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Role of Stream Restoration on Improving Benthic Macroinvertebrates and In-Stream Water Quality in an Urban Watershed
Citation:
SELVAKUMAR, A., T. OCONNOR, AND S. Struck. Role of Stream Restoration on Improving Benthic Macroinvertebrates and In-Stream Water Quality in an Urban Watershed. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Reston, VA, 136(1):127-139, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
to share information
Description:
Many stream restoration projects do not include a requirement for long-term monitoring after the project has been completed, resulting in a lack of information about the success or failure of certain restoration techniques. The National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL), part of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (U.S. EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD), evaluated the effectiveness of stream bank and channel restoration as a means of improving in-stream water quality and biological habitat in Accotink Creek, Fairfax City, Virginia, using discrete sampling and continuous monitoring techniques before and after restoration. This project monitored the effects of an 1,800 linear-ft restoration of degraded stream channel in the North Fork of Accotink Creek. Restoration, which was intended to restore the stream channel to a stable condition, thereby reducing stream bank erosion and sediment loads in the stream, included installation of native plant materials along the stream and bioengineering structures to stabilize the stream channel and bank. Results of sampling and monitoring for two years after restoration indicated a general improvement in biological quality for macroinvertebrate indices such as Virginia Stream Condition Index (VASCI), Hilsenhoff Biotic Index (HBI), and Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera (EPT) taxa; the differences were statistically significant. However, indices were all below the impairment level, indicating poor water quality conditions. No statistically significant differences in chemical constituents and bacteriological indicator organisms were found before and after restoration as well as upstream and downstream of the restoration. The results indicated that stream restoration alone had little effect in improving the conditions of in-stream water quality and biological habitat.
