Alison Nord, Anna Speed, Ashley Murphy

Stressor: Phosphorus

Alison Nord, Anna Speed, Ashley Murphy

Problem Statement: The infiltration [WBB1]of phosphorus into Lake Champlain is inducing stress on lake habitats and aquatic species, as well as advancing water quality degradation due to its persistence in lake watersheds.

Goal/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the general sources of phosphorus and the habitat types affected by it within the Lake Champlain Basin. A ranking system will be created to evaluate the magnitude of effect for each source and habitat, which will be critical in helping create a complete, unified ecological risk assessment of Lake Champlain.

Justification: Phosphorus is a limiting nutrient in lake ecosystems, and therefore the excess of phosphorus is a major threat to the water quality of Lake Champlain. Phosphorus has become so prevalent in lake waters due to agricultural runoff from farms in New York and Vermont as well as from developed areas along the coast[PJ2]. High concentrations of the pollutant degrade water quality through the acceleration of algal growth and the creation of disproportionate aquatic plant growth. The resulting algae have the ability to wipe out populations of microscopic organisms, which are the most basic component of the lake’s food chain. Increased populations of these organisms also result in eutrophication of the lake and subsequently the depletion of dissolved oxygen available for other organisms. Algal Blooms can also produce neurotoxins, which irritate skin and cause harm if ingested. This makes parts of the lake too polluted for recreation and threatens the use of the lake as a source of drinking water, as well as a food source.

Literature Review:

Gaddis, Erica J.B, and Alexey Voinov. "Spatially Explicit Modeling of Land Use Specific Phosphorus Transport Pathways to Improve TMDL Load Estimates and Implementation Planning." Water Resources Management June 2010: 1621-644. EBSCOhost. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. <

The article describes a stakeholder-driven research approach that was implemented in a watershed of St. Albans Bay, Vermont to model the relative load of phosphorus from all sources, including diffuse transport pathways, and compared to goals and assumptions outlined by a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) developed for phosphorus in Lake Champlain. The article will be very useful when it is time for us to determine what levels of phosphorus are acceptable and how these levels will be established. [PJ5]

Schueller, Gretel. "A Lake in Distress." National Wildlife Aug. 2005: 46-51. EBSCOhost. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <

The article can aid in our Risk Assessment by providing us with information regarding the impact that phosphorus has on lake communities, lake fish species, as well as humans. It goes into to detail about how and why phosphorus is entering the lake and how government is working to control the problem.

Stickney, Michaela, Colleen Hickey, and Roland Hoerr. "Lake Champlain Basin Program: Working Together Today for Tomorrow." Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management Sept. 2001: 217-23. EBSCOhost. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. <

This article goes into some detail about the history of Lake Champlain and why it is important to protect it. It also provides readers some insight into the Lake Champlain Basin Program and gives information about what the program is doing to control the phosphorus problem. Additionally, the article describes past and present legislation regarding the lake and its conservation and protection.

Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. “Revised Implementation Plan: Lake Champlain Phosphorus TMDL.” January 15, 2011. <

** This is the TMDL from OFA... Not sure how to properly site it...

This document is the most recent report on the Lake Champlain Total Maximum Daily Load of phosphorus, and provides a management framework for controlling phosphorus within the lake. It specifically identifies all of the different sources of phosphorus within the lake, and the amount of phosphorus that is emitted from each source. This will be especially helpful in creating our assessment because it will allow us to accurately identify the relevant sources of phosphorus and give us the necessary information for determining how to rank each source in relation to phosphorus.

Smeltzer, Eric et al[PJ6]. (2009). Lake Champlain Phosphorus Concentrations and Loading Rates, 1990 - 2008 (No. 57). <

This report analyzed the data from the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s Long-Term Water Quality and Biological Monitoring Program to determine the status and trends of phosphorus in the lake from 1990 - 2008. This information will be useful for our assessment in helping us determine which areas of the lake are being most affected by phosphorus and therefore need the most attention. This will be useful specifically when determining how to rank the various habitats included in the assessment concerning their phosphorus concentrations.

Roberto Quinlan et al (2008). Long-term assessments of ecological effects of anthropogenic stressors on aquatic ecosystems from paleoecological analyses: challenges to perspectives of lake management. Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, 65(5), 933 - 944[WBB7].

This article looks into the effects of anthropogenic stressors on lake systems, including phosphorus inputs, and how these effects change when there are multiple stressors involved. This paper will be used in our report to help us identify the different effects that phosphorus inputs could have in Lake Champlain and better understand the magnitude of these effects due to phosphorus.

