2015 Monitoring Activities:
Summer Water Quality Conditions
Technical Committee Meeting
October 6-7, 2015
Agenda Item #5
2015 Sampling Sites
Summer 2015 Monthly Precipitation Relative to
Normal
May
June
August
July
September
Percent of Normal
Rainfal (2015)
%
%
%
%
%
0.00 - 50.00
50.01 - 100.00
100.01 - 200.00
200.01 - 300.00
300.01 - 530.00
Average Monthly Flow (Kcfs)
Observed
55
Long-Term
45
35
25
15
5
Average Monthly Flow (Kcfs)
May
June
July
Cincinnati (ORM 471)
Aug
165
Sept
Observed
Long-Term
125
85
45
5
May
Average Monthly Flow (Kcfs)
Average Monthly Streamflow
May – September 2015
Pittsburgh (ORM 13)
260
June
July
Evansville (ORM 791)
Aug
Sept
Observed
220
Long-Term
180
140
100
60
20
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Bimonthly Sampling
Bimonthly Sampling 2015 vs Previous
Decade: TP (mg/L)
Box Plot of all Ohio River Stations Jan-Jul
10-Yr TP vs 2015 TP (mg/L)
Total Phosphorus (mg/L)
1.4
1.2
10-Yr TP
2015 TP
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
Jan
Mar
May
Month
Jul
Bimonthly Sampling 2015 vs Previous
Decade: T-N (mg/L)
Box Plot of all Ohio River Stations Jan-Jul
10-Yr T-N vs 2015 T-N (mg/L)
12
10-Yr T-N
2015 T-N
Total Nitrogen (mg/L)
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
Jan
Mar
May
Month
Jul
Clean Metals Sampling
WQC Violations Clean Metals
Me rcury a nd S ta te Iron Crite ria V iola tions
SiteName
New Cumberland
Pike Island
Hannibal
Willow Island
Belleville
R.C. Byrd
Greenup
Meldahl
Markland
McAlpine
Cannelton
Newburgh
J.T. Myers
Smithland
L&D 52
Mile Point
54.4
84.2
126.4
161.8
203.9
279.2
341
436.2
531.5
606.8
720.7
776
846
918.5
938.9
• Clean Metals data July 2014-May 2015
# THg
Violations
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
# Fe
Violations
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
0
1
MeHg BAF and Tributary Sampling
•MeHg BAFs under development at two
locations: (green dots)
•4 of 12 events complete. Expected finish of
data collection July 2016.
•Tributary Hg & MeHg Mass Load Development
(Blue Dots)
•Data collection October 2015 to September
2016
Contact Recreation Sampling
Contact Recreation Monitoring
• Bacteria samples are collected April 1 through
October 31.
• Samples are collected at an upstream and
downstream location in Pittsburgh, Wheeling,
Huntington, Cincinnati, Louisville and Evansville.
• Five rounds of sampling are completed monthly for
each urban community sampling location and analyzed
for E. coli using Membrane Filtration. Those five
samples are then used to produce a monthly Geometric
Mean which shall not exceed 130CFU/100mL and shall
not exceed 240CFU/100mL in any single sample.
Percent Exceeded
April-September 2015
Pittsburgh
Wheeling
Huntington
Cincinnati
Louisville
Evansville
Monthly Geometric Mean
66%
33%
0%
66%
50%
50%
Single Sample Max
36%
20%
13%
36%
17%
33%
2015 E.coli Monthly Geometric Mean
500
400
April
May
CFU/100mL
300
June
July
August
200
September
130CFU/100mL
100
0
Pittsburgh-4.3
Wheeling-92.8
Huntington-314.8
Cincinnati-477.5
Site
Louisville-619.3
Evansville-793.7
Contact Recreation Monitoring
In Cincinnati we also analyze for
Enterococcus using Enterolert and for
E.coli/Total Coliform using Colilert at
three cross-sections (nine sites).
Special Projects*
Cincinnati Triathlon
The Great Ohio River Swim
Louisville Ironman
*Currently postponed due to the HAB
D.O. and Temperature Monitoring
Dissolved Oxygen and Temperature
Monitoring
• Dissolved oxygen (D.O.) and temperature is monitored by
the United States Army Corp of Engineers, electric
utility/hydropower agencies or ORSANCO for the
assessment of aquatic life water quality criteria.
• The average D.O. concentration shall be at least 5.0mg/L
for each calendar day. Both Markland and Smithland had
days that fell below 5.0mg/L. (Graphs to follow)
• The allowable temperature varies each month and ranges
from 71°-89°F. Temperatures never exceeded the criteria
due to the cool summer the Ohio River Basin experienced
this year. (Graphs to follow)
Montgomery (RMI 31.7) Dissolved Oxygen
12
11
DO mg/L
10
9
8
7
6
5.0 mg/L
5
DO mg/L
1-May
11-May
21-May
31-May
10-Jun
30-Jun
10-Jul
20-Jul
30-Jul
9-Aug
19-Aug
29-Aug
8-Sep
18-Sep
28-Sep
Markland (RMI 531.5) Dissolved Oxygen
9
8.5
8
7.5
7
6.5
6
5.5
5
4.5
1-May
20-Jun
5.0 mg/L
11-May
21-May
31-May
10-Jun
20-Jun
30-Jun
10-Jul
20-Jul
30-Jul
9-Aug
19-Aug
29-Aug
8-Sep
18-Sep
28-Sep
Smithland (919) Dissolved Oxygen
8
7.5
DO mg/L
7
6.5
6
5.5
5.0 mg/L
5
4.5
1-May
11-May
21-May
31-May
10-Jun
20-Jun
30-Jun
10-Jul
20-Jul
30-Jul
9-Aug
19-Aug
29-Aug
8-Sep
18-Sep
28-Sep
Montgomery (RMI 31.7) Temperature
90
Temperature in F°
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
1-May
11-May
21-May
31-May
10-Jun
20-Jun
30-Jun
10-Jul
20-Jul
30-Jul
9-Aug
19-Aug
29-Aug
8-Sep
18-Sep
28-Sep
9-Aug
19-Aug
29-Aug
8-Sep
18-Sep
28-Sep
9-Aug
19-Aug
29-Aug
8-Sep
18-Sep
28-Sep
Markland (RMI 531.5) Temperature
90
Temperature in F°
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
1-May
11-May
21-May
31-May
10-Jun
20-Jun
30-Jun
10-Jul
20-Jul
30-Jul
Smithland (RMI 919) Temperature
90
Temperature in F°
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
1-May
11-May
21-May
31-May
10-Jun
20-Jun
30-Jun
10-Jul
20-Jul
30-Jul
Wabash and Algae/Nutrients Program
Algae/Nutrients Program
• Sampling at water plants ended June 30, 2014
• Re-purposed funds to collect nutrients at macroinvertebrate
sites
• Sampling for HABs on an “as-needed” basis.
