ACHMM - North Star Chapter

CHMMunity Outreach Projects at

Voyageurs National Park

2003 Expedition

2004 Rainy Lake Expedition

2005 Namakan Reservoir Expedition (Plus)

to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects

and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same

in such manner and by such meansas will leave them unimpaired

for the enjoyment of future generations. (16 USC 1)

and waterway system which

constituted a part of the historic route of

the voyageurs...

CHMMunity Outreach 2003

Elements of 2003 Expedition

Water Quality Analysis• Chlorophyll a• Total Phosphorus• Total Dissolved Solids• Phytoplankton species identification• Temperature• Dissolved Oxygen• pH• Specific Conductivity• Secchi Depth

Monitor Invasion of Exotic Species Rusty Crayfish Zebra Mussels Spiny Water Flea

Mercury Concentration in Crayfish

Dump Sites Investigation

Open Mine Shaft Survey

Lab Safety Plan

Native Crayfish

vs Rusty Crayfish

Mercury fluke analyses

2004 Rainy Lake Expedition

Partners and Volunteers• Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Managers – North Star Chapter

• Rainy River Community College

• Rainy Lake Conservancy

• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

• Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

•Ontario Ministry of the Environment

• United States Geological Survey

• Voyageurs National Park

The Process

• Collect data • Collect and ship samples • Manage data

Form Technical Committee

Meet: 1. Choose objectives 2. Recruit partners 3. Organize partners 4. Schedule work

Develop Study Plan

Sampling Event(s)

Data Analysis

Publish Results Make Data Accessible Present Data – Thank Contributors

Objectives:

•Determine whether water quality characteristics vary spatially across distinct areas of Rainy Lake

•Assess representativeness of long term fixed monitoring sites

•Use Total Dissolved Solids to calculate the total available yield of sport fish

•Set a baseline of water quality and condition against which future change can be measured

• Chose sites randomly (using ArcGIS) but within several constraints: at least 3 m deep, not closer than 3 km apart, and including sites in all major portions of Rainy Lake

• Used equation from Neumann et al. 1995 (N = (CVx / CVx )2) to estimate number of samples necessary to obtain mean phosphorus concentration estimate with a 20% CV

• Included existing sites monitored by USGS, MPCA, and RRCC

Site Selection

Sampling Sites

Collected water sampleswith a 2 m integrated tube

Collected water quality data profiles with YSI and Hydrolab sondes

Measured Secchi depth and total depth

Methods

• Chlorophyll a• Total Phosphorus• Total Dissolved Solids• Phytoplankton species

identification• Temperature• Dissolved Oxygen• pH• Specific Conductivity• Secchi Depth

Parameters Measured

Summary Stats using SAS Version 8

Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (Ordination) using PC-ORD Version 3.04

Multi-Response Permutation Procedure (MRPP) to test for differences between groups using PC-ORD Version

3.04

Statistical Methods

Summary Statistics

June 2004

Parameter Units Mean St Dev CV

Total Dissolved Solids mg/L 57.8 7.2 12 Chlorophyll a g/L 5.1 1.7 33 Secchi Depth m 2.54 0.84 33 Temperature degrees C 14.16 1.07 X

pH standard

units 7.4 0.30 X Dissolved Oxygen mg/L 9.87 0.84 9 Specific Conductivity S/cm 49.9 14.0 28

July 2004

Total Dissolved Solids mg/L 61.3 11.0 18 Chlorophyll a g/L 2.4 2.1 85 (47) Total Phosphorus mg/L 0.017 0.007 40 Secchi Depth m 2.97 0.90 30 Temperature degrees C 20.81 1.11 X

pH standard

units 7.4 0.28 X Dissolved Oxygen mg/L 8.05 0.57 7 Specific Conductivity S/cm 53.1 13.8 26

