Subscriber access provided by NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CTR Feature What Goes Up Must Come Down: Integrating Air and Water Quality Monitoring for Nutrients Helen M Amos, Chelcy Miniat, Jason A. Lynch, Jana E. Compton, Pamela Templer, Lori Sprague, Denice Marie Shaw, Douglas A. Burns, Anne W. Rea, David R Whitall, Myles Latoya, David Gay, Mark Nilles, John T. Walker, Anita Rose, Jerad Bales, Jeffery Deacon, and Richard Pouyat Environ. Sci. Technol., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b03504 • Publication Date (Web): 19 Sep 2018 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on September 21, 2018 Just Accepted “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication. They are posted online prior to technical editing, formatting for publication and author proofing. 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ACS cannot be held responsible for errors or consequences arising from the use of information contained in these “Just Accepted” manuscripts. is published by the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036 Published by American Chemical Society. Copyright © American Chemical Society. However, no copyright claim is made to original U.S. Government works, or works produced by employees of any Commonwealth realm Crown government in the course of their duties. Manuscript ID: es-2018-03504b Page 1 of 29 Environmental Science & Technology 1 What Goes Up Must Come Down: Integrating Air and Water Quality Monitoring for 2 Nutrients 3 4 5 Helen M. Amos*†, Chelcy F. Miniat⸹, Jason Lynch§, Jana Compton║, Pamela H. Templer┴, Lori 6 A. Sprague#, Denice Shaw‡, Doug Burns◊, Anne Rea↑, Dave Whitall⸹, LaToya Myles⸹, David ₼ ₼ ₼ ₼ 7 Gay , Mark Nilles , John Walker↑, Anita K. Rose⌂, Jerad Bales■, Jeff Deacon , Rich Pouyat 8 9 *†AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow hosted by ‡ 10 ‡U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington, 11 D.C., 20004 ₼ 12 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Chief Scientist, Washington, DC, 20250 13 §U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air and Radiation, Washington, DC 20004 14 ║U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Western Ecology Division, Corvallis, OR 97333 15 ┴Boston University, Department of Biology, Boston, MA 02215 16 #U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Quality Program, Denver, CO 80225 17 ◊U.S. Geological Survey, New York Water Science Center, Troy, NY 12309 18 ↑U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Research 19 Triangle Park, NC 27711 ₼ 20 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Silver Spring, MD 21 20910 ⁑ 22 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Air Resources Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 23 37830 ₼ 24 National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, University 25 of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706 ₼ 26 U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Quality Program, Lakewood, CO 80225 27 ⌂U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Air Resource Management, Washington, DC, 28 20250 29 ■Consortium of Universities for the Advancement Hydrologic Science, Inc., Cambridge, MA 30 02140 ₼ 31 U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Quality Program, Pembroke, NH 03275 ₼ 32 U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Research and Development, Washington, DC 33 20250 34 1 ACS Paragon Plus Environment Manuscript ID: es-2018-03504b Environmental Science & Technology Page 2 of 29 35 TOC Art 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 2 ACS Paragon Plus Environment Manuscript ID: es-2018-03504b Page 3 of 29 Environmental Science & Technology 50 Abstract 51 Excess nitrogen and phosphorus (i.e., nutrients) environmental loadings continue to affect 52 ecosystem function and human health across the U.S. Our ability to connect atmospheric inputs 53 of nutrients to aquatic endpoints remains limited due to uncoupled air and water quality 54 monitoring. Where connections exist, the information provides insights about source 55 apportionment, trends, risk to sensitive ecosystems, and efficacy of pollution reduction efforts. 56 We examine several issues driving the need for better integrated monitoring, including: coastal 57 eutrophication, urban hotspots of deposition, a shift from oxidized to reduced nitrogen 58 deposition, and the disappearance of pristine lakes. Successful coordination requires consistent 59 data reporting; collocating deposition and water quality monitoring; improving phosphorous 60 deposition measurements; and filling coverage gaps in urban corridors, agricultural areas, 61 undeveloped watersheds, and coastal zones. 