1 / 24

Assessment of Ecological Condition in Coastal Waters Impacted by Hurricane Katrina

Assessment of Ecological Condition in Coastal Waters Impacted by Hurricane Katrina. National Coastal Assessment (NCA). NCA is the coastal portion of EMAP State-based probability survey designs Enable states to estimate condition of estuaries with known confidence

julio
Download Presentation

Assessment of Ecological Condition in Coastal Waters Impacted by Hurricane Katrina

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Assessment of Ecological Conditionin Coastal Waters Impacted by Hurricane Katrina

  2. National Coastal Assessment (NCA) • NCA is the coastal portion of EMAP • State-based probability survey designs • Enable states to estimate condition of estuaries with known confidence • EPA can assess condition of estuaries at regional or national scales with known confidence • Common set of indicators • Standardized methods, quality controls, training, data analysis • Provide baseline (pre-storm) ecological condition for Lake Pontchartrain, LA and other coastal systems affected by Hurricane Katrina

  3. Hurricane KatrinaPre-Storm Baseline Assessment

  4. Louisiana

  5. LA DEQ Historic Ambient Water Sites

  6. NCA Indicators • Water Quality • Dissolved Oxygen • Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen • Dissolved Inorganic Phosphorus • Chlorophyll a • Sediment Quality • Sediment contaminants • Total organic carbon • Sediment Toxicity Tests • Biological Condition • Benthic Community Condition Index • Fish & Shellfish Tissue Contaminants

  7. Data Interpretation • Tables of mean values and ranges for each indicator • Provide historic “normal” values • Compare new data from post-Katrina surveys • Are post-Katrina values within historic normal ranges? • Bar Charts of percent of sites with values above or below guidelines • Indicator of extent of “impairment” • Compare new data from post-Katrina surveys • Is the extent of “impairment” post-Katrina different than pre-Katrina?

  8. Lake Pontchartrain Pre-KatrinaWater Quality Indicators

  9. DO < 2 mg/L DO 2-5 mg/L DO > 5 mg/L Lake PontchartrainDissolved Oxygen (Bottom-water)2000-2004

  10. Lake PontchartrainPre-Katrina Water Quality

  11. Lake Pontchartrain Pre-Katrina Sediment Quality

  12. Lake PontchartrainPre-Katrina Sediment Quality

  13. Lake Pontchartrain Pre-KatrinaBenthic Index

  14. Poor Fair Good Lake PontchartrainFish Tissue Contaminants Index2001-2002

  15. Lake PontchartrainPre-Katrina Ecological Condition • Water quality was fair. Low dissolved oxygen and high dissolved inorganic phosphorus concentrations occurred at ~20% of sites over four years. • Sediment quality was good. Few contaminants exceeded guidelines in any of the four years. • Biological condition was poor as indicated by the benthic index over four years. This condition is more likely related to hypoxia or disturbance than to sediment contamination or toxicity. • Contaminants in fish tissue were low or undetectable in all but one sample in two years.

  16. Hurricane KatrinaPost-Storm Ecological Assessment

  17. Objectives • Characterize the magnitude and extent of coastal contamination and ecological effects resulting from Hurricane Katrina • Assess human-health risks and environmental impacts of Hurricane Katrina in the affected waters and a record changes over time • Support local, state, and national efforts to mitigate health and environmental threats and their effects

  18. ORD Region 4 OW OAR NMFS NOS Interagency Partnership

  19. Environmental Assessments

  20. Sediment quality Chemistry (DDT, pesticides, PCBs, PAHs, metals, flame retardants, Fipronil) Grain size and TOC Toxicity (Microtox and P450 assays) Water quality DO, salinity, temperature, pH, Turbidity, TSS, DOC, Chlorophyll Nutrients (TN, TP, NO3, NO2, NH4, PO4) Chemistry (Organics, oil & grease, metals, Atrazine) Biological Indicators Benthic Invertebrate Community Condition Shrimp, blue crab, and Atlantic croaker Bacterial and chemical contamination Microbial Pathogens Fecal coliforms Enterococci Clostridium perfringens Bacterial and viral indicators of fecal contamination Oyster tissues Pesticides, Metals, PAHs, and PCBs Microbial pathogens (fecal coliforms, bacteriophages, E. coli, enterococci). Oceanographic Hydrodynamics Satellite remote sensing data (altimetry, color, and SST) Field observations Samples and Data Collected

  21. Status • All sample collection is completed. • Field data is being entered into the database. • Microbial pathogen indicators should be completed in 2 weeks. • All water samples have been shipped to the laboratory for analysis. (most perishable) • Sediments will follow soon. • NOAA data will be included as it becomes available. • USGS should send microbial data this week.

More Related