1n11n2

1n3

1n4

1n5

1n61n8

1SW1

1SW21SW4

1SW6

1se1

1se3

1se4

1se51se61se7

1NW1

1NW21NW3

1NW4

1NW5

1NW6

1rb1

1rb2

1rb3

1rb4

1rrcc110

1rrcc1131rrcc114

1SWB1

1RIB1

1ST1

NMS Ordination June 2004

Axis 1

Axi

s 2

Groups123

1n11n2

1n3

1n4

1n5

1n61n8

1SW1

1SW21SW4

1SW6

1se1

1se3

1se4

1se51se61se7

1NW1

1NW21NW3

1NW4

1NW5

1NW6

1rb1

1rb2

1rb3

1rb4

1rrcc110

1rrcc1131rrcc114

1SWB1

1RIB1

1ST1

NMS Ordination June 2004

Axis 1

Axi

s 2

Groups123Characteristics of Zones

(Observational)

Black Bay

Sp Cond – High

Secchi – Low

Chl a – High (July)

Redgut/Swell Bay

Sp Cond – Low

Chl a – High (June)

TDS – Low (July)

South Arm

Moderate

North Arm

Sp Cond – Higher than South Arm

Secchi – Higher than South Arm (July)

Rare Phytoplankton Assemblage

Some sites had a phytoplankton assemblage that included multiple rare species

This may reflect the low silica concentrations and specific N:P ratios found in Rainy Lake

Zones Depth TDS Chlor TP Secchi Temp pH DO Sp CondNorth Arm 12 61 4.7 . 3.1 14.7 7.4 9.4 62South Arm 14 59 4.8 . 2.5 13.5 7.3 10.1 46Redgut / Swell Bay 11 45 7.4 . 1.5 15.5 7.3 9.4 25Black Bay 4 . . . 0.7 14.0 7.5 11.7 88

Zones Depth TDS Chlor TP Secchi Temp pH DO Sp CondNorth Arm 13 65 2.5 0.017 3.6 20.9 7.5 7.9 63South Arm 13 63 1.8 0.017 2.7 20.3 7.4 8.4 51Redgut / Swell Bay 15 44 2.3 0.015 2.5 21.3 6.9 6.9 27Black Bay 3 . 13.1 . 1.3 24.9 8.3 8.7 98

* Depth is similar between the zones (at our sites) with the exception of the shallow, productive Black Bay* Chlorophyll was much higher in Black Bay in July than it was in the other zones* Secchi disc showed some variation across zones with the lowest values found in Black Bay* Temperature increased from June to July * Specific conductivity showed a lot of variety across zones and was consistent from June to July. It was highest in Blac

June Means by Lake Zone

July Means by Lake Zone

Points to mention

Larry Kallemeyn, USGS

Charley Kubler, ACHMM

Nolan Baratono, MPCA

Jesse Anderson, MPCA

Wendy Graves, RRCC

Don Graves, RRCC

Chris Holbeck, VNP

Ryan Maki, VNP

Technical Committee

Cooperating Laboratories• Minnesota Department of Natural

Resources

• Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories, Inc.

• Severn Trent Laboratories

• Dr. Matthew Julius – St. Cloud State University

• TestAmerica Analytical Testing Corporation

• Legend Technical Services

• Bay West, Inc.

• Rainy River Community College

• EnChem, Inc.

Conclusions

• At the sampling resolution used, four zones differing in water quality characteristics were apparent in Rainy Lake

• Three zones had condition characteristics consistent with Mesotrophic status

• One zone (black bay) was Eutrophic

Usefulness of the DataT o t a l D i s s o l v e d S o l i d s u s e d i n M N D N R f i s h e r i e s e q u a t i o nt o h e l p p r e d i c t t h e p o t e n t i a l y i e l d o f f i s h f r o m e a c h l a k e

O n t a r i o M i n i s t r y o f t h e E n v i r o n m e n t w i l l u s e t h e d a t a a sp a r t o f i t s L a k e P a r t n e r s P r o g r a m

M P C A w i l l u s e t h e d a t a a s p a r t o f i t s C i t i z e n L a k eM o n i t o r i n g P r o g r a m

V O Y A a n d U S G S a r e a b l e t o u s e t h e d a t a t o a s s e s s t h ea p p r o p r i a t e n e s s o f p a s t l o n g - t e r m m o n i t o r i n g s i t e s

