Water Quality, Contamination, and Wetlands in the Croton Watershed, New York, USA

Jeffrey M. McKenzie, Donald I. Siegel, Laura K. Lautz, Martin H. Otz, James Hassett, Ines Otz

.

DOI: 10.4236/ojmh.2012.21002                

Abstract

The Croton Watershed (New York State, USA) is a semi-urban region that provides 10% of the drinking water for the City of New York. Nonpoint source contamination in the watershed is a major concern for managers because the water supply is currently unfiltered water. Results are reported from three synoptic studies of surface water quality from 98 wetland-containing sub-catchments in the Croton Watershed designed to broadly characterize, at a reconnaissance level, the geochemical controls on water quality, in particular as it relates to wetlands. Total dissolved organic carbon concentrations in surface waters draining wetlands correlated well (average R² of 0.93) with standard Gelbstoff (g₄₄₀) color measurements, although there is very little correlation between dissolved organic carbon concentrations and wetland areas in the sub-catchments. This may be a potential indication of other sources of colored organic material. Concentrations of dissolved sodium and chloride, while related to road length, stochiometrically had more chloride than expected for pure road-salt dissolution. This offset is likely due to cation exchange and sorbtion of sodium by wetlands in the Croton watershed. The results show contamination in the Croton hydrologic system that should addressed in ongoing management policies and decision-making.

