bloomington's national monitoring project
DESCRIPTION
69th SWCS International Annual Conference July 27-30, 2014 Lombard, ILTRANSCRIPT
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Wetland
Wetlandcorn field
Wetland
Wetland
Grove Restorations are funded by city, state, and federal agencies
Grove EPA National Non‐Point Pollution Monitoring Project
1. Floodwater detention 2. Sediment Transport
3. Nitrate Runoff4. Fishery enhancement5. Prairie/wetland complex
East Branchnatural stream/sloughwith wetland complex
Tim Straub ‐ stream/slough restoration on the East Branch
Banks appear natural but are reinforced
The Grove is located in McLean County, IL just east of Bloomington
Bloomington
McLeanCounty
Bloomington
GroveEast Branch
WestBranch
Grove Park (90 acres) liesdownstream of 2 Ag Ditchesand 9000 acres of row crops
Kickapoo Creek is a small rural watershed of Sangamon River
Oakland Rd Gage and 2100 Rd Gage measure sediment and nutrients moving into the Grovefrom West and East Branch drainage ditches
GrovePark
Oakland Rd Gage
2100 Rd Gage
Ireland Grove Rd Gage
WestBranch East
Branch
Ireland Grove Rd Gage measures what leaves the Grove
Second Order Streams
400 ft3/s
75 ft3/s
1,250 ft3/s
Three floods in 10 days
Cultivation conditions unchanged – fields too wet and cold
Tile flows are a small percentage of larger floods
Sheet and rill erosion is the most common transfer of sediment and nutrients from fields into streams Surface flow from Apr 18th 2013 into West Branch.
75 ft3/s
1250 ft3/s
760 u Siemens
500 u Siemens
250 u Siemens225 u Siemens
400 ft3/s
Specific conductivity decreaselimited at highest flood peaks‐‐ tile flow is just a small part
of that 400 cfs
Tile flow has a higher concentrationof soluble ions (more conductivity)@ 700 to 800 u siemens –nitrate isonly a small portion of those soluble ions
7 mg/L 8 mg/L
10 mg/L
Only rapid decrease in specific conductivity to 400 cfsso tile flow is a small component of the 400 cfs flood peak
500 siemens
250 siemens 225 siemens
75 ft3/s 400 ft3/s 1250 ft3/s
while nitrate is increasing from 7 to 10 as flood peaks increased to 1250 cfs.
760 u Siemens
nOakland Rd 9.0
2100 Rd12.0
Ireland Grove 10.0
Nitrate concentrations in Waterway runoffand streams during 4‐18‐2013 flood
(Example will show surface water and tile contributions)
EXAMPLERock chute
High rate of surface water runoff at @ 11.7 mg/lfrom two waterways – with tile flow included,total nitrate concentration in chute was 12.4 mg/l
Higher stream flows andhigher nitrate concentrations
resulted in much higher nitrate loads
75 ft3/s
400 ft3/s
1250 ft3/s
7 mg/L8 mg/L
10 mg/L
4 lbs/min
16 lbs/min
46 lbs/min
Higher stream flow frommore surface runoff at1250 cfs flood peak
100 cfs is just base flow – some surface runoff, but mainly tile flow if soils saturated
Monitoring water quality andsediment, April 18th, 2013
Flood flows (@1250 cfs) carry sediment and nutrients insurface runoff from agricultural sheet and rill erosion
Grove ParkDetentionBridge
Park floodwaterdetention bridge
April 4th 2013 ILMA tour of Grove prairie/wetland complex
Even tile flow inflows can help scourstream pools when soils are saturated.
Even base flowscan scour pools
The park bridge detained surface runoffand filled the basin of Phase 1
with 10mg/l nitrate and 1.5 mg/l total P waters Tile flows do not cause floods
IEPA lab analyses of nitrate samplescollected as the nitrate probe recorded
nitrate concentrations every 5 minutes
.....
100 cfs is a high base flow
20 lbs/minNitrate‐n
40 lbs/minnitrate‐n
Nitrate loadincreases withsurface waterrunoff increase
that increasesthe flood flow
1250 cfs . .
Nitrate load peaks with the flood peak of surface water runoff from sheet & rill erosion
4‐18‐2013 flood atIreland Grove Rd . ..
Illinois River (28,000 mi2)during Flood of RecordLate April, 2013
Before record flood, Illinois had extreme drought
2012 Drought
Record flooding
2013 FloodNWQL Nitrate Samples
Two Nitrate Rating Curves ‐ flood flows and lower flows
IllinoisRiverFlood ofRecord
2013 Nitrate in Illinois River at Florence
NWQL Nitrate Samples
Nitrate load in the Illinois Riverduring 2012 drought and 2013 record flooding
2013Record flooding
2012Drought
Chicago MWRD, Peoria, Lake Michigan
Mainly Point Source loading
Mainly NonPointSource Loading
96%4%
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During the largest flood on record for the Illinois River,the largest nitrate load occurred during the flood peak
from a nitrate concentration of 6 mg/l
Recordflood
………………………………………………………..
..
