Illinois Water Resources Center Annual Technical Report FY 2017

Illinois Water Resources Center Annual Technical Report FY 2017 Illinois Water Resources Center Annual Technical Report FY 2017 1 Introduction Illinois water resources are diverse, ranging from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River to tile drains in agriculture fields. As a result, the Illinois Water Resources Center’s outreach and research programs cover a lot of topics, and 2017 was no different. We continued to support the implementation of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, working with federal, state, and local governments entities, nonprofits, farmers, industry members, researchers, wastewater treatment professionals, and concerned citizens to decrease the amount of nutrient pollution leaving our state. Through our Annual Small Grants program, we also supported research on green stormwater solutions, road salt contamination of groundwater, nutrient dynamics in restored wetlands, temporal patterns in nutrient uptake in riparian zones, and the ability of wetland mitigation banks to compensate for plant species lost during natural wetland impacts. While the breadth of projects is exciting, the diversity of students and faculty making use of these grants meant that first-generation college students at Northwestern University were trained in research and a new faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had an opportunity to begin building a research programs in Illinois. Grants through IWRC supported 33 undergraduate and graduate students during 2017, making this one of the most prolific years in the last decade. Introduction 1 Research Program Introduction Research Program Introduction Illinois faces a gamut of water resources challenges, and our research projects reflected that this past year, ranging from the integration of green infrastructure in cities to patterns of nitrate uptake in agricultural buffer zones. Some highlights from this past year include: • Ashlynn Stillwell and her team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign used a reliability-based framework to assess the placement of green infrastructure in urban settings. They specifically examined green infrastructure performance, and their models indicated rain gardens should be maintained every three years to prevent clogging. This project also generated future work in understanding where green infrastructure should be placed within existing sewersheds and how to add risk assessment into urban stormwater policy. • In an effort to address nutrient pollution and water quality in agricultural areas in Illinois, Eric Peterson and his students at Illinois State University asked if nitrate concentrations in shallow groundwater in riparian zones shifted temporally. The project used water samples collected over the course of a year from groundwater wells in a restored prairie riparian zone that received drainage from fertilized agriculture fields. Results indicate that there were changes in nitrate concentrations over a 24-hour period as well as seasonal variation, and much of this pattern is driven by vegetative uptake. • A cross-disciplinary team from Northwestern University used prairie remnants in the Chicago-area to look at the impacts of road salt on soil and water quality. Aaron Packman, William Miller, and their team of students built a network of sensors to begin developing a model of salt transport in an effort to decrease environmental impacts from road deicing. They found the highest concentrations of road salt chemicals in groundwater wells closest to highways and measured sodium concentrations nearly ten times background concentrations. • Dr. Michael Lydy and a team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency examined the impacts of holding times when testing sediment toxicity. They found that in some instances contaminate concentrations and toxicity did change with time held, indicating that greater care should be taking in storing samples before testing. Research Program Introduction 1 Using bioavailability to assess pyrethroid insecticide toxicity in urban sediments Using bioavailability to assess pyrethroid insecticide toxicity in urban sediments Basic Information Title: Using bioavailability to assess pyrethroid insecticide toxicity in urban sediments Project Number: 2015IL298G USGS Grant Number: G15AS00019 Start Date: 9/1/2015 End Date: 8/31/2018 Funding Source: 104G Congressional District: IL012 Research Category: Water Quality Focus Categories: Models, Sediments, Toxic Substances Descriptors: None Principal Investigators: Michael j Lydy, Amanda D Harwood, Kara Elizabeth Huff Hartz, Samuel A Nutile Publications There are no publications. Using bioavailability to assess pyrethroid insecticide toxicity in urban sediments 1 Progress Report (Year 2) for NIWR 104G: “Using bioavailability to assess pyrethroid insecticide toxicity in urban sediments” and Final Report for Coordination Grant “Are current sediment bioassays being biased by collecting and holding time procedures?” Michael Lydy and Kara Huff Hartz 6/1/18 Problem and Research Objectives The following report summarizes the activities conducted in the Lydy Research lab from 3/1/2017 to 2/28/2018 as part of the NIWR/USGS grant titled “Using bioavailability to assess pyrethroid insecticide toxicity in urban sediments.” The grant aims to study pyrethroid insecticide contamination in urban streams in the northeastern United States. The objective of year 2 of the project was to analyze the data from sediment subsamples collected as part of the Northeast Stream Quality Assessment (NESQA). In particular, the pyrethroid concentrations measured by single-point Tenax will be compared to the pyrethroid concentrations measured by exhaustive chemical extractions and the results from 10-d bioassays with Hyalella azteca using the sediments. The pyrethroid data will be summarized as a survey of urban sediments in the northeastern United States and the manuscript is currently in preparation. In addition, we received bioassay data from our collaborators at USGS-Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) fall 2017. These data will be related to our Tenax data in order to develop a model that relates bioaccessible pyrethroid concentrations to bioassay results. These data analyses will be completed and summarized in year 3. A second objective of our 104G project was to resample NESQA sites in order to screen for the development of pyrethroid resistance in field-collected H. azteca. However, we ran into two complications which necessitated a delay in the field sampling campaign: 1) the timing of the receipt of samples for the sediment holding time study coincided with potential field campaign; and, 2) the data from invertebrate population surveys from NESQA, which were needed to select field sites, was only partially complete by the summer season. For these reasons, during year 2, we elected to focus on the completion of the sediment holding time project, which was began as part of the NIWR 104G and also supported by a coordination grant titled “Are current sediment bioassays being biased by collecting and holding time procedures?” Samples were received 31 May 2017 and the sample preparation and analysis and bioassays were completed May 2017 through September 2017. The preliminary data collected during year 1 of the 104G was combined with data collected as part of the coordination grant and summarized in a manuscript submitted to Environmental Pollution on 24 April 2018. The manuscript is currently under review. Because the second objective of year two, i.e., to resample NESQA sites for pyrethroid-resistant H. azteca, was delayed to year 3, we instead prepared for a field campaign during year 2. The plan for sampling field-collected H. azteca in summer 2018 is discussed below. The final report for the coordination grant is the submitted manuscript, and it is attached as an appendix to this report. Field Plan Sites for resistant H. azteca assessment were selected by comparing the pyrethroid concentrations, the SIUC 10-d and CERC 28-d H. azteca bioassay results, and invertebrate population surveys measured during NESQA in 2016. In addition, historical data were obtained using two databases: National Water Information System (NWIS, https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis) and the Water Quality Portal (WQP https://www.waterqualitydata.us) to search for additional potential sites. The criteria for site selection were as follows: 1) detectable pyrethroids were found in the Tenax and ASE extracts; 2) at least some sediment toxicity was found as demonstrated by significantly reduced survival or biomass compared to reference sediments in either the 10-d or the 28-d H. azteca bioassays; and, 3) the presence of the 1 amphipods in the biosurveys. The first criteria was included because Weston et al. (2013) showed that development of pyrethroid resistance and pyrethroid exposure co-occur. The second criteria assures that the pyrethroid concentration in sediment would be high enough to affect non-resistant animals and potentially cause selection pressure. The third criteria selects for sites with habitats that are favorable for amphipod populations. Of the 49 sites that were sampled for toxicity in the NESQA study area, 11 sites met each of the three criteria. Of the 11 sites, nine were selected in the New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut corridor due to proximity (Figure 1), and this sampling is scheduled for June 2018. One site in Albany, NY and one site Rochester, NY met the criteria but were eliminated, because access to additional

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