The use of agricultural herbicides in the United States increased 280% between 1966 and 1981; ins... more The use of agricultural herbicides in the United States increased 280% between 1966 and 1981; insecticide use also increased, but only by a few per cent 1. Since 1981, pesticide use has fluctuated with crop acreage, and shows no clear increasing or decreasing trend 2. ...
Loading rates of the herbicides atrazine, alachlor, cyanazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin to wes... more Loading rates of the herbicides atrazine, alachlor, cyanazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin to western and central Lake Erie for the period 1983-1993 were determined for the Raisin, Maumee, Sandusky, Cuyahoga, and Grand River tributaries. Knowledge of these loads is important as input: (1) to the development and refinement of the Lakewide Management Plans (LAMPs); (2) to understand the dynamics of these herbicides in the Great Lakes for the prediction of their effects on human and ecosystem health; and (3) for the comparative assessment of agricultural pollution and its management on a regional and national scale. Loads were calculated using a new implementation of the Beale Ratio Estimator. Variability in annual loads is substantial, and is linked to year-to-year differences in rainfall and river discharge, particularly during the several months following herbicide application. The highest loads were observed in 1990, and the lowest loads in the drought year of 1988; the highest annual loads exceeded the lowest by as much as 60-fold. The Sandusky and Maumee rivers have substantially higher unit area loads than the other tributaries, reflecting the extent of row crop agriculture in these basins and their propensity toward surface runoff ofprecipitation because offine-grained soils. For the Maumee and Sandusky rivers, atrazine and metolachlor loads are typically in the range 2-5 glhalyr, and infrequently reach 9-12 g/halyr. Alachlor loads are typically in the range 1-2 g/ha/yr and have not exceeded 4 glhalyr during the period of record. Cyanazine and metribuzin loads are typically less than 1.5 glhalyr, and rarely exceed 2 g/ha/yr. Loads in the Cuyahoga and Raisin rivers are typically less than 1 glhalyr., with atrizine the highest, typically about 1 g/halyr and rarely reaching 3 glha/yr. Herbicides are infrequently detected in the Grand River, and loads are low and estimated with considerable uncertainty. Total loads for the five stations combined range from 500-20,000 kg/yr and 600-14,000 kg/yr for atrazine and metolachlor to 100-6,000 kg/yr for alachlor, 70-3,300 kg/yr for cyanazine, and 60-2,800 kg/yr for metribuzin.
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1988
The effects of atrazine and a combination of alachlor, atrazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin on t... more The effects of atrazine and a combination of alachlor, atrazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin on the productivity and nutrient uptake rates of native stream Aufwuchs communities were investigated in two separate artificial stream experiments. After an 8-day colonization period, the first experiment employed constant doses of atrazine at 0 jxg/L (control), 24 ~xg/L and 134 Ixg/L. The second experiment employed a pulsed dose having maximum concentrations of 35 Ixg/L alachlor, 109 jxg/L atrazine, 90 Fxg/L metolachlor, and 21 ~g/L metribuzin. Each 20-day experiment was run at both 10~ and 25~
Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2004
The term flashiness reflects the frequency and rapidity of short term changes in streamflow, espe... more The term flashiness reflects the frequency and rapidity of short term changes in streamflow, especially during runoff events. Flashiness is an important component of a stream's hydrologic regime. A variety of land use and land management changes may lead to increased or decreased flashiness, often to the detriment of aquatic life. This paper presents a newly developed flashiness index, which is based on mean daily flows. The index is calculated by dividing the pathlength of flow oscillations for a time interval (i.e., the sum of the absolute values of day-to-day changes in mean daily flow) by total discharge during that time interval. This index has low interannual variability, relative to most flow regime indicators, and thus greater power to detect trends. Index values were calculated for 515 Midwestern streams for the 27-year period from 1975 through 2001. Statistically significant increases were present in 22 percent of the streams, primarily in the eastern portion of the study area, while decreases were present in 9 percent, primarily in the western portion. Index values tend to decrease with increasing watershed area and with increasing unit area ground water inputs. Area compensated index values often shift at ecoregion boundaries. Potential index applications include evaluation of programs to restore more natural flow regimes. (KEY TERMS: stream flashiness; flashiness index; Indicators of Hydrological Alteration; surface water hydrology; watershed management; stormwater management; agricultural hydrology.)
Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2001
A computerized technique was developed to identify storm runoff episodes and calculate storm disc... more A computerized technique was developed to identify storm runoff episodes and calculate storm discharges, storm loads, and storm average concentrations for each event in datasets with up to 10,000 records. This technique was applied to four watersheds within the Lake Erie drainage basin and identified between 160 and 250 runoff events in each. Storm event loads and storm event mean concentrations were calculated for each runoff event for suspended solids, total phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate, and total Kjeldahl nitrogen. The basic characteristics of the resulting data are described, as are systematic differences as a function of watershed size, seasonal differences, and trends over time. Many of the results of this study reflect the importance of nonpoint processes and improvements in agricultural best management practices in these watersheds.
