NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

Barnegat Bay Ambient Monitoring Project

National Conference Presentation and

Phase 2 Activities (Apr-Dec, 2012)

Presented by:Leslie McGeorgeNJWMC MeetingMay 30, 2012

NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

Barnegat Bay Water Quality Monitoring Program: Objectives

• Determine type and extent of water quality impairments

• Develop models for use in directing water quality restoration or TMDL development

• Based on pollutant load responses, identify water quality or loading targets for nutrients or other pollutants

NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

Partnership Development• How find interested & willing partners?

• Start w/ NJ Water Monitoring Council • USGS, EPA, Water Utility, Planning Commission, University, Estuary

Program • Meet w/ entities - ask what they can do?• Add monitoring & lab partners

• County Health Dept, Local Technical High School & Sewage Utility, University, & Health Dept

• Find partners in our own agency QA Office, Forestry Center facility, AmeriCorps

• Retask existing partner work - e.g. USGS flow work

• Now have 13 partners!

NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

Partnership Development• Monitoring Agreements – written agreements

with each entity specifying project commitments

• Comprehensive Quality Assurance Plan- Referred to in all Partner Agreements

- Assure data of known quality & comparability of results

- Includes: Station locations/dates/ timesSample preparation – preservation & filtering in 2 labsParameters, analytical & field methodsData quality requirements/ reviewSample routing Chain of custody forms

•

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Partnership Development

• Training & QA Approval- Partner meetings on project design, sample collection, equipment calibration, and QA Office approval for field measurements ( DO, SC, T)

• Partner Communication – 1 point agency contact overall project, 1 field contact for tribs and 1 for bay, frequent emails

• Data access – Website w/ Interactive map

NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

BayTributary

7 Tributary Partners

7 Tributary and 3 Bay Monitoring Partners

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Partners in

Action

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*Average Load = sum of all individual load events/number of eventsLoads = lbs/day

Preliminary Results (12 Sampling Events): Mean Nitrite-Nitrate Loadings & Concentrations

NO2+NO3

NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

Preliminary Results (12 Sampling Events): Mean Nitrite-Nitrate & Chlorophyll Concentrations

NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

What’s New in Phase 2?• New Partners

• New/Changed– Water Quality Stations

• Changed– BT06 (Cedar Creek @ Lanoka Harbor)

flow gauge & wq station relocated– BB04, BB05, BB07

moved to better catch representative wq signal• New

– BB00/BT00 (Point Pleasant Canal)

– Air Deposition Monitoring - TN• Site selection (possibly Cattus Island or BTMUA?)

NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

What’s new in Phase 2 (cont)• Bottom Parameters (~1 ft from bottom)

– pH, temp, DO, salinity, TP, TN, Total Silica, TSS, Chlorophyll a, TOC, BOD

• Continuous WQ MonitoringDO, pH, temp, turbidity, conductivity, nitrate/nitrite (trib), chlorophyll a (bay)

– Fixed WQ at Gauges: BT03 (Toms River) and BB01 (Mantoloking) – Buoys: BB07a (below Oyster Crk), BB 10 (above Westeconk Crk), BB 14

(LEH inlet). BB04a (near mouth of Toms River)

– HOBO Temp Data Loggers – Phase 1: Oyster Crk; Phase 2: catch thermal plume near mouth of Oyster Crk

• Increased Sampling Frequency– Ambient Monitoring (weekly – Apr-Sept, monthly – Oct-Dec)– 2 Intensive Events (July 23-26 & August 16-19)

NJDEP Water Monitoring and Standards

Barnegat Bay Website:www.state.nj.us/dep/barnegatbay/

(including Interactive Map for monitoring data)