Potash Brook (Lake Champlain Direct Flow) - Tier 2 Report - Jim Kelley, 05/05/17

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Physical Parameters Assessment

Investigator Name(s):

Jim Kelley

Collection Date & Time:

Friday, May 5, 2017 - 8:15am

School:

Edmunds Middle School

Watershed:

Lake Champlain Direct & Grand Isle Basins

River:

Potash Brook (Lake Champlain Direct Flow)

Monitoring Site:

Potash Brook- Queen City 3

Site Description:

Residential, treatment plant on one side, parking lot on the other, grassy area with scattered trees

Surrounding Development or Land Use:

Residential

Forest

Road Along Bank

Do you see any pipes entering into the river?:

Is there a water treatment plant upstream?:

Yes

Canopy Cover:

26-50%

Water Appearance:

Clear

Water Odor:

Odorless

Average Embeddedness:

26-50%

Average Velocity:

1.01m/s

Physical Summary:

Embeddedness- medium embeddedness, provides some habitat for BMIs turbidity- not alot of floating sediments canopy cover- slightly low, provides some shade keeping the stream relatively cool

Weather

Present:

Showers

Past 48 Hours:

Overcast

Showers

Average Transparency/Turbidity

No Impact: >60 cm - 17cm = 0-50 ntu
Possible Impact: 17 - 8cm = 65-150 ntu
Impacted: 8 - < 6 cm = >150 ntu

Height of Water Column:

120.00cm

Chemical Assessment

Average Temperature:

10.00°C

Average pH:

6.40

Average Orthophosphate PO4-3:

0.04mg/L

Average Dissolved Oxygen:

9.00mg/L

Field Notes:

Temperature- cooler temperature-->higher DO DO-support high diversity pH- slightly acidic, close to neutral, stressful for some organisms Orthophosphate- likely impact

Stream Habitat Assessment

Streambed Composition:

Mixture of cobbles, gravels, and sand (3)

Streambank Stability:

Moderately stable banks – some areas of erosion visible (1)

Deepest pool is at least:

Waist deep (2)

Velocity:

Moderately fast – slowly takes objects downstream (1)

Riparian Vegetation:

Mixture of trees, shrubs, and grasses (3)

Riparian Vegetative Zone Width:

Buffer zone is between 50 and 100 feet (2)

Streambed Cover

Rock ledges:

Submerged logs, stumps, or tree roots:

Large rocks:

Artificial objects:

Other:

Stream Habitat Quality Score

Calculated by adding all of the points from the above fields.

18-22 (Excellent)
11-17 (Good)
6-10 (Fair)
0-5 (Poor)

Stream Habitat Quality Score for This Report:

Biological Assessment

PT Group 1 (Intolerant)

Stonefly Nymph:

Mayfly Nymph:

Caddis Fly Larvae:

Dobsonfly Larvae:

Riffle Beetle:

Water Penny:

Right-Handed Snail:

# of Taxa:

PT Group 2 (Moderately Intolerant)

Damselfly Nymph:

Dragonfly Nymph:

Sowbug:

Scud:

Cranefly Larvae:

Clams/Mussels:

Crayfish:

# of Taxa:

PT Group 3 (Fairly Tolerant)

Midges:

Black Fly Larvae:

Planaria:

Leech:

# of Taxa:

PT Group 4 (Very Tolerant)

Left-Handed Snail:

Aquatic Worms:

Blood Midge:

Rat-Tailed Maggot:

# of Taxa:

Pollution Tolerance Index Rating

Calculated as follows:
4*(# of Taxa in PT Group 1) + 3*(# of Taxa in PT Group 2) + 2*(# of Taxa in PT Group 3) + 1*(# of Taxa in PT Group 4)

23+ (Excellent)
17-22 (Good)
11-16 (Fair)
0-10 (Poor)

PTI Rating for This Report:

35.00

Lake Champlain Sea Grant

Potash Brook (Lake Champlain Direct Flow) - Tier 2 Report - Jim Kelley, 05/05/17

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Weather

Average Transparency/Turbidity

Streambed Cover

Stream Habitat Quality Score

PT Group 1 (Intolerant)

PT Group 2 (Moderately Intolerant)

PT Group 3 (Fairly Tolerant)

PT Group 4 (Very Tolerant)

Pollution Tolerance Index Rating