The Buffalo District, Corps of Engineers' Lake Erie Wastewater Management Study and Heidelberg Co... more The Buffalo District, Corps of Engineers' Lake Erie Wastewater Management Study and Heidelberg College's Water Quality Laboratory supported a tributary water quality monitoring program from 1974 to 1980 of the major United States tributaries to Lake Erie. This program was designed to measure nutrient loads by monitoring concentration changes occurring in association with increased streamflow. Soluble orthophosphate loads, chloride loads, and silica loads decreased from 1970 to 1980. Nitrogen species were highly variable and increased over the period. Total phosphorus loads to Lake Erie have decreased during the period as a result ofphosphorus removal at wastewater treatment plants. The effect of the phosphorus reductions can be seen in the lake concentrations and were predicted by a three-basin phosphorus budget model developed in the early 1970s. The results show that phosphorus removal programs are having the predicted effect on Lake Erie water quality. ADDIITONAL INDEX WORDS: Phosphorus, nutrients, eutrophication, water sampling, mathematical models.
Sediment is an important pollutant for Lake Erie and its tributaries as a carrier of other substa... more Sediment is an important pollutant for Lake Erie and its tributaries as a carrier of other substances and as a pollutant in its own right. Environmental managers have called for major reductions in sediment loadings in Lake Erie tributaries. In this study, 30-yr (1975-2005) datasets with daily resolution are analyzed to identify and interpret trends in sediment concentrations and loads in major US tributaries to Lake Erie. The Maumee and Sandusky Rivers in agricultural northwest Ohio show continual decreases throughout this period, but the River Raisin shows increases, especially in the last decade. The urban and forested Cuyahoga River shows little trend before 2000 but shows increases since then. The mostly forested Grand River shows strong decreases before 1995, little change thereafter until the early 2000s, and then increases. In most cases, the greatest decreases or smallest increases, depending on the river, are associated with summer and fall and with low flow conditions, whereas the smallest decreases or greatest increases are associated with the spring and with high flow conditions. Analysis of concentration-flow relationships indicates that these changes are not due to weather but reflect positive and negative anthropogenic influences. Sediment decreases in the northwestern Ohio tributaries seem to reflect the successful use of agricultural practices to reduce erosion and prevent sediment loss. Opportunities for further reductions in sediment loads and concentrations lie in better management of sediment losses during winter and spring.
Abstract The Heidelberg College Cooperative Private Well Testing Program is designed to evaluate ... more Abstract The Heidelberg College Cooperative Private Well Testing Program is designed to evaluate water quality in private rural wells. The program inexpensively provides large datasets that reflect relationships between well contamination and associated factors, and ...
The use of agricultural herbicides in the United States increased 280% between 1966 and 1981; ins... more The use of agricultural herbicides in the United States increased 280% between 1966 and 1981; insecticide use also increased, but only by a few per cent 1. Since 1981, pesticide use has fluctuated with crop acreage, and shows no clear increasing or decreasing trend 2. ...
Loading rates of the herbicides atrazine, alachlor, cyanazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin to wes... more Loading rates of the herbicides atrazine, alachlor, cyanazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin to western and central Lake Erie for the period 1983-1993 were determined for the Raisin, Maumee, Sandusky, Cuyahoga, and Grand River tributaries. Knowledge of these loads is important as input: (1) to the development and refinement of the Lakewide Management Plans (LAMPs); (2) to understand the dynamics of these herbicides in the Great Lakes for the prediction of their effects on human and ecosystem health; and (3) for the comparative assessment of agricultural pollution and its management on a regional and national scale. Loads were calculated using a new implementation of the Beale Ratio Estimator. Variability in annual loads is substantial, and is linked to year-to-year differences in rainfall and river discharge, particularly during the several months following herbicide application. The highest loads were observed in 1990, and the lowest loads in the drought year of 1988; the highest annual loads exceeded the lowest by as much as 60-fold. The Sandusky and Maumee rivers have substantially higher unit area loads than the other tributaries, reflecting the extent of row crop agriculture in these basins and their propensity toward surface runoff ofprecipitation because offine-grained soils. For the Maumee and Sandusky rivers, atrazine and metolachlor loads are typically in the range 2-5 glhalyr, and infrequently reach 9-12 g/halyr. Alachlor loads are typically in the range 1-2 g/ha/yr and have not exceeded 4 glhalyr during the period of record. Cyanazine and metribuzin loads are typically less than 1.5 glhalyr, and rarely exceed 2 g/ha/yr. Loads in the Cuyahoga and Raisin rivers are typically less than 1 glhalyr., with atrizine the highest, typically about 1 g/halyr and rarely reaching 3 glha/yr. Herbicides are infrequently detected in the Grand River, and loads are low and estimated with considerable uncertainty. Total loads for the five stations combined range from 500-20,000 kg/yr and 600-14,000 kg/yr for atrazine and metolachlor to 100-6,000 kg/yr for alachlor, 70-3,300 kg/yr for cyanazine, and 60-2,800 kg/yr for metribuzin.