V O Y A a n d U S G S a r e u s i n g t h e s p a t i a l a n a l y s i s o f t h e d a t at o h e l p d e s i g n a f u t u r e l o n g - t e r m m o n i t o r i n g e f f o r t t h a tw i l l c o v e r a n d a d e q u a t e l y r e p r e s e n t a l l o f t h e d i s t i n c tm a j o r p o r t i o n s o f t h e l a k e s

V O Y A a n d U S G S w i l l u s e t h i s d a t a a s a b a s e l i n e t oc o m p a r e w i t h f u t u r e r e s u l t s a n d d e t e c t c h a n g e ( . . . p r o t e c ta n d p r o v i d e f o r f u t u r e g e n e r a t i o n s … )

V O Y A a n d U S G S a r e u s i n g t h e s p a t i a l a n a l y s i s o f t h e d a t at o b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d h o w t h e a q u a t i c s y s t e m v a r i e ss p a t i a l l y w i t h r e g a r d t o w a t e r q u a l i t y a n d p h y t o p l a n k t o ns p e c i e s a s s e m b l a g e

D r . M a t t J u l i u s o f S t . C l o u d S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y i s s t u d y i n g ar a r e p h y t o p l a n k t o n a s s e m b l a g e h e d e t e c t e d i n s o m e o ft h e s a m p l e s f r o m l a s t s u m m e r 's e f f o r t o n R a i n y L a k e .H e i s c u r r e n t l y a p p l y i n g f o r g r a n t m o n e y t o f u r t h e r s t u d yt h e s e p h y t o p l a n k t o n a s a p o r t i o n o f t h e T r e e o f L i f eI n i t i a t i v e .

to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects

and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same

in such manner and by such meansas will leave them unimpaired

for the enjoyment of future generations. (16 USC 1)

Trophic State IndexEutrophication is the process by which lakes are enrichedwith nutrients, increasing the production of rooted aquaticplants and algae. The extent to which this process hasoccurred is reflected in a lake's trophic classification orstate:

oligotrophic - nutrient poor and low productivity; hightransparency (deep secchi depth), low chlorophyll-a, lowphosphorus

mesotrophic - moderately productive; intermediate clarity,chlorophyll and phosphorus concentration

eutrophic - very productive and fertile; low clarity/shallowsecchi; high chlorophyll and phosphorus concentrations.

hypereutrophic - extremely productive with noxioussurface scums of algae

The spatial variation in the water quality of Rainy Lake and the Namakan Reservoir

The spatial variation in the phytoplankton assemblage of the above areas

Whether or not water quality parameter values change from month to month at the subset of sites that we will visit

Whether different labs give us similar results for total phosphorus

How well long-term sites represent a lake zone

Potential Papers

2005 Namakan Reservoir Expedition

• Chlorophyll a• Total Phosphorus• Total Dissolved Solids• Phytoplankton species

identification• Temperature• Dissolved Oxygen• pH• Specific Conductivity• Secchi Depth

Parameters to be Measured

Addition of high resolution TP

Long-term monitoring of water quality on Rainy Lake and the Namakan Reservoir

• USGS has monitored water quality on Rainy Lake and the Namakan Reservoir for over 20 years

• MPCA has had volunteers monitoring water quality of Rainy Lake in recent years (CLMP+)

• After the 2004 ACHMM effort on Rainy Lake, we chose sites to represent the zones differing in water quality and included a few additional sites of interest and are receiving help from the MPCA’s CLMP+ program

• The NPS Inventory and Monitoring Network is developing long-term water quality monitoring plans for Rainy and the Namakan Reservoir and will take the data from all of these programs into account in their design

Long-term monitoring sites for Rainy Lake and the Namakan Reservoir

Acknowledgements• Academy of Certified

Hazardous Materials Managers – North Star Chapter

• Rainy River Community College

• Rainy Lake Conservancy

• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

• Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (and its Citizen Lake Monitoring Program)

• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

• United States Geological Survey

• Severn Trent Laboratories

• Dr. Matthew Julius – St. Cloud State University

• TestAmerica Analytical Testing Corporation

• Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories, Inc.

• Bay West, Inc.

• Legend Technical Services

• EnChem, Inc.Reference

Neumann, R. M., C. S. Guy, and D. W. Willis. 1995. Precision and size structure of juvenile percichthyid samples collected with various gears from Lake Texoma. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 15:956-962.