Phosphorus and Sediment Export in Streams in the Lower Fox River Watershed

1. Phosphorus and Sediment Export in Streams in the Lower Fox River Watershed Kevin Fermanich, UWGB Annual Student Watershed Symposium Lower Fox River Watershed Monitoring Program Green Bay, WI – March 9, 2005

2. Cooperative, multi-year project started 2003 • Measure WQ and Biotic Integrity -- relate to watershed. • Improve ability to predict future impacts. • More informed decision making. July 19, 2003

3. Program Partners • UW-Green Bay • Natural and Applied Sciences • Cofrin Center for Biodiversity • UW-Milwaukee • US Geological Survey • GBMSD • Oneida Tribe • 5 High Schools • Arjo Wiggins Appleton, Inc.

4. #1 trib. to Lake Michigan and #3 to Great Lakes (6,400 mi2) Largest source of pollutants P Loads: ~540,000 kg/yr ~80% from runoff Lower Fox Basin ¼ P ½ TSS Mouth New London DePere Wrightstown Oshkosh Appleton Berlin Neenah/Menasha Fox-Wolf Basin: Why here?

5. Lower Fox River Subbasin: Why Here? Estimated sediment yield Sediment Yield~ 0.25 mt/ha to Bay (Baumgart, 2000; SWAT modeling)

6. Major Program Elements • Continuous monitoring • Sediment & P loading (3 WY) • Real-time sensors • Source area studies • Watershed modeling • Stream biotic integrity monitoring • School-based monitoring program • hands-on learning, citizen scientists, meaningful data

7. How much? Where? What forms? Driving Factors? Impacts? Long-term Trends? What if? Basic Questions

8. School-Based Monitoring Program • Enhance student/teacher understanding of landscape and land use impacts on water quality and stream ecosystems. Structured to provide meaningful, long-term data: • Picture of existing conditions (Baseline) • Changing conditions over time (Trends) • Can be used by students, teachers, scientists and managers to answer questions about watershed dynamics and integrity. (Cause and effect relationships)

9. Objectives of Runoff Study • Quantify sediment and P concentrations and flow in 5 key Lower Fox River tributaries. • Estimate P and Sediment loads. • Determine the proportion of Dissolved P to Total P in runoff. • Link results to watershed characteristics and previous studies. • Refine/improve predictive capabilities.

10. Monitoring Stations • 3 water years started Oct ‘03 • Watersheds • Duck Creek (CTH FF) • Baird Creek (at Superior Road (I-43)) • Apple Creek (CTH U) • Ashwaubenon Creek (Creamery Rd) • East River: GBMSD (Monroe St.)

13. Methods • Daily stage / flow • Low-flow / baseflow samples • Event Samplers • (~10 runoff events/year) • Total P, TSS • Total Dissolved P (25%) • TSS correlation with SSC • Precip. gauge network • Compute daily TP and sed. loads, and estimate DP loads

14. WY2004 Preliminary Results • Precipitation • Box plots of Concentration Data • DP/TP ratios • Loads and Yields

15. Precipitation This 10 inches WY 2004 = 813 mm (32 in.) NWS 30 yr = 741 mm (29 in.) 2nd wettest May on record

16. 1988-2000 avg. streams in LFB Max 75% Median 25% Min 1988-2000 avg. Duck Creek Number of Samples TSS Conc.: All Samples(variability and range) ~2.5 times greater than median from previous studies.

17. 1988-2000 avg. streams in LFB 1988-2000 avg. Duck Creek Total P Conc.: All Samples

18. Dissolved P Ratio

19. Example Monthly Loads

20. Precipitation

22. Runoff and Loads

23. Sediment and P Yields • ~0.75 mton/ha in clay soils watersheds (2000 land use SWAT modeling = 0.25 mton/ha). • ~2.5x avg. runoff load contribution to Green Bay from LFB.

24. Conclusions • Second wettest May on record; annual only +10% • Apple, Ash., Baird similar median TSS conc. (~126 mg/L) – 2.5x previous studies • TP median conc. 0.28 – 0.70 mg/L • TP > 2 mg/L at all sites • DP 40 to 54% of TP during events • > 72% DP during low flow • DP significant form of runoff P. Implications for BMPs? • Loads highly event driven • 13 days = 65% of annual P load in Apple Creek • High sediment and P yields

25. Conclusions • Are conditions improving? • Can we deal with big events at source areas? • Can we deal with dissolved P? Further analysis of watershed linkages and biotic integrity are ongoing.

26. Using Turbidity to Predict Loads + =

27. 1200 1000 ) R e a l - t i m e T u r b i d i t y s f c 800 T S S s a m p l e s ( e g T u r b i d i t y - d e r i v e d T S S r 600 a h c 400 s i D 200 0 1600 1000 1400 1200 800 ) 1000 U ) T L / N g 600 ( m y 800 t ( i d S i S b r T u 600 T 400 400 200 200 0 0 4/28/04 5/3/04 5/8/04 5/13/04 5/18/04 5/23/04 5/28/04 Turbidity-derived Sediment Concentrations  TSS samples

28. Baird Creek Urbanization Study • Determine what impact the transition from ag. to urban land use is having on Baird Creek • Sediment and phosphorus conc. & loads • Evaluating stream biota populations

29. 2000 Land Use Projected 2022

30. 2000 Land Use 2004Land Use

31. Baird Creek Study Conclusions • TSS and Total P concentrations are significantly higher on the urbanizing tributary than on the agricultural tributary • Agricultural branch only contributes 30-40% of the sediment load during summer storm events • Thus, the urbanizing part of the watershed (< 20% of the area) is contributing 60-70% of the sediment load at the USGS station

32. Ongoing Plans • Continue event and low flow sampling and flow measurements through Sept. 2006 • SWAT modeling • Continue biotic monitoring through 2006 • School Monitoring: • Continue w/ current schools • Add school for Ashwaubenon Creek, others? • Build community linkages • Long-term funding

33. Acknowledgements Special thanks to the following people : • Dave Graczyk, Dale Robertson, Paul Reneau and Troy Rutter, U.S. Geological Survey • John Kennedy and Tracy Valenta, GBMSD • Paul Baumgart, UWGB • Jessie Fink, UWGB • Bud Harris, UWGB • Jon Habeck, UWGB • Arjo Wiggins Appleton, Inc.

34. Questions?

35. www.uwgb.edu/watershed Satellite image May 19, 2000