Filters: Tags: BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment (X) > Types: OGC WMS Layer (X) > Categories: Data (X)
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Title IV has been successful in reducing emissions of SO2 and NOx from power generation to the levels set by Congress. In fact, by 2009, SO2 emissions from power plants were already 3.25 million tons lower than the final 2010 cap level of 8.95 million tons, and NOx emissions were 6.1 million tons less than the projected level in 2000 without the ARP, or more than triple the Title IV NOx emission-reduction objective. As a result of these emission reductions, air quality has improved, providing significant human health benefits, and acid deposition has decreased to the extent that some acid-sensitive areas are beginning to show signs of recovery. Current emission reductions and the passage of time, which is needed...
Problem - In August 2000, eleven sites were sampled from 9 streams within the Croton watershed for pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds associated with wastewater as part of a national study of these compounds in streams receiving wastewater discharges. Results from the national study indicated that streams in the Croton Reservoir downstream of sewage treatment plants had concentrations of target compounds. Detected compounds included pharmaceuticals, detergent degradates, insecticides, caffeine, and other organic compounds (Kolpin and others, 2002). The results indicate that these compounds are commonly present in streams below wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Many of these compounds have not been...
The Appalachian Trail (AT), a 14-state footpath from Maine to Georgia, is a unit of the National Park Service that is cooperatively managed and maintained by the National Park Service (NPS), the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, AT Club volunteers, the USDA Forest Service, and other public land-management agencies. Upper elevation and ridge-top ecosystems, which comprise much of the trail corridor, have been impacted by and remain extremely sensitive to acidic deposition. Ridgetop soils that are often low in calcium make the ecosystems of the AT more sensitive to acidic deposition than other ecosystems. Furthermore, upper elevations tend to receive the highest levels of deposition. In areas along the AT, such...
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Tags: Appalachian Trail,
Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment,
BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment,
Climate Impacts,
Completed,
Water-quality samples were collected from the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (UPDE) and its tributaries during the period October 1, 2005, to September 30, 2007, to document existing water quality, determine relations between land use and water quality, and identify areas of water-quality concern. A tiered water-quality monitoring framework was used, with the tiers consisting of intensively sampled sites, gradient sites representing the range of land uses present in the basin, and regional stream-survey sites. Median nitrate and total phosphorous concentrations were 1.15 and 0.01 milligrams per liter (mg/L) for three sites on the mainstem Delaware River, 1.27 and 0.009 mg/L for the East Branch Delaware...
BACKGROUND Chemistry data from a group of Adirondack lakes monitored since the mid-1990s indicate that chemical recovery is currently underway and can be attributed to declining deposition loads of sulfate and nitrate in direct response to the 1990 amendment to the Clean Air Act (CAA) and other regulations. Changes in the water quality of several western Adirondack streams suggest that chemical recovery from acidification is underway as well, while data from recent large-scale stream surveys also support the assertion. Changes in stream chemistry, however, appear to be more complicated than changes in lake chemistry. The pH levels in Buck Creek, for example, have changed very little since the 1990s but dissolved...
Summary The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Long Term Monitoring (LTM) network has supported the collection of stream chemistry data in the Catskills since the 1990s. Trends in stream chemistry have periodically been evaluated in these streams but the most recent assessments only extend through the early 2000s. An updated assessment of stream chemistry trends will help evaluate the effects of recent substantial declines in acid deposition during the last decade. This study will evaluate changes in surface water chemistry from 1991 through 2013 at 5 stations in the Neversink and Rondout watersheds in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The results will be compared to changes in atmospheric deposition...
Background Past water-quality issues in the St. Lawrence River at Massena, NY resulted in a determination that selected beneficial uses may be impaired in a surrounding Area of Concern (AOC) and on the Canadian side of the international boundary (Cornwall, Ontario). The plankton (phytoplankton zooplankton) Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) was so designated because impairment metrics were unavailable or inconclusive. Recent investigations, however, suggest that plankton communities are relatively healthy and no longer threaten the local ecosystem. Thus, the BUI for plankton may now be outdated in all, or parts of, the St. Lawrence River in the Massena AOC. The primary goal for the Massena (and Cornwall) Remedial Action...
This project provides weekly wet-only mercury deposition samples at the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) station in the Biscuit Brook watershed at the Frost Valley YMCA. The station has been in operation since 2004 and is currently funded by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This is the only MDN station located in the Catskill Mountains and one of only 3 stations in New York State. The Catskill Mountains supply 85% of New York City’s drinking water through a system of surface water reservoirs. All of these reservoirs have fish consumption advisories because of the high level of mercury (Hg) in fish in the reservoirs and atmospheric Hg deposition is the main source of Hg to the...
BACKGROUND Watersheds of the Adirondack Mountains receive high levels of acid deposition resulting from atmospheric emissions of nitrogen and sulfur oxides. Acidic deposition has been shown to reduce acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and calcium (Ca) concentrations, and increase acidity and aluminum (Al) concentrations in soils and surface waters, and affect forest health as well as fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages across the region. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently developing secondary standards for nitrogen and sulfur emissions that will indirectly protect terrestrial and aquatic species and their communities from further adverse impacts and promote recovery of acidified ecosystems...
Problem - Acidic precipitation has affected forested and aquatic ecosystems in New York, particularly in the Adirondack and Catskill regions. Acidification of surface waters and deleterious effects on fish and other biota have been well documented in both these regions. Despite reduced levels of acidity in atmospheric deposition over the past 20 years across New York and the northeastern United States, the most acid-sensitive streams and lakes have not yet begun to recover, and many show continued declines in acid-neutralizing capacity, an indicator acid-base status. Many studies have documented the effects of acid precipitation in New York, but thus far, there has been no comprehensive effort to synthesize and...