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 3 ACS Paragon Plus Environment Manuscript ID: es-2018-03504b Environmental Science & Technology Page 4 of 29 81 1. Introduction 82 Robust environmental monitoring is fundamental to understanding our environment and 83 assessing the efficacy of environmental policies.1 For many chemical elements of economic and 84 environmental relevance (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, mercury), air and water chemistry 85 are intrinsically connected. While important progress has been made over the past 20 years,2 86 most monitoring in the U.S. still does not connect atmospheric inputs to surface water quality. 87 Where connected, information from integrated air and surface water quality monitoring has 88 contributed to the basis, justification, and efficacy assessment of the Clean Air Act Amendments 89 of 1990.3 Integrated monitoring at inland sites has helped us understand how decreasing 90 atmospheric nitrogen deposition reduces estuarine nutrient enrichment.4 These efforts have 91 allowed us to determine sources, trends, and whether pollution reduction decisions have been 92 effective and fiscally responsible.5 93 Excess nitrogen and phosphorus (“nutrients”) is one of today’s most challenging and 94 costly water quality issues.6 The challenge arises from balancing trade-offs between human 95 needs, such as food and energy production, with harm to human and ecosystem health, such as 96 drinking water contamination7 or harmful algal blooms and hypoxia.8 Excess nitrogen damages 97 in the U.S. exceed $100 billion annually.9 Despite ongoing source reductions, nutrient 98 enrichment of aquatic ecosystems is difficult to mitigate. The persistent hypoxic zone in the Gulf 99 of Mexico was the size of New Jersey in 2017, the largest in the 15-year record.10 The U.S. 4 ACS Paragon Plus Environment Manuscript ID: es-2018-03504b Page 5 of 29 Environmental Science & Technology 100 Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board recently concluded a national 101 strategy integrating air and water monitoring is needed to understand sources, transport, and fate 102 of excess nutrients.11 103 Atmospheric deposition dominates nitrogen inputs to surface waters over much of the 104 conterminous U.S.12 (Figure 1). Atmospheric deposition physically delivers nitrogen and 105 phosphorus to land and water surfaces by wet (e.g., rain, snow) and dry (e.g., gases and 106 particulates) processes. Even in watersheds with large nutrient sources from agriculture or 107 sewage, atmospheric sources can play an important role depending on land use and timing of 108 runoff.13, 14 It is thus important to quantify atmospheric inputs in order to assess reduction 109 efforts, such as agricultural best practices, water treatment upgrades, and power plant emission 110 caps.4, 15 Fewer than 2% of long-term water quality sites are co-located with nitrogen deposition 111 monitoring in the U.S (Figure 2). Phosphorus is monitored in deposition and water 112 simultaneously at even fewer sites. Recent work reveals the importance of urban atmospheres as 113 a significant potential source of phosphorus to runoff.16 114 Experience from the Acid Rain Program can inform efforts to integrate air and water 115 monitoring at large geographic scales. In the 1970s, studies began documenting widespread 116 acidification of U.S. lakes, streams, and soils.17, 18 Deposition and surface water quality 117 monitoring were coordinated under the Acid Rain Program during the 1990s and 2000s. These 118 sites provided data to assess whether emission reductions from vehicles and the power sector 5 ACS Paragon Plus Environment Manuscript ID: es-2018-03504b Environmental Science & Technology Page 6 of 29 119 reduced acidic deposition and improved water quality.3 The number of U.S. lakes and streams at 120 risk for ecological harm from acidity dropped from 24% in 2000 to 9% in 2015,19 estimates that 121 were made possible by merging deposition and water quality monitoring data. 122 123 124 125 Figure 1. (a) Dominant anthropogenic sources of nitrogen to surface water for HUC 8 126 (Hydrologic Unit Code) watersheds. BNF denotes biological nitrogen fixation. (b) Atmospheric 127 nitrogen deposition expressed as a percentage (0 to 100%) of all anthropogenic nitrogen inputs. 20 128 Source: Compton et al. 129 130 131 6 ACS Paragon Plus Environment Manuscript ID: es-2018-03504b Page 7 of 29 Environmental Science & Technology 132 2. Existing U.S. Atmospheric Deposition and Surface Water Quality Monitoring 133 The primary monitoring network for assessing wet deposition nationally, the National 134 Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), was established in 1978.