Delaware River Water Quality ^Ristol to Marcus Hook Pennsylvania August 1949 to December 1963 R«» W
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Delaware River Water Quality ^ristol to Marcus Hook Pennsylvania August 1949 to December 1963 r«» W. B. KEIGHTON ONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1809-O ^repared in cooperation with the :ity of Philadelphia '.JNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1965 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretory GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 25 cents (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Abstract_______________________________________________________ 01 Introduction. _____________________________________________________ 1 Purpose and scope_____________________________________________ 4 Previous investigations and acknowledgments.____________________ 4 Some basic physical and hydrologic facts______.______________________ 5 Graphic summaries of water-quality facts__________________________ 9 Water temperature____________________________________________ 9 Hydrogen-ion concentration (pH)______________________________ 10 Dissolved-solids concentration_________________________________ 10 Composition of dissolved solids__________________________________ 19 Chloride___________________________________-_ 24 Dissolved oxygen._____________________________________________ 27 Suspended sediment.__________________________________________ 30 Tabular summaries of water-quality characteristics ____________________ 36 Local variations in water-quality patterns___________________-__--___- 40 Summary and conclusions._________________________________________ 53 Selected references.________________________________________________ 57 ILLUSTRATIONS Page FIGUBE 1. Map showing location of sampling stations.____________ 03 2-29. Graphs showing: 2. Annual water discharge of the Delaware River at Trenton, N.J____________________ 5 3. Monthly water discharge of the Delaware River at Trenton, N.J____________________ 7 4. Annual water temperature.___________________ 10 5. Frequency of water temperatures._____________ 11 6. Distribution of water temperatures each month. _ 12 7. Annual pH values of water..__________________ 14 8. Frequency of pH values._____________________ 15 9. Relation between electrical conductivity and dissolved solids (0-200 ppm)________________ 16 10. Relation between electrical conductivity and dissolved solids (200-4,000 ppm)____.__ 17 11. Annual mean conductivities.__________________ 18 12. Annual maximum conductivities.______________ 19 13. Frequency of dissolved-solids concentrations _ 20 14. Monthly mean conductivities and water discharge, 1954__-_-_.______________._...__-_._ 21 15. Mean monthly conductivities._________________ 22 m IV CONTENTS FIGURE 1. 16. Relation between concentration and composition Page of dissolved solids_-----__------_------_-__- O23 17. Typical composition of dissolved solids, by per centage of chemical equivalents._____________ 24 18. Annual mean chloride concentrations. __________ 25 19. Annual maximum chloride concentrations. ______ 26 20. Frequency of chloride concentrations, 1930-61___ 28 21. Frequency of chloride concentrations, 1950-62. __ 29 22. Mean monthly chloride concentrations....______ 31 23. Annual mean dissolved-oxygen concentrations. _ _ 32 24. Annual minimum dissolved-oxygen concentra tions. ________-----_-------_------------__ 32 25. Frequency of dissolved-oxygen concentrations. _ _ 33 26. Mean monthly dissolved oxygen concentrations. 34 27. Dissolved-oxygen concentrations in four periods of the year._______________________________ 35 28. Annual suspended-sediment concentrations. _____ 36 29. Mean monthly suspended-sediment concentra tions. _____________-__----------____-_--__ 36 TABLES Page TABLE 1. Distance relations and drainage area of sampling stations in Delaware estuary, Burlington-Bristol Bridge to Marcus Hook Pa________________________________________________ O2 2. Monthly and annual mean water discharge, in cubic feet per second, Delaware River at Trenton, N.J., 1945-63__ _____ 6 3. Time required to flush Delaware River upstream from sampling locations, at various discharge rates.