Monitoring and Assessing Watershed Contributions of Sediment and Phosphorus to the Lower Fox River a

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Monitoring and Assessing Watershed Contributions
of Sediment and Phosphorus to the Lower Fox River
and Green Bay
Kevin Fermanich, UWGBPaul Baumgart, UWGBDave
Graczyk, USGSJessie Fink, UWGB (JJR)
State of Lake Michigan Conference Green Bay, WI
November 3, 2005
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Fox-Wolf Basin

• 1 trib. to Lake Michigan and 3 to Great Lakes
  (6,400 mi2)
• Large source of pollutants
• P Loads
• 560,000 kg/yr 80 from runoff
• Lower Fox Basin
• ¼ P
• ½ TSS

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Watershed background
Soil Permeability

• Clay soils

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Watershed background?

• Cows
• Construction
• P

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Lower Fox River Subbasin Why Here?

• Estimated sediment yield

Sediment Yield 0.25 mt/ha to Bay
(Baumgart, 2000 SWAT modeling)
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Basic Questions

• How much?
• Where?
• What forms?
• Driving Factors?
• Impacts?
• Long-term Trends?
• What if?

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Major Program Elements(began 2003)

• Continuous monitoring
• Sediment P loading (3 WY)
• Real-time sensors
• Source area studies
• Watershed modeling
• Stream biotic integrity monitoring
• School-based monitoring program
• hands-on learning, citizen scientists, meaningful
  data

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Program Partners

• UW-Green Bay
• Natural and Applied Sciences
• Cofrin Center for Biodiversity
• UW-Milwaukee
• US Geological Survey
• GBMSD
• Oneida Tribe
• 5 High Schools
• Arjo Wiggins Appleton, Inc.

www.uwgb.edu/watershed
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This presentation

• How much?
• Where?
• What forms?
• Driving Factors?
• Impacts?
• Long-term Trends?
• What if?

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Objectives of Runoff Study

• Quantify sediment and P concentrations and flow
  in 5 key Lower Fox River tributaries.
• Estimate P and Sediment loads.
• Determine the proportion of Dissolved P to Total
  P in runoff.
• Link results to watershed characteristics and
  previous studies.
• Refine/improve predictive capabilities.

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Monitoring Stations

• 3 water years started Oct 03
• Watersheds
• Duck Creek
• Baird Creek
• Apple Creek
• Ashwaubenon Creek
• East River (GBMSD)

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Methods

• Daily stage / flow
• Low-flow / baseflow samples
• Event Samplers
• (10 runoff events/year)
• Total P, TSS
• Total Dissolved P (25)
• TSS correlation with SSC
• Precip. gauge network
• Compute daily TP and sed. loads, and estimate DP
  loads

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Results

• Precipitation
• Box plots of Concentration Data
• DP/TP ratios
• Loads and Yields (WY2004)
• Urbanization sources

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Precipitation
WY 2004 813 mm NWS 30 yr 741 mm WY 2005
719 mm
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TSS (mg/L) All Samples
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TP (mg/L) All Samples
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Dissolved PTP Ratio
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Example Monthly Loads
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Sediment and P Yields, WY04

• 0.75 mton/ha in clay soils watersheds (2000 land
  use SWAT modeling 0.25 mton/ha).

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Runoff and Loads, WY04
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ConclusionsTributary Monitoring

• WY04 2nd wettest May on record annual only 10
• WY05 annual -3 few runoff events
• Apple, Ash., Baird similar median TSS conc. (180
  mg/L) 2.5x previous studies
• WY05 ½ of conc. of 2004
• TP median conc. 0.28 0.70 mg/L (10-20 lower in
  WY05)
• 25 of Ash. Creek samples gt 0.93 mg/L
• TP gt 2 mg/L at all sites

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ConclusionsTributary Monitoring

• DP 40 to 54 of TP during events
• DP significant form of runoff P.
• Implications for BMPs?
• Loads highly event driven
• 8 days (5 events) 55 of annual P 71 of TSS
  load in Apple Creek in WY04
• High sediment (0.7-.93 t/ha) and P (2 kg/ha)
  yields in WY04 from Apple, Ash., Baird.

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Baird Creek Urbanization Study

• Determine what impact the transition from ag. to
  urban land use is having on Baird Creek
• Sediment and phosphorus conc. loads
• Evaluate stream morphology

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2004 Land Use
Projected 2022
Areas of active construction
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Impervious CoverBaird Creek Watershed
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South vs. North Branches
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Summer 2004 Event Conc.
Sediment
Total P
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Change in Bankfull Width, 2002 2004
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South vs. North Branches

• 60-70 of Sediment Load
• lt20 of area

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Summary

• Are conditions improving?
• Can we deal with big events at source areas?
• Ag and urban
• Can we deal with dissolved P?

Further analysis of watershed linkages and biotic
integrity are ongoing.
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Acknowledgements

• Dale Robertson, Paul Reneau and Troy Rutter, U.S.
  Geological Survey
• John Kennedy and Tracy Valenta, GBMSD
• Tim Ehlinger and crew UW Milwaukee
• Bud Harris, UWGB
• Jon Habeck, Jessie Baumann, Nick Reckinger, UWGB
• Arjo Wiggins Appleton, Inc.

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www.uwgb.edu/watershed
Satellite image May 19, 2000