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Jay Steven White @ Master of Science Environmental Biology And University of Alberta Adaptive Management and Nutrient Retention in a Northern Prairie WetIand Restored with Agro-Industrial and Municipal Wastewater at Frank Lake, Alberta. Jay Steven White @ A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Environmental Biology and Ecology Department of Biological Sciences Edmonton, Alberta Fa11 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1*1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellingtori Ottawa ON KIA ON4 OttawaON K1AON4 Canada Canada Yowdle varm dfënnrce Our me N4a9 rémf#lœ The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/fih, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. "The public should no more tmst bureaucrats to assess their own environmental work than they should trust third-graders to design their own report cards." --Andrew Nikiforuk "The Nasty Garne" Dedication For my morn, Beatrice Francis White, whose tremendous support (both financial and otherwise) over my educational career made this whole project possible. Abstract Frank Lake, Alberta is a large (1 246 hectare) northem prairie wetland in southem Alberta, Canada, that was restored using secondary treated municipal and agro-industrial wastewater. Five years after restoration began, a one year study determined (1) spatial distribution of nutrients in marsh surface waters (2) surface water nutrient treatment efficacy and (3) the ability of sedirnents to retain added phosphorus. During the ice fiee seasons, NH,-N, NO,-N and TP surface water concentrations were decreased by 76%, 87% and 64% respectively, as waters flowed through the fkst basin of the marsh. February treatment was Iess successfüi, with surface water NH,-N, NO,-N and TP concentration reductions of 46%, -26% (export) and 26%, respectively, through Basin 1. Sedirnents near the inflow had a limited ability for additionai P-sorption but had greater sedimentation and P- burial rates than al1 other sites. While the Frank Lake is presently providing effective nutrient retention, treatment efficacy may decrease as continued high loadings to the marsh lead to sediment saturation, eutrophication or phosphorus export fiom the marsh. Acknowledgments Funding for this work was provided to SEB fiom Ducks Unlimited Canada and CAESA under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, and an NSERC operating grant. 1 extend thanks to Len Forrest, Gary Larsen, Al Alfano, Shawn Urban and Jennifer Pettit for their assistance in the field. Assistance fiom University of Aiberta Limnology Lab including Gertie Hutchinson, Brian Rolseth, Paüicia Burgess, Rosalind Rudy, Brian Parker and Shannon Keehn was also greatly appreciated. 1 also acknowledge the technical assistance of Jane Horb, Gary Larsen and Jim Wohl at the Ducks Unlimited office in Edmonton, and Jeff Hoyem and Mark Rigby at the University of Alberta. Ed Soderberg, Brent Kjenserdahl, Debra Paton and Ken Sauser were very helpful in providing valuable and timely data on Cargill Foods and the Town of High River. Finally, many th& to Tom Sadler and Gary Stewart of Ducks Unlimited Canada for providing cornrnents on manuscript drafts. CHAPTER 1 : iNTRODUCTION TO THE FRANK LAKE STUDY ....................................... 1 ClFIAPTER 2: RESTORATION OF A CANADIAN PRAIRiE WETLAM) USING AGRICULTURAL( AND MUNITCLPAL WASTEWATER: ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT AND COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION AT FRANK LAKE. ALBERTA ........................ 4 INTRODUCTION .................... .. ................................................................................................... 4 Wetland Res torut ion Using Treated Waste wuter...................................................................... j Municipal and Agricultural Efluent ........................................................................................ 6 Canadian prairie wetlands used for wastewater treatment...................................................... 7 Impact on wetlandr ................................................................................................................... 8 Frank Lake site description .....................................................................................................8 The importance of the Frank Lake region to warejowl and other wildlijé........................... ... 9 Developrnent of the Frank Lake project ................................................................................. 10 Goals and Objectives of the Frank Lake Project ..................................... ............................ IO Project coordination ............................................................................................................... II Fzmding program ............. ... ..............................................................................................12 Legai Requirements of the Project ....................................................................................... 13 Water Volumes and Flows ..................................................................................................... 13 MANAGEMENT STRATEGIESAT FRANKLAKE .................................. .... ...................................... 14 Upiand management sfrategies ............................................................................................... IJ Water management techniques ............................................................................................... IJ Control structures at Frank Lake ........................................................................................... 15 BacWood Irrigation and Drawdo wns .................................................................................... 15 Management ofthe four sub-basins of Frank Lake ................................................................ 16 Other wildlve management .....................................................................................................17 Se wuge wuter treatment ..........................................................................................................17 Visitor management ................................................................................................................ 18 RESTORATION BENEF~TSAND FUTURE CONCERNS................... ,.. ........................................19 Environmental benefits ........................................................................................................... 19 Habitat benefits....................................................................................................................... 19 Species benefits ......................................................................................................................19 Economic benefirs ................................................................................................................ -20 Social benefits .........................................................................................................................20 Scient ific benefits ................................................................................................................... 21 Fut me concerns ...................................................................................................................... 21 IMPLEMENTTNG WETLAND RESTORAT~ONPROJECTS ...................... ... ............... ........ 22 The Success of the Frank Lake Project .................................................................................... 3 -3 Cornponents of successfil wetland projec ts........................................................................... -23 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................. 25 REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER 3: IMPACTS OF MUNICIPAL AND AGRO-INDUSTRbU WASTEWATERS ON THE WATER CHEMISTRY OF A NORTEiERN PRAIRIE WETLAND AT FRANK LAKE, ALBERTA ................................................... .................e........o...e.....................................31 List of Tables Table 2.1 : Schedule for the Frank Lake wetlands project developed by the Project Implementation Cornmittee in June, 1988. Table 2.2: Detailed project goals and long term management goals of the Frank Lake project. Table 3.1 : Description of the reference wetlands sampled fiom July 1994 to June 1995. Table 3.1 : Cargill foods and Town of High River wastewater nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations measured at their respective sources from July 1994 to lune 1995. Table 3 -2:Phosphorus Ioadings to Frank Lake by source. Table 3.3 : Nitrogen concentrations in Basin 1
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