Water Quality Condition Assessment of Streams in National Parks of the Mid-Atlantic USA Integrating Physical, Chemical, and Biological Datasets
Open Access
- Author:
- Webber, James Steven
- Graduate Program:
- Forest Resources
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 01, 2012
- Committee Members:
- Elizabeth Weeks Boyer, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
- Keywords:
- National Park Service
water quality
headwater streams
index of biotic integrity
classification
ecology
watershed - Abstract:
- The goal of this study was to comprehensively characterize water quality in 53 headwater stream reaches throughout nine National Park units of the Mid-Atlantic USA and to assess their current condition. Chemical water quality parameters (e.g., major cations and anions, nutrients, organics, trace metals, and water isotopes) and streamflow were measured in the 53 focal reaches six times during varying seasonal baseflow conditions from 2010 to 2011. Stream condition was evaluated by comparing the measured water quality values to existing federal and state water quality standards (in the context of the designated uses for each stream reach). The majority of the 53 reaches met all water quality criteria standards. Further, inventories of historical data from 511 headwater streams in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands Region were used to put the water quality of the park stream reaches into a regional context. Here, stream condition was classified on the basis of the chemical water quality monitoring data by applying criteria to identify high quality (reference) versus low quality (impaired) streams and to consider the causes of degradation. Similarly, the National Park Service classified condition of these stream reaches on the basis of ecological monitoring data. This study showed that the macroinvertebrate biotic integrity index accurately predicted stream condition as evidenced by the chemical water quality data of these 53 reaches. Information regarding the chemical, biological, and physical character of these streams provides a contemporary baseline against which future changes can be compared. This work contributes toward an initiative of the National Park Service aimed at systematically assessing the status and trends of natural resources in their managed lands.