Understanding Nutrient Loading Impacts on Lake Ontario Nearshore Waters at the Niagara River Connecting Channel

Dates

Start Date: 2012
End Date: 2015

Summary

Description of Work The Great Lakes ecosystem has undergone major changes over the last two decades related to the invasion of Dreissenid mussels, increased water clarity, increased benthic algae and associated water quality problems. For reasons not yet entirely understood, and that have bi-national significance, water column total phosphorus has not significantly increased over the last decade but the relative percent of the more biologically available dissolved phosphorus has increased. The filtering action of Dreissenid mussels has been shown to increase concentrations of dissolved phosphorus in the water column immediately above mussel beds and this had been hypothesized as one explanation for the increase of benthic algae. However, [...]

Summary

Description of Work

The Great Lakes ecosystem has undergone major changes over the last two decades related to the invasion of Dreissenid mussels, increased water clarity, increased benthic algae and associated water quality problems. For reasons not yet entirely understood, and that have bi-national significance, water column total phosphorus has not significantly increased over the last decade but the relative percent of the more biologically available dissolved phosphorus has increased. The filtering action of Dreissenid mussels has been shown to increase concentrations of dissolved phosphorus in the water column immediately above mussel beds and this had been hypothesized as one explanation for the increase of benthic algae. However, the Lake Ontario 2008 CSMI monitoring year’s assessment of nearshore water eutrophication problems concluded that localized eutrophication problems could not be explained by the presence of mussel beds alone. Tributary nutrient inputs always appeared to be a common factor related to localized nearshore problems. This work will expand the nearshore work begun in 2008, as part of a binational assessment coordinated by the Lake Ontario Lakewide Management Plan, to develop better understand the connection between tributary nutrient inputs and Lake Ontario nearshore water quality and nutrient fate and transport with the aim of identifying potential management actions. This nearshore work will complement offshore work to be coordinated by US and Canadian Lake Ontario Lakewide Management Plan partners through the use of the research vessels Lake Guardian and Limnos. The maintenance of flow gaging systems and regular monitoring programs are essential to understand nutrient loadings and impacts. This work will allow the maintenance of gaging stations and the collection of nutrient samples from six major, and several selected minor New York Lake Ontario tributaries through the 2014 field year. Included will be the GLRI priority watershed, the Genesee River, and Oak Orchard Creek, both identified as large nutrient loading basins to the southern shore of Lake Ontario. In addition to seven regularly scheduled sampling events for each tributary, the sampling plan will be designed to capture spring, growing season and extreme flow events with a focus on understanding particulate and dissolved nutrient concentrations and loadings. This work will be in addition to the work being conducted for template 76 at the Genesee River. This information will be of tremendous value in supporting the development of nutrient loading estimates and for the development of nutrient fate and transport models coincident with the new bi-national Great Lakes Water Quality agreement protocol. Studies of water quality and the lower foodweb at selected nearshore zones impacted by tributary inputs will be designed to better understand the fate and transport of nutrients in the water column and aquatic foodweb and the connection with the health of near-shore aquatic communities and local beaches along the Lake Ontario shoreline. Timing of nearshore sampling events will be coordinated with tributary monitoring. Both tributary and nearshore monitoring and research activities will place an emphasis on developing a better understanding of dissolved and total phosphorus ratios and whether different ratios drive varying biological responses. All of this work will be coordinated with a range of US and Canadian Lake Ontario nutrient related work being conducted in 2013 in order to develop a basin-wide assessment of nutrient loadings, fate and transport and the identification of potential management strategies and research in support of the Lake Ontario Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP). A review of currently on-going, and soon-to-be completed, nutrient-related studies, including fate and transport and the response of biological systems, will be included as part of initial planning workshops and factored into the final near-shore project design.

Additionally, the Niagara River connecting channel will be monitored starting August 2014 for one year, as a pilot study. Samples will be collected in the channel at Ft. Erie (upstream) and near Niagara-on-the-Lake (downstream) of the connecting channel. A variety of constituents including: nutrients, toxics, emerging contaminants, legacy contaminants, and health-care products, along with flow data will be collected seasonally 3 times a year and 3 times during the summer months based on lake temperature, to capture bioaccumulation effects on these constituents, especially nutrient concentrations.

Contacts

Principal Investigator :: Brett A Hayhurst
Associate Project Chief :: Edward F Bugliosi
Cooperator/Partner :: Fred Luckey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 2
Lead Organization :: Ithaca Office, NY Water Science Center

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NIAGARA_RIVER_AT_FORT_ERIE_CA.jpg “Study Location 04216070 Niagara River at Fort Erie, NY”		165.14 KB	image/jpeg
NIAGARA_RIVER_AT_LEWISTON_NY.jpg “Study Location 04219501 Niagara River at Lewiston, NY”		162.16 KB	image/jpeg

Related External Resources

Type: Web Link

Project Home Page	http://cida.usgs.gov/glri/#/Browse/fanh/545121d6e4b0f97badbcf33c
Related Resource	http://ny.cf.er.usgs.gov/nyprojectsearch/projects/LK00-EVG4600.html

Purpose

High quality water quality nutrient information is collected from major New York Lake Ontario tributaries. In addition to regularly scheduled events, monitoring effectively captures Spring, growing season and high flow events that are critical to developing a more complete understanding of seasonal patterns of nutrient loadings and any seasonal changes in the relative amounts of total and dissolved nutrients. This will allow comparison of 5-year average annual loading rates of both sediment and nutrients that will address targeted watersheds such as the Genesee River and its embayment. Studies of Lake Ontario tributary impacts on near-shore water quality provide insights on how near-shore waters respond to tributary nutrient inputs, identify water quality, and biological impairments and develop an improved understanding of nutrient fate and transport in the near-shore zone and the aquatic food web. Studies also provide insights on monitoring approaches best suited to characterize nutrient related water quality problems. Existing nutrient loading models are updated to provide improved nutrient loading estimates.

Project Extension

projectStatus	In Progress

Understanding Nutrient Loading Impacts on Lake Ontario Nearshore Waters at the Niagara River Connecting Channel

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