____________________ 7 4. "Age" of river water at mean tidal range_________________ 9 5. Comparison of ratios of dissolved solids in Delaware River at Trenton and Marcus Hook with ratios of dissolved solids in ocean water._________________________________________ 22 6. Number of days each year in which selected chloride concentra tions were exceeded for a salt-water invasion, Delaware River at Bridesburg, Chester, and Marcus Hook, Pa., and average June to October discharge at Trenton, N.J., for each year_______________________________________ 27 7. Number of days dissolved-oxygen concentration was less than 1 and 3 ppm at three dissolved-oxygen recorders in Delaware River, March 1961-December 1963__._--____________ 30 8. Physical description of sampling locations._________________ 37 9. Range and frequency distribution of selected percentile groups of water-quality parameters, Delaware River, 1949-63_____ 41 10. Annual maximum, mean, and minimum of water-quality parameters, Delaware River, 1950-63-------------------- 44 11. Monthly maximum, mean, and minimum of water-quality parameters, Delaware River, 1949-63___._-_____-____-_ 48 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES DELAWARE RIVER WATER QUALITY, BRISTOL TO MARCUS HOOK, PENNSYLVANIA, AUGUST 1949 TO DECEMBER 1963 By W. B. KEIGHTON ABSTRACT During the 14-year period from August 1949 to July 1963, the U.S. Geologi cal Survey, in cooperation with the city of Philadelphia, collected samples of river water once each month in the 43-mile reach of the Delaware River from Bristol to Marcus Hook, Pa., and daily at Trenton, 10 miles upstream from Bristol, This part of the Delaware is an estuary into which salt water is brought by tides; fresh water flows into the estuary at Trenton, N.J., and farther downstream from the Schuylkill River and other tributaries of the Delaware. In March, April, and May, when fresh-water flow is high, the average con centration of dissolved solids in the water at Bristol was 76 ppm (parts per million), and at Marcus Hook 112 ppm. In August and September, streamflow is lower, and the average concentrations of dissolved solids increased to 117 ppm at Bristol and 804 ppm at Marcus Hook. Major salinity invasions of the Delaware River occurred in 1949, 1953, 1954, 1957, and 1963. In each of these years the fresh-water flow into the tidal river at Trenton was low during the period from July to October. The greatest dissolved-solids concentrations in these monthly samples were 160 ppm at Bristol and 4,000 ppm at Marcus Hook. At times the dissolved-oxygen concentration of the river water has become dangerously low, especially in that reach of the river between Wharton Street and League Island. At the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, one-third of the sam ples of river water were less than 30 percent saturated with oxygen; however, no trend, either for better or for worse, was apparent during the 14-year period. It is useful now to summarize these monthly analyses for the period 1949-63 even though a much more detailed description of water quality in this reach of the estuary will soon become available through the use of recording instru ments. This period includes a range of conditions and exhibits the extent to which water-quality parameters varied with change in hydrologic and environ mental conditions. This compendium of water-quality data is useful as an explicit statement of water quality during the 14-year period and is valuable for directing attention to water-quality problems, for selecting instrument sites, and for making comparative studies with the more detailed information which is already being obtained with the aid of recording instruments. INTRODUCTION The Delaware River from Trenton to the ocean is an estuary in which saline water moves down and upstream twice daily with the ebb and flood of the tide and mixes with the fresh water that flows Ol O2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES into the estuary from the head of tide at Trenton and from the Schuylkill River and other tributaries below the head of tide. The changes in chemical quality of the river water are of interest to those who would understand water quality in this or any estuary. Fur thermore, these changes are important because that part of the estu ary described in this report is within a populous and industrialized region that depends upon the estuary for a source of water for household and industrial use and also makes use of the estuary to dilute and carry away its wastes. Because the estuary is a major source of water in this region, a knowledge of water quality in the estuary is of interest to many municipalities and industries, as well as to individual citizens, sportsmen, and conservation groups. The U.S. Geological Survey has collected monthly water samples in the Delaware estuary since August 1949 at eight sampling stations from Bristol, Pa., to the Pennsylvania-Delaware State line at Marcus Hook, Pa. The location of these stations is shown in figure 1, and TABLE 1. Distance relations and drainage area of sampling stations in Delaware estuary, Burlington-Bristol Bridge to Marcus Hook, Pa. River distance, in miles, Drainage of midchannel stations Station i area, in square miles Between From Tren stations ton, N.J. 1 Bristol (Pa.) -Burlington (N.J.) Bridge.--. 7,160 15.2 2 Torresdale, Philadelphia, Pa ______ _ 7,781 8.1 23.3 3