Water Quality
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LAWRENCE HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT LIHI APPLICATION ATTACHMENT B WATER QUALITY 314 CMR 4.00: DIVISION OF WATER POLLUTION CONTROL 4.06: continued 314 CMR 4.00 : DIVISION OF WATER POLLUTION CONTROL 4.06: continued TABLE 20 MERRIMACK RIVER BASIN BOUNDARY MILE POINT CLASS QUALIFIERS Merrimack River State line to Pawtucket Dam 49.8 - 40.6 B Warm Water Treated Water Supply CSO Pawtucket Dam to Essex Dam, 40.6 - 29.0 B Warm Water Lawrence Treated Water Supply CSO Essex Dam, Lawrence to 29.0 - 21.9 B Warm Water Little River, Haverhill CSO Little River, Haverhill to 21.9 - 0.0 SB Shellfishing Atlantic Ocean CSO The Basin in the Merrimack River - SA Shellfishing Estuary, Newbury and Newburyport Stony Brook Entire Length 10.3 - 0.0 B Warm Water Beaver Brook State line to confluence 4.2 - 0.0 B Cold Water with Merrimack River Spicket River State line to confluence 6.4 -0.0 B Warm Water with Merrimack River Little River State line to confluence with 4.3 - 0.0 B Warm Water Merrimack River Cobbler Brook Entire Length 3.7 - 0.0 B Cold Water Powwow River Outlet Lake Gardner to tidal 6.4 - 1.3 B Warm Water portion Tidal portion 1.3 - 0.0 SB Shellfishing Plum Island River North of High Sandy sand bar SA Shellfishing Outstanding Resource Water 1 Water quality standards for Class B and Class SB waters Designated Use/Standard Parameter Support ≥ 5.0 mg/l Inland waters, Class B, Dissolved Oxygen ≥ 60% saturation unless background conditions warm water fishery lower Massachusetts waters, MADEP Temperature ≤ 28.3ºC (83ºF) pH 6.0 to 8.3 S.U. ≥ 5.0 mg/L Dissolved Oxygen ≥ 60% saturation unless background conditions lower Coastal/marine waters, Class SB Massachusetts waters, MADEP Temperature < 26.7ºC (80ºF) pH 6.5 to 8.5 S.U. Primary contact recreation Single sample limit 61colonies/100 ml (designated swimming area), EPA (freshwater), 104 colonies/100 ml (marine); and MADPH guidelines and, as of Enterococcus geometric mean 33 colonies/100 ml (freshwater), 2007, primary contact recreation, 35 colonies/100 ml (marine) Massachusetts MADEP Freshwater primary contact recreation (designated swimming Single sample limit 235 colonies/100 ml area), EPA and MADPH guidelines; E. coli (freshwater only); geometric mean 126 and, as of 2007, primary contact colonies/100 ml (freshwater only) recreation, Massachusetts MADEP Prior to 2007, primary contact Geometric mean ≤ 200 colonies/100 ml, no more Fecal coliform recreation, Massachusetts MADEP than 10% of samples above 400 colonies/100 ml Restricted shellfishing, Fecal coliform Geometric mean ≤ 88 colonies/100 ml Massachusetts MADMF 1 According to Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) standards as of January 2007 From MADEP 1996: Inland Water Class B: These waters are designated as a habitat for fish, other aquatic life, and wildlife, and for primary and secondary contact recreation. Where designated they shall be suitable as a source of water supply with appropriate treatment. They shall be suitable for irrigation and other agricultural uses and for compatible industrial cooling and process uses. These waters shall have consistently good aesthetic value. Coastal and Marine Class SB: These waters are designated as a habitat for fish, other aquatic life, and wildlife, and for primary and secondary contact recreation. In approved areas they shall be suitable for shellfish harvesting with depuration (Restricted Shellfishing Areas). These waters shall have consistently good aesthetic value. Merrimack River Watershed Council, Inc. The Voice of the Merrimack Merrimack River Monitoring Program Formerly known as the Merrimack River Water Quality Monitoring, Analyzing, Protecting and Promoting (MAPP) Program 2009 Annual Report Prepared by: Merrimack River Watershed Council, Inc. 600 Suffolk Street, 5 th Floor Lowell, MA 01854 www.merrimack.org April 22, 2010 Table of Contents Merrimack River Monitoring Program ............................................................................1 2009 Annual Report ....................................................................................................1 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................6 Introduction.....................................................................................................................8 Characteristics of the Merrimack River........................................................................8 Baseline Monitoring Project .......................................................................................... 10 Project Location ........................................................................................................10 Methods ....................................................................................................................13 Quality Assurance/Quality Control............................................................................14 2009 Baseline Water Quality Results and Discussion ................................................17 Bacteria .................................................................................................................17 Field Study Analysis..........................................................................................17 CSO Analysis ....................................................................................................23 Temperature ..........................................................................................................26 Dissolved Oxygen .................................................................................................28 pH .........................................................................................................................29 Specific Conductance, Total Dissolved Solids & Salinity.......................................32 Clarity ...................................................................................................................33 Continuous Water Quality Monitoring.......................................................................34 2009 Hotspot Monitoring ..........................................................................................36 Nutrients and Metals Screening ..................................................................................... 38 Methods ....................................................................................................................38 Results and Discussion ..............................................................................................39 Ammonia...............................................................................................................39 Nitrogen ................................................................................................................40 Phosphorus ............................................................................................................40 Detergents .............................................................................................................40 Metals....................................................................................................................40 Pharmaceutical Product Screening................................................................................. 42 Methods and Project Location ...................................................................................42 Pharmaceutical Screening Results and Discussion .....................................................43 Accomplishments and Next Steps.................................................................................. 45 Accomplishments ......................................................................................................45 Next Steps.................................................................................................................47 References..................................................................................................................... 49 Appendix A: Summary of Bacteria Results 2007 – 2009 .............................................. 51 Appendix B: Water Quality Tables............................................................................... 53 2 List of Tables Table 1. List of 2009 Baseline monitoring stations in the Merrimack River. .................. 12 Table 2. List of physical water quality parameters measured.......................................... 13 Table 3. List of bacteria sampling dates by section. Bold face indicates wet weather events. ............................................................................................................ 14 Table 4. Massachusetts (MA DEP 2007) and New Hampshire (NH 1998) water quality standards. ............................................................................................ 17 Table 5. Summary of 2009 Merrimack River Baseline Water Quality Monitoring Project bacteria water quality results – percent of time the Merrimack River meets water quality standards under various criteria........................................ 18 Table 6. National and Massachusetts water quality criteria. Values are maximum allowable concentrations unless otherwise noted............................................. 39 3 List of Figures Figure 1. Map of 2009 Baseline monitoring stations on the Merrimack River. ............... 11 Figure 2. Daily precipitation (bar graph) and average daily stream flow (line graph) in the Merrimack River May through October, 2009 in Lowell, Massachusetts (USGS Undated, NOAA Undated).................................................................