Prepared in cooperation with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection Historical Water-Quality Data From the Harlem River, New York Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5044 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Cover. Photograph of the Harlem River and Washington Bridge circa 1905, looking northward. The bulkhead in place along the west riverbank (in New York County) supports the adjacent Harlem River Speedway. The east riverbank (in Bronx County) is relatively undeveloped and the shape of the bank is unaltered. Source: Library of Congress. Historical Water-Quality Data From the Harlem River, New York By Shawn C. Fisher Prepared in cooperation with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5044 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior SALLY JEWELL, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Suzette M. Kimball, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2016 For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit http://www.usgs.gov/ or call 1–888–ASK–USGS. For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Suggested citation: Fisher, S.C., 2016, Historical water-quality data from the Harlem River, New York: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5044, 21 p., appendix, http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20165044. ISSN 2328-0328 (online) iii Acknowledgments The author would like to thank the following for their contributions: Beau Ranheim and Kaled Alamarie of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Wastewater Treatment for providing the entire New York Harbor Water Quality Survey dataset and data management assistance; Lucy DiSalvo and Markus Koelbl of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection for their helpful comments in the early stages of preparing this report; and Caitlyn Nichols (formerly) of the Interstate Environmental Commission for providing reports with historical information about the Harlem River, assistance in data mining, and a technical review of an earlier draft of this report. The author would also like to thank Patrick Phillips, John Williams, and Kenneth Pearsall of the U.S. Geological Survey for their technical review and editorial comments. v Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................iii Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1 Hydrologic Setting and Historical Development of the Harlem River ..........................................2 History of Environmental Quality of the Harlem River ....................................................................3 Water Quality and Ecological Health .................................................................................................4 Purpose and Scope ..............................................................................................................................5 Water- and Sediment-Quality Data From the Harlem River ....................................................................5 Water-Quality Parameters of Ecological Importance.....................................................................6 Dissolved Oxygen.........................................................................................................................7 Fecal Indicator Bacteria .............................................................................................................8 Fecal Coliform ......................................................................................................................8 Enterococcus ......................................................................................................................8 TSI Indicators ...............................................................................................................................8 Nutrients ...............................................................................................................................8 Chlorophyll a ......................................................................................................................11 Water Clarity ......................................................................................................................11 Sediment Quality .................................................................................................................................13 Precipitation and Other Water-Quality Data ..................................................................................14 Data Gaps .............................................................................................................................................14 Summary........................................................................................................................................................17 Selected References ...................................................................................................................................17 Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................................21 Figures 1. Map showing the Harlem River, New York, New York City Department of Environmental Protection sampling locations H1 through H5, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Environmental Monitoring Assessment Program site UH361, and the Wards Island and North River water pollution control plants ..................3 2. Map showing the Harlem River, New York, and locations of combined sewer overflow outfalls and the Wards Island water pollution control plant on the East River .......................................................................................................................................4 3. Boxplot showing dissolved oxygen concentrations in the Harlem River, New York, from June through September, depicted in 5-year intervals: 1945–99, 2000, 2001–12 .................................................................................................................................7 4. Boxplot showing the geometric mean of fecal coliform concentrations in the Harlem River, New York, from June through September, depicted in 5-year intervals: 1974–99, 2000, 2000–12 ...............................................................................................9 5. Boxplot showing Enterococcus concentrations at site H3 in the Harlem River, New York, from June through September, depicted in 5-year intervals ...........................10 vi 6. Boxplot showing nitrate and nitrite concentrations along the Harlem River, New York, from June through September, depicted in 5-year intervals: 1987–99, 2000–12 .........................................................................................................................................11 7. Boxplot showing ammonia concentrations along the Harlem River, New York, from June through September, depicted in 5-year intervals: 1986–99, 2000–12 ..............12 8. Boxplot showing orthophosphate concentrations along the Harlem River, New York, from June through September, depicted in 5-year intervals; 1986–96 and 1998–99, 2000–2008 .....................................................................................................................13 9. Boxplot showing chlorophyll a concentrations along the Harlem River, New York, from June through September, depicted in 5-year intervals: 1986–90 and 1992–99, 2000, 2001–12 ...............................................................................................................................14 10. Boxplot showing total suspended solids concentrations along the Harlem River, New York, from June through September, depicted in 5-year intervals: 1991–99, 2000, 2001–12 ...............................................................................................................................15 11. Boxplot showing select metals with known ecological toxicity detected in sediment samples taken from the Harlem River relative to the New York-New Jersey Harbor in 2003 ................................................................................................................16 12. Graph showing precipitation totals for June through September in the years that water-quality data are presented in this report.....................................................................16 Table 1. List of available datasets collected by Federal, State, and local agencies and organizations that include sampling locations along the Harlem River ..............................2 vii Conversion Factors Multiply By To obtain Length inch (in.) 2.54 centimeter (cm)