NROE COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LABORATORY AND THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

MONROE

I COUNTYIJohn D. Doyle.

CO1mtY Bxeciltivescience for a changing world

Monitoring at Oatka Creek

Several related efforts are underway to obtaindata on the quantity and quality of Oatka Creek:

. Researchers from the University of Rochestet; inconjunction with the Rochester Area CommunityFoundation and the Monroe County EnvironmentalHealth Laboratory, have conducted a project tomeasure trace-metal concentrations along OatkaCreek during all seasons. The report of theirfindings is still in preparation; but preliminaryresults confirm the high quality of the wate!:

. The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), in conjunctionwith the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, ismonitoringflow near the headwaters ofOatkaCreek at Warsaw, New York in Tfj;oming County,and at Garbutt in Monroe County, 4.2 miles fromthe mouth, as part of the flow-regulation system forthe Mount Morris Dam on the Genesee RiveJ:

Long-term water-quality monitoring was begun in.1997 as part of a USGS/Monroe County

cooperative monitoring program. Automaticsampling equipment was installed at the USGSstreamflow-gaging station at Garbutt in 1997, andsamples are analyzedfor nutrients, common ions,and suspended solids. Data collected at this site arepublished in an annual USGS data report forwestern New York and are also available on theUSGS website (http://ny.usgs.gov).

Oatka Creek Facts

Funding received from the Finger Lakes-LakeOntario Watershed Protection Alliance has enabledofficials from all municipalities in the Oatka Creekwatershed to develop a watershed-management plan.Through their efforts, historical and current resourceinformation from a variety of sources has beenassembled, and a contractor has been hired to prepare astate-of-the-basin report that would serve as thefirst chapter of the watershed-management plan. Apreliminary draft of this document was distributedat a second "Caring for Creeks" conference in thespring of2000. The Oatka Creek committee haspublished and distributed a newsletter, isdeveloping a website, has participated in local andregional water-quality management events, and isactively involved in developing long-term fundingsources to continue its work.

Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC): -04130003

Stream Length: 58 miles

Drainage area: 215 square miles

Land Use: Primarily agriculture, forest, some

small urban areas

Water Uses: Recreational boating; fishing; potable water

source for Warsaw and LeRoy; inigation,

industrial and POTW discharges

B(1) {Primary Contact Recreation, Trout],

C(1) {Secondary Contact Recreation, Trout],

C {Secondary Contact Recreation, non Trout]

NYSDEC Classification(s):

demonstrated the effectiveness of "created wetlands"(streamflow-detention basins that were designed to allowthe growth of wetland plants). In 1993, Momoe Countyreceived a grant to assist municipalities in the conversionofstreamflow-detention basins to "created wetlands."During the first 6 years, 15 "created wetlands" werecompleted. Preliminary data indicate that a "createdwetland" will remove an average of33 percent of the totalphosphorus and 16 percent of orthophosphorus in detainedstormwater (Gary Brown, MCEHL, written comrnun.,

2001).

Substantial amounts of contaminants fromcommercial and residential developments withinMonroe County are carried to nearby surface-waterbodies by stormwater that falls on impervious surfacessuch as roads, driveways, and parking lots and quicklyenters streams via storm sewers and direct runoff duringstormflow. Among these contaminants are oil, solvents,and fertilizers. Stormflow-detention basins wereinstalled during the mid-1960's in Monroe County tocontrol stormflows as great as those that result from 25-year storms. The detention basins (which generally aredry except during storms and snowmelt periods) receiveand detain stormwater, then gradually release itdownstream. Although the basins minimizedownstream flooding, they provide little water-quality

improvement.

Integrating wetland plants into the design oftlood-detention basins can improve stormwater quality.In the late 1980's, the USGS and the Monroe CountyEnvironmental Health Laboratory (MCEHL )

In recent years, the New York State Department ofEnvironmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has raisedconcern as to whether the discharge from "createdwetlands" and stormflow-detention facilities results intemperature increases that can be detrimental to troutpopulations in receiving streams. The temperature ofwater detained within a "created wetland" typicallyincreases during the summer (June -September) throughsolar warming; also water entering the wetland is often

warmer than that in the recieving streams becauseit has been in contact with heated impervioussurfaces. The NYSDEC threshold levels for thermaldischarges to trout waters are as follows:

. 1. No discharge at a temperature over 70° F tostreams classified for trout shall be permitted atany time.

. 2. From June through Septembel; no dischargeshall be permitted that will raise thetemperature of the stream more than 2° F overthat which existed before the addition of heat of

artificialorigin (NYSDEC 1991)1.

The thennal effects of discharges from "createdwetlands" and nonvegetated detention basins requireevaluation and comparison to define the effects ofstonnwater-detention basins on receiving-stream

temperature.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 1991,Water Quality Regulations for Surface Waters andGroundwaters, 6NYCRR Parts 700- 705: Albany, NY,

In 1999, representatives from the NYSDEC, theUSGS, the Monroe County Soil and Water ConservationDistrict, and the Monroe County Health Departmentdeveloped a plan to monitor the thermal effects ofdischarge from stormwater basins. Five sites dischargingto trout streams or their tributaries in the IrondequoitCreek basin were chosen (see map below). Together thesites represent all of the common basin types such as drybasins, shallow ponds with wetland plants, and deepponds with wetland plants.

from the MCEHL rain gage in Ellison Park, within theTown of Penfield. The rain gage and all basins beingstudied are within eight-miles of each other.

Monitoring with HOBO temperature probes(range 4 to 158° F; accuracy:!:: 1° F) was completed in1999 and 2000. These compact canister-type probes,which were programmed to record temperature in 10-minute increments (1999) and 15-minute increments(2000), were placed in the inlets and outlets of the basinsand in the receiving tributary above and below thedischarge. Temperatures were recorded from June 4through September 30 in 1999 and from June 1 toSeptember\ 30 in 2000. Rainfall data were obtained

Much progress has been made in evaluating thethermal effects of the basins, but the data are inconclusiveat this time. Several factors, which include the receivingtributary's size, the degree of wetland-plant maturity inthe basin, and the detention time of stormwater within thebasins complicate the interpretation. Agencyrepresentatives plan to review the current data and designthe monitoring plan for 2001. The Monroe CountyDevelopment Review Committee is recommendingshallow ponds with wetlands as the design of choice fordetention basins in new yesidential and commercialdevelopments. Constructing basins to optimize sedimentand contaminant removal by maximizing the detentiontime will help to preserve the quality of Monroe County'sstreams, rivers, bays, and lakes.

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EXPLANATION RUS

.6. Detention basin monitored

for temperature .

.MCEHL precipitation monitoringstation at Ellison Park

--Irondequoit Creek watershed

Base from U.S. Geolgical Survey, digital data, 1;100,000,1983

Locations of detention basins monitored for temperature.

, /CHILI