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1988
The effects of atrazine and a combination of alachlor, atrazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin on t... more The effects of atrazine and a combination of alachlor, atrazine, metolachlor, and metribuzin on the productivity and nutrient uptake rates of native stream Aufwuchs communities were investigated in two separate artificial stream experiments. After an 8-day colonization period, the first experiment employed constant doses of atrazine at 0 jxg/L (control), 24 ~xg/L and 134 Ixg/L. The second experiment employed a pulsed dose having maximum concentrations of 35 Ixg/L alachlor, 109 jxg/L atrazine, 90 Fxg/L metolachlor, and 21 ~g/L metribuzin. Each 20-day experiment was run at both 10~ and 25~
Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2004
The term flashiness reflects the frequency and rapidity of short term changes in streamflow, espe... more The term flashiness reflects the frequency and rapidity of short term changes in streamflow, especially during runoff events. Flashiness is an important component of a stream's hydrologic regime. A variety of land use and land management changes may lead to increased or decreased flashiness, often to the detriment of aquatic life. This paper presents a newly developed flashiness index, which is based on mean daily flows. The index is calculated by dividing the pathlength of flow oscillations for a time interval (i.e., the sum of the absolute values of day-to-day changes in mean daily flow) by total discharge during that time interval. This index has low interannual variability, relative to most flow regime indicators, and thus greater power to detect trends. Index values were calculated for 515 Midwestern streams for the 27-year period from 1975 through 2001. Statistically significant increases were present in 22 percent of the streams, primarily in the eastern portion of the study area, while decreases were present in 9 percent, primarily in the western portion. Index values tend to decrease with increasing watershed area and with increasing unit area ground water inputs. Area compensated index values often shift at ecoregion boundaries. Potential index applications include evaluation of programs to restore more natural flow regimes. (KEY TERMS: stream flashiness; flashiness index; Indicators of Hydrological Alteration; surface water hydrology; watershed management; stormwater management; agricultural hydrology.)
Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2001
A computerized technique was developed to identify storm runoff episodes and calculate storm disc... more A computerized technique was developed to identify storm runoff episodes and calculate storm discharges, storm loads, and storm average concentrations for each event in datasets with up to 10,000 records. This technique was applied to four watersheds within the Lake Erie drainage basin and identified between 160 and 250 runoff events in each. Storm event loads and storm event mean concentrations were calculated for each runoff event for suspended solids, total phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate, and total Kjeldahl nitrogen. The basic characteristics of the resulting data are described, as are systematic differences as a function of watershed size, seasonal differences, and trends over time. Many of the results of this study reflect the importance of nonpoint processes and improvements in agricultural best management practices in these watersheds.
The Buffalo District, Corps of Engineers' Lake Erie Wastewater Management Study and Heidelberg Co... more The Buffalo District, Corps of Engineers' Lake Erie Wastewater Management Study and Heidelberg College's Water Quality Laboratory supported a tributary water quality monitoring program from 1974 to 1980 of the major United States tributaries to Lake Erie. This program was designed to measure nutrient loads by monitoring concentration changes occurring in association with increased streamflow. Soluble orthophosphate loads, chloride loads, and silica loads decreased from 1970 to 1980. Nitrogen species were highly variable and increased over the period. Total phosphorus loads to Lake Erie have decreased during the period as a result ofphosphorus removal at wastewater treatment plants. The effect of the phosphorus reductions can be seen in the lake concentrations and were predicted by a three-basin phosphorus budget model developed in the early 1970s. The results show that phosphorus removal programs are having the predicted effect on Lake Erie water quality. ADDIITONAL INDEX WORDS: Phosphorus, nutrients, eutrophication, water sampling, mathematical models.
Sediment is an important pollutant for Lake Erie and its tributaries as a carrier of other substa... more Sediment is an important pollutant for Lake Erie and its tributaries as a carrier of other substances and as a pollutant in its own right. Environmental managers have called for major reductions in sediment loadings in Lake Erie tributaries. In this study, 30-yr (1975-2005) datasets with daily resolution are analyzed to identify and interpret trends in sediment concentrations and loads in major US tributaries to Lake Erie. The Maumee and Sandusky Rivers in agricultural northwest Ohio show continual decreases throughout this period, but the River Raisin shows increases, especially in the last decade. The urban and forested Cuyahoga River shows little trend before 2000 but shows increases since then. The mostly forested Grand River shows strong decreases before 1995, little change thereafter until the early 2000s, and then increases. In most cases, the greatest decreases or smallest increases, depending on the river, are associated with summer and fall and with low flow conditions, whereas the smallest decreases or greatest increases are associated with the spring and with high flow conditions. Analysis of concentration-flow relationships indicates that these changes are not due to weather but reflect positive and negative anthropogenic influences. Sediment decreases in the northwestern Ohio tributaries seem to reflect the successful use of agricultural practices to reduce erosion and prevent sediment loss. Opportunities for further reductions in sediment loads and concentrations lie in better management of sediment losses during winter and spring.
Abstract The Heidelberg College Cooperative Private Well Testing Program is designed to evaluate ... more Abstract The Heidelberg College Cooperative Private Well Testing Program is designed to evaluate water quality in private rural wells. The program inexpensively provides large datasets that reflect relationships between well contamination and associated factors, and ...
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