CLARK FORK – PEND OREILLE WATERSHED WATER QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAM DRAFT MONITORING REPORT 2011 Prepared for: Prepared by: TRI-STATE WATER QUALITY HYDROSOLUTIONS INC COUNCIL POWER BLOCK BUILDING, 4TH FLOOR DIANE WILLIAMS, EXECUTIVE WEST DIRECTOR 7 WEST SIXTH AVENUE 101 N. FOURTH AVENUE, SUITE 105 HELENA, MONTANA 59601 SANDPOINT, IDAHO 83864 JUNE 4, 2012 THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK Tri-State Water Quality Council Draft Monitoring Report 2011 Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Watershed Water Quality Monitoring Program June 4, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................I 1.0 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................1 1.1 Background.................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 History .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.2 Monitoring Program Goals And Objectives ........................................................... 2 1.1.3 Clark Fork River Nutrient Standards and Target Concentrations ........................... 4 1.1.4 Montana and Idaho Border Nutrient Load Agreement ........................................... 4 1.2 Monitoring Program Activities ...................................................................................... 5 1.3 Monitoring Locations .................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Monitoring Schedule .................................................................................................... 9 1.5 Monitoring Constituents ............................................................................................... 9 1.6 Sampling and Analytical Methods ...............................................................................10 1.7 Statistical Methods ......................................................................................................12 1.8 News from the Watershed ...........................................................................................13 2.0 WATER QUALITY REVIEW .......................................................................................... 14 2.1 Field Constituents Spatial Comparison .......................................................................15 2.1.1 Temperature ........................................................................................................15 2.1.2 pH ........................................................................................................................16 2.1.3 Specific Conductivity ............................................................................................16 2.1.4 Dissolved Oxygen ................................................................................................16 2.1.5 Turbidity ...............................................................................................................16 2.1.6 Oxidation Reduction Potential ..............................................................................17 2.1.7 Total Dissolved Solids ..........................................................................................17 2.2 Nutrient Constituents Spatial Comparison ...................................................................17 2.2.1 Total Nitrogen ......................................................................................................17 2.2.2 Total Soluble Inorganic Nitrogen ..........................................................................18 2.2.3 Total Phosphorus .................................................................................................18 2.2.4 Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ..............................................................................18 2.3 Heavy Metals Spatial Comparison ..............................................................................18 2.3.1 Total Recoverable Copper ...................................................................................19 2.3.2 Total Recoverable Zinc ........................................................................................19 2.3.3 Dissolved Metals ..................................................................................................19 2.3.4 Heavy Metals Standards Comparison ..................................................................19 2.4 Summer Nutrient Monitoring .......................................................................................20 2.4.1 Total Nitrogen ......................................................................................................21 2.4.2 Total Soluble Inorganic Nitrogen ..........................................................................21 2.4.3 Total Phosphorus .................................................................................................21 2.4.4 Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ..............................................................................22 2.4.5 Summer Nutrient Standard and Target Attainment ..............................................22 2.5 Clark Fork River Peak Flow Monitoring .......................................................................23 2.6 Clark Fork River Periphyton Monitoring .......................................................................25 2.6.1 Periphyton Temporal Comparison ........................................................................25 2.6.2 Periphyton Spatial Comparison ............................................................................26 2.6.3 Benthic Algal Chlorophyll-A Standards Attainment ...............................................26 2.7 Lake Pend Oreille Water Quality .................................................................................27 2.8 Lake Pend Oreille Nutrient Loading ............................................................................27 3.0 DATA QUALITY ASSURANCE REVIEW.......................................................................28 3.1 Sample Handling ........................................................................................................29 i HydroSolutions Inc Tri-State Water Quality Council Draft Monitoring Report 2011 Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Watershed Water Quality Monitoring Program June 4, 2012 3.1.1 Condition of samples upon receipt .......................................................................29 3.1.2 All field documentation complete..........................................................................30 3.1.3 Holding times met ................................................................................................30 3.1.4 Field Quality Control Sample Collection Frequency .............................................31 3.1.5 Sample Identification ............................................................................................31 3.2 Methodology ...............................................................................................................32 3.2.1 Laboratory and field methods ...............................................................................32 3.2.2 Laboratory Reporting Limit ...................................................................................32 3.2.3 Laboratory Quality Control Frequency .................................................................33 3.3 Data Quality Objectives ..............................................................................................33 3.3.1 Precision ..............................................................................................................34 3.3.2 Laboratory Accuracy ............................................................................................35 3.3.3 Measurement Range or Sensitivity ......................................................................36 3.3.4 Sample Representativeness ................................................................................37 3.3.5 Sample Completeness .........................................................................................38 3.3.6 Sample Comparability ..........................................................................................39 3.4 Logic Checks ..............................................................................................................39 3.5 Data Quality Review Summary ...................................................................................41 4.0 DATA VALIDATION RESPONSE ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................... 43 5.0 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................46 FIGURES Figure 1-1. Box and Whisker Plot Construction Diagram.......................................................12 TABLES Table 1-1. Clark Fork River Nutrient Standards and Nutrient Targets .................................... 4 Table 1-2. Tri-State Water Quality Council Monitoring Program Activities .............................. 7 Table 1-3. Monitoring Locations, Sampling Organization, and Sampling Frequency .............. 8 Table 1-4. Tri-State Water Quality Council 2011 Monitoring Schedule ................................... 9 Table 1-5. Summary of Analytical Methods, Reporting Limits, and Laboratories for Clark Fork River Monitoring Activities ....................................................................................11 Table 2-1. Summer Monitoring 2011 Nutrient Standards and Target