Assessing PAs Lake Erie Tributaries Nate Irwin PA

Assessing PA’s Lake Erie Tributaries Nate Irwin PA DEP- Office of the Great Lakes 18 April 2016

Waters of the Commonwealth • All waterbodies: lakes, streams, rivers, springs, wetlands… • Water body assessments are a requirement of the federal Clean Water Act • Pennsylvania has established protected uses: – Aquatic Life – Water Supply – Recreation / Fish Consumption

Lake Erie Tributary Streams • Lake Erie tributaries are scheduled to be assessed again in 2016 for both aquatic life and recreation (based on E. coli bacteria, see Ch. 93) • • Last assessment was 2004 (mostly Doug Ebert w/ ECDH) Most impairments are in urbanized streams. Impairments are caused by stormwater and siltation. Results get reported to EPA

Stream Assessments • What are Stream Assessments? – A grading of the health of the stream – Instream Comprehensive Evaluation (ICE) • Physical • Chemical • Biological

Physical • Habitat evaluation of the site – Is there a diversity of habitat types that will benefit a diversity of species? • Is the diversity of organisms limited by the “number of homes in the neighborhood”?

Chemical • Field chemistry via water quality meter • A total of 8 grab samples will be collected per site – 29 tests will be performed at the lab • One time check of water purity

Biological • An assessment of the organisms that call the waterbody home. – May include macroinvertebrates (bottom dwelling “bugs”), fish, algae, plants, and/or bacteria. – Priority is given to macroinvertebrates Dep. wv. gov

Why Macroinvertebrates • • • Easy to catch/collect Good indicators or water quality Well studied – • • Individual pollution tolerance values Quick to rebound “Easy” to identify

What’s done with Macro’s • • • A total of 6 samples will be collected and combined at each site via d-net. Samples sent to Harrisburg for identification Standard biological metrics will be carried on the data – Ultimate goal is to determine whether sites are “attaining” or “non-attaining” of their protected aquatic life use.

Recreational Assessment • Recreational Use assessments being led by Central Office – Planning is still underway – Based on E. coli samples – Timeframe is June-Sept. – Each site will be sampled on 5 consecutive samples within a 30 day period. • Hundreds of samples will be collected.

Contact: Nate Irwin Office of the Great Lakes nirwin@pa. gov