acid rain monitoring project brochure 2010
TRANSCRIPT
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH CENTER
Dr. Paula ReesDirector
Marie-Françoise HatteAssociate Director
Jerry SchoenMass. Water Watch Partnership Director
Beckie FinnWater Projects Coordinator
VOLUNTEER LABORATORIES
There were 12 volunteer labs across the state in charge of pH and ANC analyses. Many Thanks to:
• Ipswich Water Treatment Dept., Ipswich• UMass Boston Environmental Studies Program• Greenfield High School, Greenfield• MWRA Quabbin Lab, Belchertown• Cushing Academy, Ashburnham• Cape Cod National Seashore, South Wellfleet• Bristol Community College, Fall River• Analytical Balance Labs, Carver• Biology Dept. Wilson Hall WSC, Westfield• City of Worcester Water Lab, Holden• Pepperell Waste Water Treatment Plant, Pepperell• UMass Environmental Analysis Lab, Amherst
VOLUNTEERS
We thank our truly dedicated, wonderful Volunteers!
We can’t do it without you!Over 90 dedicated volunteers collect water samples for the Acid Rain Monitoring Project. If you would like to help, please contact us!
Volunteer Nancy Swartwout with Sherrie Sunter of the MWRA Quabbin Laboratory
A STATEWIDE CITIZEN-BASED VOLUNTEER MONITORING PROJECT OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH CENTER (WRRC)
FUNDED BY THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, BUREAU OF WASTE PREVENTION
Blaisdell HouseUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003-9280413.545.2842
413.545.2304 (Fax)http://www.umass.edu/tei/wrrc
ACID RAIN
MONITORING
PROJECT
This publication was supported by Grant/Cooperative Agreement Number 06HQGR0091 from the United States Geological Survey. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not neces-sarily represent the o!cial views of the USGS September 2010
BACKGROUND
The Acid Rain Monitoring Project began at the University of Massachusetts Water Resources Re-search Center in 1983. The project's mission was initially to develop a comprehensive picture of the sensitivity of Massachusetts surface waters to acid deposition, and later evolved to determine long-term trends in this sensitivity.
• From 1983-1993, ARM surveyed 83% of all named water bodies in Massachusetts.
• After an eight-year hiatus, the project resumed in April 2001. Volunteers currently sample pH and alkalinity (ANC) for 150 lakes, ponds, and streams across the Commonwealth.
• 26 long-term sites are analyzed further for major anions, cations, and color. These 26 sites are revis-ited as priority sites because his-torically they were acidified, very low in alkalinity, or demonstrated a significant trend for acidification.
Results for the initial phases of the project showed:
" 6% of lakes and streams in Massachusetts were acidified (pH < 5.0 and ANC < 0 ppm)
" 57% were su!ciently low in acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) to be considered threatened by acid deposition (0<ANC<10 ppm)
" 37% were not threatened (ANC > 10 ppm)" Lakes were slightly more sensitive than
streams" Geographically, higher ANC was typical of
extreme western parts of the state and lower ANC was typical of the north-central and southeastern portions.
RESULTS OF ANALYSES, 1983-PRESENT
" While most sites show no significant change in pH or ANC over time, more sites have seen an acidity decrease than an increase since pas-sage of the Clean Air Act in 1990 (pH and ANC are higher now).
" In 1988, of the 150 sites sampled, 124 sites were categorized Sensitive or worse, with 19 sites listed as Acidified. By 2010, 10 of those 19 sites are no longer Acidified, showing a marked improvement in the last 20 years.
" For the 26 long-term sites, most cations show no significant change except sodium and chloride have noticeably increased -- very likely from road salting practices in the North-east.
" Also, sulfate shows a strong decrease for over 2/3 of the sites, a clear consequence of the Clean Air Act. Nitrate does not show the same trend, because the increase in emissions from#vehicles#is greater than the decrease in emissions from industry.
" More details can be found in our full report at URL: http://www.umass.edu/tei/wrrc/arm
SEARCHABLE DATABASE
The ARM database project has made the full ARM database (more than 40,000 records cover-ing >20 years) of water chemistry available to search and download by all web users.
http://www.umass.edu/tei/wrrc/arm
LAKE & STREAM SENSITIVITY EXPLAINED
How aquatic environments respond to acid depo-sition depends on their sensitivity to acids and the quantity of acids received. The soils, bedrock, and vegetation of watersheds largely determine the capacity of aquatic resources to neutralize acid
deposition, but other factors play an impor-tant role. ANC can have its full e$ect only when the in-coming precipi-tation has su!-cient contact time with the neutralizing material. Areas with steep slopes, shallow soils or frozen ground tend to minimize con-tact time, re-sulting in in-complete neu-
tralization of wa-ter entering lakes
and streams. Additional neutralization is provided by the plants and animals in the ecosystem.
With lower pH (higher acidity), levels of toxic met-als leached from the watershed increase, aquatic growth is reduced, and sensitive species ranging from fish to algae disappear. If this occurs in a drinking water supply, metals will dissolve from distribution pipes resulting in high levels of iron, copper, lead and other metals.
Beaver Brook, Ware, MA
Lake Wyola, Shutesbury, MA