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Water Quality Monitoring and Analysis of Fecal Coliform of Canadarago Lake Tributaries and Outlet

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Water Quality Monitoring and Analysis of Fecal Coliform of Canadarago Lake Tributaries and Outlet Water quality monitoring and analysis of fecal coliform of Canadarago Lake tributaries and outlet Tara Perry1 and Marina Brown2 INTRODUCTION Canadarago Lake, in Richfield Springs, NY, has four main tributaries and empties into Oaks Creek. Physical and chemical water sampling on these waterways has historically been conducted to evaluate the state of Canadarago Lake, its tributaries and outlet (Hart et al. 1980; Albright and Waterfield 2012). The purpose of this current effort of tributary monitoring is to recognize any changes that may reflect changes in land use throughout the watershed. One aspect of lake monitoring is fecal coliform analysis in its tributaries and outlet. Fecal coliform are gram negative, non-sporulating, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria that are good indicator organisms used to evaluate water quality (APHA 2012). These bacteria are naturally found in the intestines of mammals and birds. Most fecal coliform bacteria are not harmful to humans, though their presence indicates fecal contamination, which may contain disease-causing pathogens. Federal guidelines recommend no fecal coliform be present in drinking water (AWWA 1990), and no more than 200 colony producing units per 100ml of water (CPU/100ml) should be present in recreational waters (APHA 2012). High fecal coliform levels can also be associated with elevated levels of phosphorous and nitrogen due to a common source, such as agricultural manure runoff or poorly maintained wastewater treatment systems. This study is intended to serve as an extension of work conducted by Albright and Waterfield (2012) as part of The State of Canadarago Lake report. Concurrent with this work, other surveys were conducted on these same tributaries to better characterize the quality and communities of each. These included a fish survey (Perry 2017) and a benthic macroinvertebrate survey (Brown 2017). METHODS Water samples were collected weekly from 31 May 2016 until 3August 2016 from five sites along the Canadarago Lake tributaries and one site on the lake outlet. These sites are illustrated and labeled in Figure 1 and a summary of the sample sites is given in Table 1. Two sites were included on Ocquionis Creek in order to evaluate the influence of the Richfield Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant, which discharges just upstream from Ocquionis Creek South (Ocq.2), on water quality. 1 SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station Intern, summer 2016. Funding was provided by the Otsego land Trust. Current affiliation: Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY. 2 SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station Intern, summer 2016. Funding was provided by the Otsego land Trust. Current Affiliation: Department of Biology, SUNY Oneonta. Fecal Coliform Fecal coliform samples were collected in 1L Pyrex® glass bottles and stored on ice until being processed. Samples were processed the same day as collection using the membrane filter technique (APHA 2012). Three volumes between 0.1mL and 200mL of each sample were filtered in attempt to produce 20-80 bacteria colonies per petri dish at some volume. Triplicates of each volume were low-pressure vacuum filtered through a 4µm Millipore membrane which was then placed in a sterile petri dish on an absorbent pad that had been saturated with 2.2mL of FC Base by Bacto® growth media. All petri dishes were vacuum sealed (with a FoodSaver sealer to maintain water tightness) in sterile Tupperware and incubated for 24±2 hours in a water bath set at 44.5 (±0.2) °C. After the incubation period, fecal coliform colonies were counted and reported as colony producing units (CPUs) per 100mL. Figure 1: A map of Canadarago Lake and its tributaries. The sites that were sampled are Herkimer Creek, Hyder Creek, Trout Brook, Ocquionis site 1 and site 2, and the outlet Oaks Creek. (from Albright and Waterfield 2012). Table 1: Outlet, tributaries, and the locations of sampling. Tributary & Outlet Sampling Sites Oaks Creek (outlet) East of the Village of Schuyler Lake on County Route 22; sampled north of bridge. Herkimer Creek North of the Village of Schuyler Lake on State Route 28; sampled east of bridge. Hyder Creek South of Dennison Road (NYSP boat launch access road) on State Route 28; sampled west of bridge. Trout Brook (Mink Creek) South of County Route 25A on State Route 28; sampled west of bridge. Ocquionis Creek North The beginning of Elm Street Extension, just south of Bronner Street; sampled south of bridge. Ocquionis Creek South End of Bloomfield Drive, through the rear gate of the waste treatment plant; sampled downstream of effluent discharge. Tributary Water Quality Monitoring On each collection day, temperature, specific conductivity, pH and dissolved oxygen (concentration and percent saturation) were measured at each site using a YSI® 6820 V2-2 multi-probe, which had been calibrated prior to use. Water samples from each site were collected in 125mL Nalgene® bottles, kept on ice during transportation, and preserved for nutrient analyses with sulfuric acid to pH<1.0. A Lachat® QuickChem FIA + Water Analyzer was used to determine nitrate+nitrite-N content, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. The cadmium reduction method (Pritzlaff 2003) was used to determine nitrate + nitrite-N content and total nitrogen (following digestion as per Ebina 1983), and the single reagent ascorbic acid following persulfate digestion method (Liao and Marten 2001) was used to determine total phosphorus. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Fecal Coliform The average colony producing units (CPU) per 100mL of fecal coliform bacteria found in the tributaries and outlet is shown in Figure 2. Data from 2010 (Albright and Waterfield 2012) are shown in Figure 3 for comparison. Concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria in Hyder Creek and Trout Brook were significantly higher than they had been in 2010, while Ocquionis Creek sites 1 and 2 have increased only slightly. The cause of the radical increase of fecal coliform in Trout Brook is unknown, though potential sources of such bacteria include agricultural runoff or improperly treated residential wastewater. 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 (CPU/100mL) 3000 2000 Fecal Coliform Concentration Coliform Fecal 1000 0 Herkimer Hyder Creek Trout Brook Ocquionis Ocquionis Oaks Creek Creek Creek 1 Creek 2 Figure 2: Average fecal coliform concentrations (CPU/100mL) of the six Canadarago tributary and outlet sites sampled for 31 May through 3 August 2016. 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 (CPU/100mL) 3000 Fecal Coliform Concentration Coliform Fecal 2000 1000 0 Herkimer Hyder Creek Trout Brook Ocquionis Ocquionis Oaks Creek Creek Creek 1 Creek 2 Figure 3: Average fecal coliform concentrations (CPU/100mL) of the 2010 study of Canadarago Lake tributaries and outlet (Albright and Waterfield 2012). Physical Water Quality Temperature Figure 4 represents average temperatures for the six sites tested from 31 May to 3 August 2016. The highest temperature recorded was 22.28°C on 20 July at Oaks creek. The lowest was 11.23°C on 14 June at Hyder Creek. Results from this study are an average of about 5 degrees cooler than the 2010 study (Mazziota 2011). 25 20 Herkimer 15 Hyder 10 Oaks Ocquionis site 1 Temperature (ºC) Temperature 5 Ocquionis site 2 Trout 0 Figure 4: Average temperatures for Canadarago Lake tributary and outlet sites from 31 May through 3 August 2016. Dissolved oxygen Fish rely on dissolved oxygen levels to survive. Values less than 5mg/L can be stressful to aquatic life. Figure 5 summarizes the dissolved oxygen concentrations in the tributaries over the study period. Ocquionis site 2 dropped 28 June and was consistently around 5mg/L. Herkimer Creek dropped quickly during the week of 12 July while the other sites increased but rebounded the week of 26 July. Figure 6 shows the mean dissolved oxygen, as percent saturation, in each tributary over the study period (+/- SE). 14 12 10 Herkimer 8 Hyder 6 Oaks 4 Ocquionis site 1 Ocquionis site 2 2 Dissolved (mg/l) Oxygen Trout 0 Figure 5: Dissolved oxygen concentrations in Canadarago Lake tributary streams and outlet from 31 May to 3 August 2016. 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 Dissolved Oxygen % 30 20 10 0 Herkimer Hyder Ocquionis 1 Ocquionis 2 Trout Oaks Figure 6: Percent dissolved oxygen in Canadarago Lake tributary streams and outlet from 31 May to 3 August 2016. Specific Conductivity and pH Specific conductivity is a measure of dissolved ions present in the water. It doesn’t define specific ions but it is used to document spikes of introduced ions in the stream such as salt-based compounds. An example of the origin of these salt compounds could be agricultural runoff or salts from a nearby road. Figure 7 shows the average specific conductivity of the six sites and Figure 8 shows pH averages for 31 May through 3 August 2016. There are significant differences in conductivity between Trout Brook and Herkimer Creek, reflecting the difference in geology from limestone at Trout Brook to sandstone/shale downstream at Herkimer Creek (Albright et al. 2010). The pH is also affected by the differences in geology. 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Specific Conductivity (µs/cm) Conductivity Specific 0 Herkimer Hyder Ocquionis 1 Ocquionis 2 Trout Oaks Figure 7: Mean specific conductivity values for Canadarago tributary and outlet sites from 31 May to 3 August 2016. 8.1 8 7.9 pH 7.8 7.7 7.6 Herkimer Hyder Ocquionis 1 Ocquionis 2 Trout Oaks Figure 8: Average pH values for Canadarago Lake tributary and outlet sites from 31 May to 3 August 2016. Chemical Water Quality Nitrogen can be introduced by agricultural fertilizer runoff. A flux in nitrogen can increase plant and algal productivity eventually leading to eutrophication of the stream (Wetzel 2001). Phosphorous can enter streams through bedrock erosion, agricultural overspill, and decaying organic materials (Wetzel 2001).
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