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is collaborating with the New York Department of State (NYDOS) Office of Planning and Development to prepare a new Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER) Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy (CWRMS). Since 2000, when the last CWRMS was published, numerous research projects and studies are demonstrating several new threats to the ecologic health and resilience of the SSER. Contemporary threats include: Eutrophic conditions brought on by high levels of nutrients from sewage treatment plant discharges, stormwater runoff, groundwater seepage, and atmospheric contributions; Increased occurrences of harmful algal blooms in the past 15 years; and, Growing concern...
Problem The Neversink River and Rondout Creek are historic trout fishing and recreational streams in the heart of the Catskill Mountains of southeastern NY. Waters throughout upper reaches of both rivers currently range from neutral to severely acidic due to deposition of acid rain throughout their watersheds. Fish surveys conducted by the USGS during the late 1980s and early 1990s found that some fish species and entire assemblages were absent or depressed in many tributaries and second and third order reaches of both rivers. Recent decreases in acidity of atmospheric deposition and changes in hydrologic and thermal regimes are now affecting water chemistry (e.g., pH, acid neutralizing capacity, dissolved organic...
Categories: Data,
Project;
Types: Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment,
Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment,
BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment,
Cooperative Water Program,
Ecological Assessment of Human and Natural Impacts,
Background Discharges from non-point sources, municipal and industrial point sources, and combined sewage overflows over the last century resulted in elevated levels of heavy metals, conventional pollutants, phosphorus, and toxic organic contaminants in water and sediments of the Lower Genesee River and Rochester Embayment. As a result, the zooplankton and phytoplankton or “plankton” communities were designated as one of fourteen Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI); i.e., the resource was either impaired or in need of assessment in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern (AOC). The Rochester Embayment Remedial Action Committee (RAC) was formed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)...
Problem The Adirondack region of New York has 128 lakes that are listed as impaired by acidity under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Acidity can limit the survival and reproduction of native fishes such as brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Chronic and episodic acidification also stresses fish, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and other biota of inflowing tributaries of these and many additional lakes. Acidification of these tributaries can also affect the health of fish populations in receiving lakes, by limiting suitable spawning and nursery habitat. Although many Adirondack lakes have shown decreased acidity resulting from decreases in atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen emissions, the ecological improvements...
The growth of temperate forests is typically limited by the availability of nitrogen. Elevated concentrations of nitrate in some Catskill Mountain streams, which are tributary to New York City's water-supply reservoirs west of the Hudson River, indicate that the forests of this region are at the early stages of nitrogen saturation. That is, nitrogen is available in excess of the amount utilized by vegetation and soil microorganisms in the forests. Nitrogen saturation is a concern because the mobile nitrate that moves through soil is accompanied by other nutrients such as the base cations calcium and magnesium that are necessary for forest growth but are present in short supply in some Catskill soils. And, nutrient...
BACKGROUND The Adirondack region of New York has a history of relatively high atmospheric sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) deposition (Greaver et al. 2012). Adirondack ecosystems have been impacted by these inputs, including soil and surface water acidification, and impaired health and diversity of forest vegetation and aquatic biota. Air quality management, through the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency NOx Budget Trading Program, and the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) has resulted in decreases in atmospheric S and N deposition in the Adirondacks and throughout the eastern U.S. (Lehmann et al., 2005), which is driving the recovery of surface waters from past acidification. Section 303(d)...
The overall goal of this project has been the development of forest health and sensitivity indicators and “1st-generation” maps of potential sensitivity to disturbance for lands within watersheds of the NYC water supply in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The methodologies and data layers created in this effort can now be used to aid management decisions and help determine the extent and magnitude of terrestrial and aquatic responses to acidic deposition. The data products derived from this effort have been produced and documented in such a manner that stakeholders can now use these products for site evaluation as well as to perform more extensive analysis on the suite of readily available GIS and image-based...
Mission Statement: The mission of the cooperative is to facilitate coordinated collection of high quality broad-based soil data to evaluate temporal dynamics, to complement meteorologic, hydrologic and biologic monitoring, and to support decision making and science education. Objectives: Develop and share protocols for field and lab soil sampling and analysis Identify information needs that would benefit policy and management decisions Establish a rigorous multi-scale soils collection program whose continuity is maintained while responding to emerging issues. Synthesize existing soil monitoring data, including a critical review of past research and analysis of time scales of various soil dynamics Compile...
Background The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation (ALSC) repeatedly surveyed fish assemblages and characterized water chemistry from 44 to 52 lakes during the periods 1984-1987 and 1994-2005, and 2008-2012 to document the regional effects of acidic deposition and potential recovery associated with the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment (CAAA) under the Adirondack Long-Term Monitoring (ATLM) Project. An initial analysis of changes in fish assemblages between the periods 1984-1987 and 1994-2005 noted modest and mixed recoveries, identified five fish-community response/recovery classes, and helped to devise a fish-community index based on species acid...
Project Summary. The Western Adirondack Stream Survey (WASS), conducted in 2003-2005, showed that acidic deposition was causing toxic forms of Al to move from soils to streams in 66% of the 565 watersheds assessed in the study region. The WASS encompassed only 20% of the Adirondack region, and for the remaining 80% (referred to hereafter as the East-Central Adirondack region), there is little information on the extent of soil and stream acidification. Based on lake-chemistry data, acidification in the East-Central Adirondack region has been considered minimal relative to the Western Adirondack region. However, some lake acidification has been identified, and WASS results showed that lake acidification under...
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