Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Results for Streams Near Biosolids Application Areas in the Snoqualmie River Basin
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Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Results for Streams Near Biosolids Application Areas in the Snoqualmie River Basin November 2009 \ Alternate Formats Available 206-296-7380 TTY Relay: 711 This page left intentionally blank. Benthic Invertebrate Monitoring Results for Streams Near Biosolids Application Areas in the Snoqualmie River Basin Prepared for: King County Wastewater Treatment Division Department of Natural Resources and Parks Submitted by: Jo Wilhelm and Deb Lester King County Water and Land Resources Division Department of Natural Resources and Parks This page left intentionally blank. Benthic Invertebrate Monitoring Results for Streams Near Biosolids Application Areas Acknowledgements Thanks to the many dedicated King County employees who have participated in sampling design, data collection, and data analyses going back to the late 1980s for water quality and the mid 1990s for macroinvertebrates. Thanks to the various taxonomic laboratories for their technical skills and expertise in identifying the macroinvertebrates, the King County Environmental Lab (KCEL) personnel for collecting and analyzing the water quality samples, and the King County Wastewater Treatment personnel for collecting the macroinvertebrate samples and their detailed record keeping of the biosolids applications. We thank Tom Georgianna for his help with statistical analyses, Tom Ventur for his attention to detail during the final editing of this document, Dawn Duddleson for swiftly retrieving background literature materials and Karen Bergeron for her help with data analysis. Special thanks go to Karen DuBose for her patience, speed, and thoroughness in answering our never- ending questions and responding to various data requests. Thanks also go to Jim Devereaux at the KCEL for organizing the field. Finally, this document was greatly improved through internal review from Jim Simmonds and Kate O’Laughlin. Citation King County. 2009. Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Results for Streams Near Biosolids Application Areas in the Snoqualmie River Basin. Prepared by Jo Wilhelm and Deb Lester, Water and Land Resources Division. Seattle, Washington. King County i November 2009 Benthic Invertebrate Monitoring Results for Streams Near Biosolids Application Areas This page left intentionally blank. King County ii November 2009 Benthic Invertebrate Monitoring Results for Streams Near Biosolids Application Areas Table of Contents 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Biosolids Overview......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Benthic Macroinvertebrates as a Monitoring Tool ......................................................... 2 2 Study Location........................................................................................................................ 3 3 Methods................................................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Field Methods................................................................................................................. 5 3.1.1 Macroinvertebrate Sampling................................................................................... 5 3.1.2 Water Quality Sampling ......................................................................................... 7 3.2 Analysis Methods............................................................................................................7 3.2.1 GIS Analysis of Physical Attributes ....................................................................... 7 3.2.2 Macroinvertebrate Laboratory Analysis ................................................................. 8 3.2.3 Macroinvertebrate Data Analysis........................................................................... 9 3.2.4 Comparison to Other Forested Sites ..................................................................... 13 3.2.5 Water Quality Laboratory Analysis...................................................................... 14 3.3 Statistical Analyses ....................................................................................................... 14 4 Results & Discussion ............................................................................................................ 14 4.1 Overall Site Comparisons ............................................................................................. 14 4.1.1 Summary of Physical and Land Use Characteristics ............................................ 14 4.1.2 B-IBI and HBI....................................................................................................... 17 4.1.3 Functional Feeding Group Analysis ..................................................................... 21 4.1.4 Taxa Count............................................................................................................ 24 4.1.5 Overall Year Comparison ..................................................................................... 25 4.1.6 Macroinvertebrates and Water Quality................................................................. 26 4.2 Individual Site Analysis................................................................................................ 27 4.2.1 Beaver Creek......................................................................................................... 27 4.2.2 Griffin Creek (Downstream)................................................................................. 28 4.2.3 Griffin Creek (Upstream)...................................................................................... 29 4.2.4 Lynch Creek (Downstream).................................................................................. 31 4.2.5 Lynch Creek (Upstream)....................................................................................... 32 4.2.6 Stossel Creek......................................................................................................... 34 4.2.7 Tate Creek............................................................................................................. 35 King County iii November 2009 Benthic Invertebrate Monitoring Results for Streams Near Biosolids Application Areas 4.2.8 Ten Creek (Downstream)...................................................................................... 36 4.2.9 Ten Creek (Upstream)........................................................................................... 37 4.2.10 Tokul Creek.......................................................................................................... 38 4.3 Comparison to Other Forested Sites ............................................................................. 39 5 Discussion............................................................................................................................. 45 5.1 Land Use Activities and Stream Health........................................................................ 45 5.1.1 Water Quality........................................................................................................ 46 5.1.2 Habitat Quality...................................................................................................... 47 6 Conclusions........................................................................................................................... 48 7 References............................................................................................................................. 51 Figures Figure 1. Study area showing macroinvertebrate and water quality sampling locations............4 Figure 2. .....Macroinvertebrate collection methods. The weed tool is used to agitate the substrate to a depth of approximately 10 cm for 60 seconds within the 0.3 m2 Surber sampler frame. 6 Figure 3. Basins upstream of each macroinvertebrate sample location (“macroinvertebrate subbasin”) were digitized using existing basin boundaries (“topo catchment”), watercourses, and 6-m contour lines. The application units were clipped to these new subbasins so that the area with biosolids applications or other land use data could be calculated................................................................................8 Figure 4. B-IBI versus HBI scores at ten sites from 1998-2006. B-IBI and HBI are significantly negatively correlated (p<0.01)......................................................................21 Figure 5. Percent functional feeding group classification for the ten macroinvertebrate sample locations. Percentages are averaged from the 1998-2006 macroinvertebrate data. 23 Figure 6. Mean number of individuals per replicate by location. Error bars represent + one standard deviation. Samples were sub-sampled until at least 500 species were identified. When fewer than 525 species were present, all individuals were identified. ...........................................................................................................................25 Figure 7. Mean B-IBI (left) and HBI (right) scores from all sampled sites each year. Error bars represent + one standard deviation. Means between years were not significantly different for either the B-IBI or the HBI (ANOVA, p<0.05). ......................26 Figure 8. Beaver Creek B-IBI and HBI Scores 1998- 2006......................................................28 Figure 9. Griffin Creek (Downstream) B-IBI and HBI Scores 1999- 2006..............................29