RHODn E TISLAND DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908-5767 TDD 40 1-83 1-5508 February 24,1999 Stephen A. Alfred, Town Manager ;7 Town of South Kingstown i 180 High Street " ­ ­ -. ' Wakefield, Rhode Island 02880 ~~ --­ -—.___ J Dear Mr. Alfred: The Department of Environmental Management recently received a draft report summarizing water quality investigations in the Saugatucket River conducted by Dr. Raymond Wright of the University of Rhode Island's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. A copy of Dr. Wright's report is attached for your information. The document is presently in draft form and is being reviewed by DEM's Office of Water Resources staff. Dr. Wright's work was conducted to assess impairments of water quality along the river and its tributaries and to allow estimates of impacts on Point Judith Pond. Three water bodies in the Saugatucket watershed are included on the State's current list of impaired waters (also known as the 303(d) list): Mitchell Brook, Saugatucket River, and Saugatucket Pond. These water bodies, as you know, respectively flow through, form the eastern border, and are immediately downstream of the former landfill site. It is our concern that each of these three water body impairments is attributable to influences from the landfill. Chapter 10 of Dr. Wright's study associates the site with a significant increase in ammonia concentrations in the main stem of the Saugatucket River. The federal Clean Water Act requires that the cause and source of water quality impairment and actions to restore water quality be identified, in an analysis known as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), for all water bodies listed on the state's 303(d) list. The Office of Water Resources will utilize the findings of Dr. Wright's report in conducting the TMDL analysis for the Saugatucket watershed water bodies listed on the 303(d) list, scheduled to begin in FY 2000. Although Dr. Wright's report is in draft form, I wanted to share it with you given that EPA is presently working to finalize a cleanup plan for the Rose Hill Landfill Superfund site. We have also provided a copy of the draft report to EPA and are coordinating with DEM's Office of Waste Management. As you know, EPA's proposed cleanup focuses on reducing the risks to human and ecological health posed by metals and VOC's in groundwater, and vinyl chloride and other gases released to the atmosphere. We are working with EPA to determine whether the Superfund remediation plan can be flexible enough to also address water quality impairments related to ammonia and to fully address ecological health impairments related to iron, rather than have them addressed under a subsequent initiative under the TMDL program. We encourage your active role to ensure that the cleanup plans are cost effective in addressing both human health risks and water quality impairments associated with the former landfill site. We will keep you informed as we progress with water quality studies in the Saugatucket watershed. However, if you have any questions or would like to meet to further discuss this matter, please feel free to contact Elizabeth Scott, Deputy Chief, Office of Water Resources Watersheds and Standards Section at 222-4700 extension 7300. Sincerely, ,1 far Alicia M. Good, P.E. Assistant Director for Water Resources Office of Water Resources Enclosure Cc Edward S. Szymanski, DEM Associate Director Terrence Gray, DEM Office of Waste Management Robert Mendoza, US EPA, RI Office SAUGATUCKET RIVER WATER QUALITY INVESTIGATION STEADY STATE MODELING OF DISSOLVED OXYGEN AND NUTRIENTS ON THE SAUGATUCKET RIVER South Kingstown, Rhode Island Submitted to RIDEM Submitted by Mirko Kugler MS Graduate Research Assistant and Raymond M. Wright, Ph.D., P.E. Chairman and Professor University of Rhode Island Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 203 Bliss Hall Kingston, RI 02881 July 1998 Abstract In 1995 the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management requested a study on the Saugatucket River. The study, titled Saugatucket River Water Quality Investigations, had three main objectives. (1) To provide an accurate assessment of the water quality conditions existing in the drainage area of the Saugatucket River under both dry and wet weather conditions, (2) To determine the approximate location of key "hot spots" or areas of concern under both dry and wet weather conditions, and (3) To calibrate and validate the dissolved oxygen model, QUAL2E to the river This report includes the results of the steady-state dissolved oxygen and nutrient monitoring and modeling. The work detailed in this report was performed by Mirko Kugler in partial fulfillment of the M. S. Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Rhode Island and the Engineer Diplom from the Technical University of Braunschweig Mr Kugler is from Germany and is the first student to successfully complete the graduate Dual- Degree program between the two universities. This work was technically reviewed and presented at both universities. Throughout this report, figure and table captions have been presented in both English and German TABLE OF CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION ! i i STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION i l 2 OBJECTIVES OF THE WATER QUALITY INVESTIGATIONS 3 1 3 REPORT ORGANIZATION 4 2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON STUDY AREA 8 2 l TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATOLOGY 8 2.1 1 Weather Summary of 1996 JJ 2 1 2 Weather Summary of 199 7 13 2 2 GEOLOGY 13 2.2.1 Geomorphic Features. 14 2 3 LAND USE AND DEMOGRAPHICS 16 231LandUse 16 2.3.2 Rose Hill Landfill 19 2.3.3 Sanitary Connection and Water Supply 21 2 4 ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT. .. 2 3 2 5 HISTORY OF WATER USE 24 2 6 HISTORY OF WATER QUALITY 26 2 6.1 Past Water Quality Classifications and Discharge Permits 27 2.6 2 Current Water Quality Classifications and Discharge Permits 29 2 7 STUDY INVENTORY ON THE SAUGATUCKET RTVER .. 30 2.7. l Long-Term Studies 31 2.7.2 Short-Term Studies 32 3. WATER QUALITY PROGRAM 34 3 l WATER QUALITY SAMPLING STATIONS 34 3 2 DRY WEATHER PROGRAM . 38 3 3 RATIONALE FO R SELECTED PARAMETER . 40 3 4 METHODOLOGY FOR WATER COLUMN CHEMISTRY 48 3 5 QUALITY CONTROL AND QUALITY ASSURANCE 54 3.5 1 Field Work 54 in 3 5 2 Chemical Analysis and Data Interpretation j6 3.6 FLOW MEASUREMENTS 57 3.7 DETERMINATION OF MASS LOADING 58 4. HYDRAULIC DATA ON SAUGATUCKET RIVER 60 4.1 PRINCIPLES OF STAGE-DISCHARGE RELATIONSHIPS 60 4.2 STAGE-DISCHARGE RELATIONSHIPS ON SAUGATUCKET RIVER 64 4.2.1 Station SR01 64 4.2.2 Station SR02 67 4.2.3StationSR03 69 4.2.4 Station SR04 "2 4.2.5 Station SR05 73 4.2.6 Station SR06 76 4.2.7 Station FM01 79 4.2.8 Station IRQ 1 •...'. 81 4.2.9 Station RB01 .­ 84 4.2.10 Station RH01 :.' 86 4.3 DETERMINATION OF 7Q10-FLOWS 88 4.4 FLOWS FOR THE DRY WEATHER SURVEYS 93 4.5 UNIT FLOWS FOR THE DRAINAGE AREAS 96 4.5.1 General Calculation of Unit Flows per Drainage Areas 97 4.5.2 Unit Flow per Drainage Areafor SR04 and SR05 99 4.6 PROJECTION OF FLOW PROFILES 99 4.6.1 Procedurefor Flow Profile Projection 100 4.6.2 Results and Discussion 101 4.6.3 Summary 103 5. TIME OF TRAVEL STUDY 106 5.1 DESIGN OF THE TRACER STUDY ON THE SAUGATUCKET RIVER 107 5.1.1 Objectives 107 5.1.2 Selection of Dye 108 5.1.3 Sampling Procedures 109 5 I-I Presentation of Results. 5 2 RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION . \\% 5.2.1 Reach SROl -SR02 y/5 5.2.2 Reach SR02-SR03 727 5.2.3ReachSR03-SR04 123 5 2.4 Reach SR04-SR06 723 6. SEDIMENT OXYGEN DEMAND MEASUREMENTS 128 6 l MAJOR SEDIMENT OXYGEN DEMAND PROCESSES .... 128 6 2 DESIGN OF THE STUDY 131 6 3 FACTORS INFLUENCING SOD MEASUREMENTS 132 6 4 BENTHIC CHAMBER DESIGN FOR THE SAUGATUCKET RIVER 136 6 5 FIELD PROGRAM AND METHODOLOGY . HI 6.5.1 Site Selection 141 6.5.2 Objectives 142 6.5.3 Equipment. 143 6.5.4 Set up and Measurement Procedure 144 6.5.5 Data Analysis. 147 6 6 DATA PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION 150 6.6.1 Location 1: The Saugatucket River downstream of SROl 151 6.6.2 Location 2: Saugatucket Pond at the Lily Pad Professional Center 752 6.6.3 Location 3: Saugatucket River next to the River Bend Athletic Club in Peace Dale 755 6.6.4 Location 4: River Stretch -within the Vicinity of the Historic Cemetery inWakefield 755 6.6.5 Location 5: River Reach near the Pedestrian Bridge in Wakefield 757 6.7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 160 7. WATER QUALITY MODELING AND ANALYSIS 164 7 l QUAL2E MODEL THEORY AND STRUCTURE 164 7.1.1 Introduction to the QUAL2E Model 7.1.2 Saugatucket River Representation in OUAL2E. " / 3 Physical and Hydraulic Characterization 7 2 FLOW PROFILE DEVELOPMENT .. ... 173 7.3 CHLORIDE PROFILE DEVELOPMENT 175 7.3.7 Chloride Data Presentation /?j 7.3.2 Chloride Profile Validation 775 7 4 REPRESENTATION OF DISSOLVED OXYGEN IN QUAL2E . i g i 7 5 BOD SIMULATION 183 7.5.7 BOD) Data on (he Saugatucket River 134 7.5.2 BOD Simulation in the QUAL2E Model. 185 76 SIMULATION OF THE NITROGEN CYCLE 186 7.6.1 Atnmoma and Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen Data on the Saugatucket River 187 7.6.2 Nitrate Data on the Saugatucket River 189 7.6.3 Investigation of the Nitrogen Source between SRG2 andSROS 792 7.6.4 Ammonia and Nitrate Modeling with QUAL2E 795 7 7 SIMULATION OF THE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE 200 7.7.1 Phosphorus Data on the Saugatucket River.