USGS/TCEQ Cyanobacteria/Cyanotoxin Program

Presented to

Texas Commission on Environmental QualitySurface Water Quality Monitoring Meeting

Christopher Churchill, Ph.D.

U.S. Geological SurveyNorth Texas Program Office, Fort Worth

November 7, 2017

Presentation outline• Objectives• Study design• Methods• Salient results• Deliverables• FY 18-19 study

Acknowledgements• Funding Cooperator

– Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

• Partners– Texas Parks and Wildlife Department– U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Objectives• Detect and quantify

– Cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins– Taste-and-odor compounds (TAOCs)– Chlorophyll-a and pheophytin-a– Cations/anions, nutrients, TDS, and TOC

• Determine phytoplankton taxonomy• Methods assessment/comparison

– Determine most accurate, cost-effective methods– Future study design

Study design FY 16-17• Phase 1

– QAPP• Phase 2

– Equipment preparation• Phase 3

– Field work (August 29, 2016 – October 12, 2016)• Eighteen reservoirs• Four QC samples

• Phase 4– Data management and reporting

Methods• Cyanobacteria and other phytoplankton

– Taxonomy– Biomass/Biovolume– Concentrations

• Cyanotoxins– Dipstick kits– Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)– Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

(LC/MS/MS)• TAOCs

– Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS)

Methods (cont.)• Basic field water chemistry

– Temp, DO, pH, SC, turbidity, irradiance, chlorophyll, and phycocyanin

• Water transparency• Meteorology

– Air temperature– Barometric pressure– Wind speed and direction

Methods (cont.)• Lab water chemistry

– Major ions, DOC, TDS, nutrients, and TOC

• Biotic chemistry (photopigments)– Chlorophyll-a– Pheophytin-a

• Number of water-quality constituents– Field and water chemistry: 60– Cyanotoxins and TAOCs: 41

Study reservoirs

Salient results• Green algae and cyanobacteria detected in all

sampled reservoirs– Green algae: 41 different genera– Cyanobacteria: 27 different species

• Microcystis aeruginosa– NRCS Upper Bosque River site, Benbrook Lake, and Fort

Phantom Hill Reservoir• Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii

– Detected in 13 reservoirs• Golden algae detected in 14 reservoirs• TAOCs detected in most reservoirs

Preliminary results, subject to revision

Texoma – 8/30/2016Phytoplankton data summary

Preliminary results, subject to revision

Green algae

Golden algae

Cyanobacteria

CyanobacteriaGreen algae

Percent of sample

Lake O’ the Pines – 09/28/2016 Phytoplankton data summary

Green algae

Cyanobacteria

Golden algae

Euglenophyta Dino-flagellates

Preliminary results, subject to revision

DiatomsGreen algae

Cyanobacteria

Diatoms

Percent of sample

Palestine – 10/03/2016Phytoplankton data summary

Preliminary results, subject to revision

Green algae

Golden algae

Cyanobacteria EuglenophytaCryptophyta

CyanobacteriaGreen algae

Percent of sample

Grapevine – 10/05/2016Phytoplankton data summary

Preliminary results, subject to revision

Diatoms Green algae

Cyanobacteria Euglenophyta DinoflagellatesCryptophyta

CyanobacteriaGreen algae

Percent of sample

Kemp – 09/14/2016Phytoplankton data summary

CyanobacteriaGreen algae

Diatoms Green algae

Cyanobacteria Haptophyta Dino-flagellates

CryptophytaGolden algae

Preliminary results, subject to revisionPercent of sample

NRCS Upper Bosque River Site – 09/07/2016Phytoplankton data summary

Cyanobacteria

Green algae

Cyanobacteria

Preliminary results, subject to revision

Golden algae

Percent of sample

TAOCs and photopigmentsTaste-and-odor compounds

(ng/L)Photopigments

(mg/L)Reservoir Date MIB Geosmin Chlorophyll-a Pheophytin-a

Texoma 8/30/2016 12.3 <1.0 0.023 <0.003

Upper Bosque 9/7/2016 6.7 20.3 0.046 0.006

Arrowhead 9/14/2016 153.4 16.9 0.017 0.007

Kemp 9/14/2016 <1.0 1.7 0.012 <0.003

Lake O' the Pines 9/28/2016 10.1 24.3 0.038 0.007

Palestine 10/3/2016 13.0 11.1 0.049 0.006

Benbrook 10/5/2016 4.1 69.5 0.040 <0.003

Grapevine 10/5/2016 4.0 2.4 0.008 0.021

Preliminary results, subject to revision

Salient results (cont.)• Microcystins detected in four reservoirs

– Max 23 µg/L Upper Bosque River site

• Cylindrospermopsin detected in two reservoirs– Max 0.84 µg/L Lake Kemp

• Saxitoxin detected in one reservoir– Max 0.03 µg/L Lake Kemp

• Nodularin present in Upper Bosque River site

Preliminary results, subject to revision

Deliverables• Data set

– All data other than taxonomy

• Data Release through ScienceBase– Taxonomy data

• Phytoplankton Data for 18 Texas Reservoirs, August through October, 2016. US Geological Survey data release

• https://doi.org/10.5066/F7J965BH

• Summary Report– Project overview and summary of findings

Study design FY 18-19• Phase 1

– QAPP• Phase 2

– Methods assessment/comparison• Phase 3

– Field work• Deliverables planned for FY 18

– Summary Report: Methods comparison FY 16-17 study• Deliverables planned for FY 19

– Data set and Summary Report: FY 18-19 study

Christopher Churchill, Ph.D. cchurchi@usgs.gov 817-319-7290

Questions?

Negative dipstick kit test result for anatoxin-asamples collected at NRCS Upper Bosque River Site No. 4 near Stephenville, TX on 9/7/2016

Positive dipstick kit test result for microcystin (> 10 µg/L) for samples collected at NRCS

Upper Bosque River Site No. 4 near Stephenville, TX on 9/7/2016

Harmful algal bloom (Microcystis) at NRCS Upper Bosque River Site No. 4 near Stephenville, TX on 9/7/2016

Visible Microcystis colonies in a surface-water grab sample collected at NRCS Upper Bosque

River Site No. 4 near Stephenville, TX on 9/7/2016