• No algae blooms reported or detected
– OK, maybe that’s not true. Agenda Item 10c.
Dissolved Oxygen
• Number of days with Average DO <5mg/L = 1
• Number of days with any measurement <4mg/L = 4
• Similar to 2013
18
25000
16
14
20000
12
10
8
15000
10000
6
4
Avg Flow
5000
2
0
Avg DO
0
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
• Identified as a contributor to low DO in the
Smithland Pool.
• Zero detections on the Ohio River
• Similar to previous years
6
5
mg/L
4
Wabash
3
Smithland
JT Myers
2
1
0
07/02/14
07/16/14
07/30/14
08/13/14
08/27/14
Probabilistic Pool Survey Sites
•15 random 500m sites per pool
•Fish Community
•Macroinvertebrate Community
•Continuous DO & Temp logger
•Nutrients & Chlorophyll A
•Instream & Riparian Habitat
Other
39 Fish Tissue Samples Riverwide
Organics Detection System Sites
Organics Detection System
• Balance remaining as of June 30, 2015:
– ~$1.1M remaining total funding
– Sept 30, 2016 is current project deadline
– Expected major expenditures in remaining grant term
•
•
•
•
•
•
Service contracts for GC/MSD & IC components
Replace 2 MSD at West View/ Dupont
Contractual Services for Websites
Replace computer systems, software updates
Build up consumables inventory
On-going program costs
• Explore adding other data/information components
to website (Algae, utility and other metadata);
meeting with contractors in mid October to discuss
Organics Detection System
• 14*/33 (42%) surface water DW facilities are ODS host site participants;
2 are industrial host sites, and HQ (17 total locations).
– *NKY Water can also analyze VOC’s upon request
– Recently approached by Henderson to become involved with ODS program
• 3 conventional GC systems installed late 2014
AEP-St. Albans, Portsmouth, Paducah
• 2 GC/MSD systems installed: Wheeling & HQ
• 9 sites are running more than one sample/day
– All sites will be running 4-6 samples per day by end of grant
• Pittsburgh to become active ODS site this fall 2015 with process GC
capabilities (relocation of Wheeling unit)
– Site inspection performed, lab modifications necessary by PWSA before
installation can occur (Fall 2015)
• Old instrumentation donated to Thomas More Biological Field Station,
NKY Water, UC Cincinnati, IL American (Cairo) and P&T parts to
Metropolitan Sewer District
Organics Detection System
• 3 Laboratory renovations/relocations for ODS
host sites; staff handled instrument relocation,
start up and re-calibration
– Additionally Staff installed “old” ODS systems at NKY
Water & TMC Biology field station and provided training
& start up
• ODS renovation started in 2009; components
starting to show wear, minor repairs (so far)
becoming more frequent, taking advantage of
remote diagnosis and troubleshooting
capabilities to reduce staff travel time.
– Mother boards
– Auto sampler (alignment, needles, incorrect volume draw,
blocked flow path etc.)
– Software issues
Organics Detection System
• ODS travel related repairs (non-warranty, nonmaintenance agreement)
– 30 hours computer related
– 26.5 hours diagnose, non repairable (shipped to vendor)
– 9 hours Autosampler related
• Anticipate more frequent repair trips as systems age
– Only the GCMSD portion of instrumentation is covered by
Maintenance Agreements
Organics Detection System
Performance Operations
Year
# Raw Water Samples
% Utilization
2015 (Jan 1. – Aug 30)
3645/16 sites
88.6%
2014 (Jan 1 – Dec 31)
5162/16 sites
88%
4771/15 sites
87%
2012 (Jan 1 – Dec 31)
4589/15 sites
88%
2011 (Jan 1 – Dec 31)
4228/13 sites
89 %
3842/13 sites
81 %
2013 (Jan 1 – Dec 31)
2010 (Jan 1 – Dec 31)
Organics Detection System
•From January-August 2015 3,645 river water samples were
analyzed
•% System Utilization (#river samples/#days) * (#sites) * 100 = 88.6%
•Overall, ODS sites were unable to run daily river water 11.4% of
the time. Leading causes of downtime (>1 day) were related to:
-Staffing issues (6.3%)
-Major Laboratory renovations/relocation (11.4%)
-Instrument failure (1.7%)
Renovations 3.4%
Staffing 6.3%
Instrumentation
6.3%
Operational
88.6%
Organics Detection System
• Coordinated ODS to respond to February 2015
• Bakken Crude CSX train derailment for WV sites
– ODS already calibrated to detect Bakken Crude BTEX
components
– St. Albans, Huntington, Ashland, Portsmouth
– No spill related detections were reported.