Keywords

Wetlands; Croton Watershed; Geochemistry; Water Quality

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	S. S. Kaushal, P. M Groffman, G. E. Likens, K. T. Belt, W. P. Stack, V. R. Kelly, L. E. Band and G. T. Fisher, “Increased Salinization of Fresh Water in the Northeast- ern United States,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 102, No. 38, 2005, pp. 13517-13520. doi:10.1073/pnas.0506414102
[2]	P. T. Harte and P. R. Trowbridge, “Mapping of Road- Salt-Contaminated Groundwater Discharge and Estimation of Chloride Load to a Small Stream in Southern New Hampshire, USA,” Hydrological Processes, Vol. 24, No. 17, 2010, pp. 2349-2368. doi:10.1002/hyp.7645
[3]	E. M. Thurman, “Organic Geochemistry of Natural Wa- ters,” D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, 1985. doi:10.1007/978-94-009-5095-5
[4]	E. S. Asselstine and I. G. Grossman, “The Ground-Water Resources of Westchester County, New York, part 1, Records of Wells and Test Holes,” New York State Water Power and Control Commission Bulletin, GW-35, 1955.
[5]	G. T. Koeppel, “Water for Gotham: A History,” Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2001.
[6]	E. C. Scheader, “The New York City Water Supply: Past, Present and Future,” Civil Engineering Practice, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1991, pp. 7-20.
[7]	A. Ashendorff, “Protection of Drinking Water Sources for Quality and Quantity—Ground Water and Surface Water, Protecting New York City’s Drinking Water Sources,” Water Supply, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2000, pp. 576-580.
[8]	P. M. Heisig, “Effects of Residential and Agricultural Land Uses on the Chemical Quality of Baseflow of Small Streams in the Croton Watershed, Southeastern New York,” US Geological Survey WRIR 99-4173, 2000.
[9]	R. J. Davies-Colley, W. N. Vant and D. G. Smith, “Colour and Clarity of Natural waters: science and management of optical water quality,” Ellis Harwood, New York, 1993.
[10]	D. G. Smith, G. F. Croker and K. McFarlane, “Human perception of water appearance 1. Clarity and Colour for Bathing and Aesthetics,” New Zealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research, Vol. 29, No. 1, 1995, pp. 29-43. doi:10.1080/00288330.1995.9516637
[11]	G. Boeuf and P. Y. Le Bail, “Does Light Have an Influence on Fish Growth?” Aquaculture, Vol. 177, No. 1-4, 1999, pp. 129-152. doi:10.1016/S0044-8486(99)00074-5
[12]	N. A. Azzolina, D. I. Siegel, J. C. Brower, S. D. Samson, S.D., M. H. Otz and I. Otz, “Can the HGM Classification of Small, Non-Peat Forming Wetlands Distinguish Wetlands from Surface Water Geochemistry?” Wetlands, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2007, pp. 884-893. doi:10.1672/0277-5212(2007)27[884:CTHCOS]2.0.CO;2
[13]	T. Thierfelder, “The Role of Catchment Hydrology in the Dharacterization of Water Quality in Glacial/Boreal Lakes,” Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 216, No. 1-2, 1999, pp. 1-16. doi:10.1016/S0022-1694(98)00244-3
[14]	G. Blomqvist, “De-Iceing Salt and the Roadside Environment,” PhD Thesis, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2001.
[15]	R. B. Jackson and E. G. Jobbágy, “From Icy Roads to Salty Streams,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 102, No. 41, 2005, pp. 14487-14488. doi:10.1073/pnas.0507389102
[16]	B. G. Mark and J. M. McKenzie, “Tracing Increasing Tropical Andean Glacier Melt with Stable Isotopes in Water,” Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 40, No. 20, 2007, pp. 6955-6960. doi: 10.1021/es071099d
[17]	K. S. Linsey, S. W. Wolcott and N. B. Schoonmaker, “Identification of Potential Water-Resources-Monitoring Sites in the Croton Reservoir System, Southeastern New York,” US Geological Survey Open-File Report, Troy, 1999, pp. 97-638.
[18]	D. Galusha, “Liquid Assets: A History of New York City’s Water System,” Purple Mountain Press, New York, 1999.
[19]	R. W. Tiner, “Wetlands in the Watersheds of the New York City Water Supply System. Results of the National Wetlands Inventory,” US Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services, Northeast Region, Hadley, Massachusetts, 1996.
[20]	I. G. Grossman, “The Ground Water Resources of Putnam County, New York,” New York State Water Power and Control Commission Bulletin, GW-37, 1957.
[21]	D. Langmuir, “Aqueous Environmental Geochemistry,” Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1997.
[22]	J. J. Prucha, D. M. Scotford and R. M. Sneider, “Bedrock Geology of Parts of Putnam and Westchester Counties, New York, and Fairfield County Connecticut,” State University of New York, Map and Chart Series 11, 1968.
[23]	A. M. Piper, “A Graphic Procedure in the Geochemical Interpretation of Water-Analyses,” American Geophysical Union Transactions, Vol. 25, 1944, pp. 914-923.
[24]	R. A. Freeze and J. A. Cherry, “Groundwater,” Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1979.
[25]	W. J. Mitschand and J. G. Gosselink, “Wetlands,” Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1993.
[26]	R. W. Howarth, “An Assessment of Human Influences on Fluxes of Nitrogen from the Terrestrial Landscape to the Estuaries and Continental Shelves of the North Atlantic Ocean,” Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, Vol. 52, No. 2-3, 1998, pp. 213-223. doi:10.1023/A:1009784210657
[27]	J. J. Drever, “The Geochemistry of Natural Waters: Surface and Groundwater Environments,” 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1997.
[28]	J. D. Hem, “Study and Interpretation of the Chemical Characteristics of Natural Water,” US Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2254, 1985
[29]	M. Gandy, “The Making of a Regulatory Crisis: Restructuring New York City’s Water Supply,” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 22, No. 3, 1997, pp. 338-358. doi:10.1111/j.0020-2754.1997.00338.x
[30]	J. M. McKenzie, D. I. Siegel and D. O. Rosenberry, “Improving Conceptual Models of Water and Carbon Transfer through Peat,” In: A. J. Baird, L. R. Belyea, X. Comas, A. S. Reeve and L. D. Slater, Eds., Northern Peatlands and Carbon Cycling, AGU Geophysical Monograph Series, Vol. 184, 2009, pp. 265-275. doi:10.1029/2008GM000821