,
…………
Riverflow
Nitrate loadlbs/hour
NO3 ‐ 6 mg/l
Tile flowsdo not causefloods
Oakland Rd Gage and 2100 Rd Gage measure sediment and nutrients moving into the Grovefrom West and East Branch drainage ditches
GrovePark
Oakland Rd Gage
2100 Rd Gage
Ireland Grove Rd Gage
WestBranch East
Branch
Ireland Grove Rd Gage measures what leaves the Grove
Second Order Streams
Before restoration at 2100 Rd , East Branch ditch revealedsedimentation, reed canary grass, and filiamentatious algae
EastBranch
BMP’s to improve water quality in the Grove restorationPrairie and Wetlands are 4+ years old in Phase 1 and 2.
Phase 32 stage ditch2011
Phase 2 ‐2009Stream/slough
Phase 1 ‐2008Detention Basin
1. Wetlands2. Prairie floodplain3. Meandering stream/slough 4. Two stage ditch
E8
7.6
E4
7.0
8.4
E1 6.7
W1
10.0
W12
10.7W7
10.7
W17
10.8
11.0
Phase 2 Nov 2009
Phase 1 Nov 2008
Phase 32 stage ditchconstructed Sept 2011
Oakland Rd
2100 Rd
Ireland Grove Rd
8.4 ‐6.7 = 1.7 mg/l NO320 % reduction
Quick and Intense Rain Storm
1.64 inches in one hour
Discharge (cfs)
Nitrate‐N, mg/lClean probe
2100 gageslight Increase in flow
2100 Rd ‐ East BranchOakland Rd ‐West BranchIreland Grove downstream outlet
East Branch had low flowbut large increase in nitrate
tile flows – not surface runoff
East Branch watershed flows responds slowly toto rainfalls that rise the West Branch flow quickly2100 RdEast Branch
Oakland RdWest Branch
Ireland Grove downstream gage
6‐8 mg/l decreasein normal streamflows in East Branch
6 / 25 = 24 % reduction
Surface runoff
Tile flow only
Oakland Rd
2100E Rd
IrelandGrove Rd
2 stage ditch2011
DetentionBasin 2008
Natural streamwith wetlands2009
241,018lbs –NO3
80,947 lbs –NO3
160,071lbs –NO3
Flow, sediment, WQgaging stations
2013 Nitrate Loads atGrove WQ Gaging stations
Yield
26 lbs
33 lbs
2013 NitrateYield per AcreFor Grove Gages
East Branch andWest Branchnitrate yieldsare mainly from tile inputsduring low stream flows
.
.
.
.
.
.34 lbs
Incoming Nitrate Load is 361,400 lbs.Outgoing Nitate Load is 203, 867 lbs
nitrate uptake ‐@ 24 percent removed at low flows.
Today’s Grove Nitrates at 3 stream gages
Tim Straub ‐ stream/slough restoration on the East Branch
Banks appear natural but are reinforced
2100 RdGage
ControlDO ‐ 0.7
Oakland RdGage
Ireland Grove Rd Gage
E8 riffle DO 4.0
E1 riffle DO 6.8
2 stage ditch
DO 7.0
DO 8.1
IEPA field staff monitored dissolved oxygen in the Groveafter the severe drought in early September 2012
IEPA at E8 riffle/ poolEast Branch, 2100 RdDO – 4.0 mg/l
IEPA at E1 riffle/ pool DO is 6. 8 mg/l
East Branch control and two restoration sites
IEPA upstream controlDO – 0.7 mg/lHydrogen sulfide odor Black organic sediment
Time From Restoration
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
Abu
ndan
ce (F
ish
/ 91
m)
0
500
1000
1500
2000Control Restored
Initial dip in Fall Treatment abundance(with corresponding jump
in Control abundance)
Fall samplesare consistently
higher than Spring samples
Fall EastBranchRestorationPhase 2
Fish abundance continues to increaseafter Phase 2 East Branch Restoration
Phase 1
Fall 2012 drought
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Even during 2012 drought, fall fish numbers are highin the upper East Branch fish survey pool below the E8 riffle
Significant increase in fish abundance
East Branch Upstream Treatment Site
BloomingtonStandardise Samples by TotalTransform: Square rootResemblance: S17 Bray Curtis similarity
TimePreDuringAfter
Similarity72
2006
2007
2007
2008
2008
2009
2009
2010
2010
2011
2011
2012
2013
2D Stress: 0.09
Pre: 12.5 species303.7 fish
During: 10 species56 fish
After: 17.8 species1232.7 fish
Top 55%-- Striped Shiner+ Bluntnose Minnow+ Green Sunfish+ Bigmouth Shiner-- Central Stoneroller+ Bluegill-- Johnny Darter construction
High flows scourdeep hole
2012 drought didnot affect fishin deeper pools
Banded Darter
In 2012 drought, pool water is deeper than staff are tall– stay near banks
The aquatic vegetation in the Grove prairie sloughimproved water quality and provided plentiful forage
Stream flow through narrow leaf pondweed increases DO, reduces NO3 and increases fish forage in the East Branch during slow normal stream flows