Water quality in the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, Wisconsin

Book · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6941081

Graczyk, D J

A water quality study of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, was conducted during the period 1975-83. Concentrations of most constituents analyzed, and constituent loads and yields were lower in the Scenic Riverway than in other Wisconsin streams. Water quality samples were collected at 10 stations throughout the study area and were compared to analyses of samples from selected National Stream Quality Accounting Network stations (NASWAN) and the Hydrologic Bench-Mark Network (HBMN) station in Wisconsin. The average suspended sediment (SS) concentration for 9 of the 10 stations in this study was 7.7 mg/L. The concentrations of major cations and anions at two of the stations were similar to concentrations at the HBMN station Popple River near Fence. Mean total phosphorus concentrations ranged from 0.02 to 0.08 mg/L at the study stations and from 0.03 to 0.16 mg/L at selected NASQAN stations. Concentrations of trace metals were below safe drinking water standards at all the study sites, except for iron and manganese which exceeded drinking water standards at some of the study sites. Pesticides were sampled at the St. Croix River at St. Croix Falls and above and below cranberry bogs that drain into the Namekagon River. Average annual loads of SS, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and dissolved solids were calculated by a flow duration curve method. Suspended sediment yields ranged from 1.9 to 13.3 tons/sq mi. The average SS yield for Wisconsin is 80 tons/sq mi. total phosphorus and other constituents exhibited the same trend. 26 refs., 10 figs., 12 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 6941081
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FEDERAL REGION V
IRON
MANGANESE
METALS
MONITORING
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
PESTICIDES
PHOSPHORUS
POLLUTION
RIVERS
SEDIMENTS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
USA
WATER POLLUTION
WATER QUALITY
WISCONSIN