XT400 analyzer can analyze elements from potassium to uranium in suites of 25 elements simultaneously. This report describes the results of the evaluation of the XT400 analyzer based on the data obtained during the demonstration. The method detection limits, accuracy, and precision of the instrument for each of the 13 target analytes are presented and discussed. The cost of element analysis using the XT400 analyzer is compiled and compared to both fixed laboratory costs and average XRF instrument costs.

Record Details: