Nutrients And Casco Bay

1. Nutrients And Casco Bay Notes from the Nutrient Council Curtis C. Bohlen Director, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership

2. Reminder • Prior session on collaboration and monitoring • This session more about future actions and policy • Follow-up discussion with all three presenters • New solutions • Future direction for Casco Bay • What lessons can be applied elsewhere in Maine?

3. Casco Bay Estuary Partnership • One of 28 National Estuary Programs • A 23 member LOCAL advisory board • Implement the “Casco Bay Plan” • Revised in 2016 • Credible data and information • We build consensus, facilitate communications and attract funds for protection of the Bay

4. Nutrients (Maybe not what you think) • Ecologists use the term in a specific, technical way • NOT vitamins or healthy foods • Elements like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus required to build living organisms • Nutrients of concern for coastal water quality generally include Nitrogen and Phosphorus

5. Too Much of a Good Thing • Excess nutrients can cause water quality problems • “Coastal Eutrophication” • Low or no dissolved oxygen • Algal blooms • Acidification • Loss of habitat • Reduced harvests

6. A Global Problem Breitburg1et al. 2018. Declining oxygen in the global ocean and coastal waters. Science359, Issue 6371, eaam7240. DOI: 10.1126/science.aam7240

7. Human Activity  Increases • Population growth • More human waste • (Sub)urbanization • More stormwater • More atmospheric deposition (driving) • Agricultural production • Use of lawn chemicals • Loss of Forests and wetlands • Increase nutrient delivery Tree box filter maintenance

8. In Casco Bay • Few “dramatic” events like fish kills that raise public visibility • Subtle effects (coastal acidification) • Episodic events (algal overgrowth of tidal flats, algae blooms) • Hypothesized effects (eelgrass)

9. Problems likely to grow • Population growth and land use changes will increase loads • Climate change is likely to increase vulnerability • Warmer waters • More intense storms

10. Water Quality is Not Free • Portland’s CSO Plan • $170 million • Long Creek Watershed Management District • Public-private partnership • $14 million • ~ 2.3 square miles • just in the first decade. • East End WWTF nitrogen upgrade • ~ $40 million Portland waterfront Combined Sewer Overflow

11. Casco Bay Nutrient (Pollution) Council • Seek cost-effective solutions to nutrient pollution of Casco Bay • Membership: • Wastewater Treatment Facilities • Municipal staff • Environmental advocates • Academics • Engineers and scientists

12. The Council’s Work • Careful examination of the science • Document existing programs and efforts • Review of costs and cost effectiveness

13. What’s the “limiting nutrient” in Casco Bay? • “Limiting nutrient” plays a dominant role in affecting growth of marine phytoplankton • Nitrogen or Phosphorus? • Almost certainly nitrogen, most of the time • Most common limiting nutrient in inshore marine waters • Low ratios of N:P in the Bay

14. How close to a “Tipping Point”? • Hard to tell… • Nitrogen in parts of Casco Bay exceed levels with negative effects elsewhere • Impacts to eelgrass • TN > 0.32 mg/l • Low dissolved oxygen • TN > 0.45 mg/l

15. Nutrient Status • N Levels in parts of Casco Bay are among the highest in Maine • Exceed levels of concern for other Northeastern waters Source: CBEP State of the Bay 2015 Based on FOCB Data Geometric Mean TN. Sample Size Varies

16. Nitrogen Entering Casco Bay • ~ 1 million kg N annually (four models) • ~ 23 kg N per hectare annually • Low compared to other large estuaries in the NE Source: Latimer and Charpentier 2010;based on data from Whitall et al. 2007

17. Where’s it all coming from? Source: Castro et al. 2003

18. Too Many Models, Not Enough Data Developed Land does not include direct coastal drainage, but includes septic. Wastewater assumes design flows. • 1 million Kg N per Year • (+/- about 40%)

19. Three TributariesTotal Nitrogen Concentrations Data courtesy of Whitley Gilbert, University of Maine. 51 Observations May 2017-May 2018

20. Issues are Local, not Baywide Data Provided by: Friends of Casco Bay Maine Department of Environmental Protection US Environmental Protection Agency

21. Impervious Cover 2007 • A measure of urbanization • Directly linked to runoff and water quality problems • Highest levels of imperviousness in sub watersheds • Portland, South Portland • Falmouth • Yarmouth • Freeport • Brunswick And Wastewater Treatment Facilities

22. High Frequency Monitoring 2019 PRELIMINARY DATA

23. Nitrate+ Nitrite Data

24. Comparison to UMAINE Buoy Different sensor technology Different location - by EEWTF Similar pattern with rainfall

25. Investing in Clean Water • Resources are the challenge • Taxes, fees • Regulatory solutions impose costs on regulated entities • Often municipalities • Reduce costs • Cost-effectiveness analysis • Policy harmonization • Across permits • Across jurisdictions • Across levels of government

26. Cost Effectiveness • Multiple permits, multiple jurisdictions hinder ability to identify or implement cost-effective strategies • Regional conversations integrating policy, permitting and implementation across municipalities • Facilitate policy coordination between state and local government • “Integrated Planning” to look across permits, goals • Existing policies do little to favor cost-effective technologies for nitrogen removal https://www.blueportland.org/

27. The best “Best “Bang for the Buck”? • Protect wetlands, forests, and floodplains • Engage local government • Planning as though watersheds matter • Local ordinances • Encourage “Green Infrastructure” • Reduce costs • Policy innovation and flexibility may be needed to allow cost optimization

28. Alternative Investments….? • Atmospheric Deposition • Reduce vehicle emissions • Fuel efficiency, electric vehicles, transit, compact development…. • Reduce runoff • Protect forests, wetlands and floodplains • Implement better stormwater technologies • Invest in “retrofits” • Wastewater • Invest in better technologies • Address CSOs • Other Ideas? Source: Castro et al. 2003

29. Acknowledgements • Members of the Nutrient Council • Leadership and ideas • Tyler Walsh • Sumer intern and equipment wrangler extraordinaire. • Rachel Lasley-Rasher: • Lab space • Assistance with hazardous materials and other logistics • Sharing a fine crew of students and interns • Rachel Lasley-Rasher and Damian Brady • Providing intern Tyler Walsh for the summer • With funding through SEANET • Friends of Casco Bay • Managing data QA/QC Samples • South Portland Parks Department • Access to the Portland Street Pier • National Estuaries Program and Nutrient Sensor Action Challenge • Project funding

30. Sources • Data analysis using R • R Core Team (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/. • Graphic style based on the web comic xkcd by Randall Munroe • https://xkcd.com • Tools for graphics: • Ggplot2 library • H. Wickham. (2016) ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag New York. • Available in many places online, including as part of the “tidyverse” of tools for modern data analysis workflows with R • https://www.tidyverse.org/ • xkcd library • Emilio Torres-Manzanera (2018). xkcd: Plotting ggplot2 Graphics in an XKCD Style. R package version 0.0.6. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=xkcd • xkcdfonts • Several versions available online. The xkcd R library suggests • http://simonsoftware.se/other/xkcd.ttf • Two slightly different xkcd fonts, including the xkcd Script font are available here: • https://github.com/ipython/xkcd-font

31. Thank You Long Reach Lane Culvert Replacement Curtis Bohlen Director, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership cascobayestuary.org curtis.bohlen@maine.edu Nutrient Council Report Wordcloud