VCCAP(2010). Vermont Clean and Clear Action Plan. 2010 Annual Report, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and markets, Waterbury: 102pp.[WBB8]

The Vermont Clean and Clear Action Plan, established in 2003, intends to reduce phosphorus loading into Lake Champlain. In the organizations most recent report, funding was granted to the Vermont Agencies of Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Transportation in order to implement phosphorus loading reductions outlined in the Lake Champlain Phosphorus Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), and to address similar water quality needs statewide.

VT ANR (2010). Revised Implementation Plan, Lake Champlain Phosphorus TMDL, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. submitted to the Vermont General Assembly in accordance with Act 130 (2008), Section 2, January 15, 2010.

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources requires certain stormwater discharges to be permitted through the NPDES in accordance with section 402(p)(2)(E) of the CWA, for all existing stormwater discharges that contribute to violations of water quality standards in Potash, Englesby, Bartlett, Morehouse and Centennial Brooks. The Article provides standards for stormwater discharge rates and concentrations, a basis for permit determinations, and influences of stormwater on watershed ecosystems.

Young, E. O. and D. S. Ross (2001). "Phosphate release from seasonally flooded soils: a laboratory microcosm study." Journal of Environmental Quality 30: 91-101.

Phosphorus used in the fertilization of agricultural lands is often found in stormwater runoff. This article shows that there is a mobilization of phosphorus from seasonally flooded agricultural soils. Soil types and porewater can be measured to produce expected quantities of phosphorus release into stormwater runoff. Quantifying phosphorus loads from various areas will focus remediation efforts.

Proposed Effort:

To start evaluating phosphorus within the Lake Champlain Basin we will first need to review the relevant literature to get a full understanding of where phosphorus is coming from and which habitats are most affected by it. In determining this we will consult both the resources from Opportunities for Action and related scientific reports identified in our literature review. The scientific reports will be useful in understanding general sources, and habitats specifically affected by phosphorus in lake systems. The OFA resources will be helpful in putting this information into the context of Lake Champlain. From the data collected by OFA we will be able to determine which sources and habitats are most important concerning phosphorus related to each watershed. In addition to compiling this data and research, we will need to apply this knowledge to the creation of a ranking system for sources and habitats. We will specifically need to know the range of outputs of phosphorus from each source and the range of impact of phosphorus on each general habitat. With this knowledge we will be able to figure out which characteristics of each source of phosphorus are most concerning and least concerning. This will help in establishing a rank to each source and allow us to justify our decision. The same concept will need to be applied for each habitat that is impacted by phosphorus in order to justify ranking of each habitat. The ranking process will also need to be replicated for each watershed, thus knowledge of the different watersheds and the varying presence of phosphorus within each will be important information to have. Here the OFA resources will be critical, since data on phosphorus within each watershed is already documented in their database. Along with creating a ranking system, filters for both sources and habitats will also need to be established. We anticipate that this process will be more straightforward when creating a filter for sources of phosphorus, since the information previously collected should be enough for us to determine whether the sources that are included within the risk assessment apply to phosphorus or not. The same should be true when looking at which habitats phosphorus affects. For both of these processes we are assuming that there is sufficient data available to accurately apply these filters, and any missing information will complicate this. We will also have to decide what format we want the filters to have, and whether it is a simple binary approach or if we add another option within the filters that will allow for us to indicate a weak association between phosphorus and either the source or habitat. The main problem that we anticipate facing concerns the general nature of the issue of phosphorus within the lake and how widespread of a problem it is. Since phosphorus is a major concern to the lake’s health, and has been tried to be addressed for a while, it is as a result a complex issue. We anticipate difficulty in sorting through this complexity and in accurately capturing the impact of phosphorus within all of these different elements accounted for in the assessment. However, this also means that there is a lot of research that has been put into phosphorus issues, and so we have confidence in the quality of the assessment that we will be creating[PJ9].

Effort Assignment[PJ10]

In order to compose a risk assessment of Phosphorus loading in Lake Champlain a thorough literature review will be completed to determine sources, habitats and movement of phosphorus throughout the Lake Champlain Basin. It will also be necessary to understand stakeholder concerns and needs to determine a ranking system. Ashley Murphy will be assessing scholarly articles focused on sources of phosphorus and the movement of the output from that source. Alison Nord will conduct a literature review concerned with phosphorus influence on various habitats in the LCBP. Anna Speed is tasked with an evaluation of stakeholder concerns and review of various risk assessment techniques in order to propose filters and ranking systems. The overall intention is to compile the research in order to produce a ranking system to guide phosphorus control.[WBB11]

[WBB1]Not really the key process. “Loading” would be better here.

[PJ2]I think this should be “shore” when talking about lakes.

[PJ3]When using journal articles from a database like this, I tend to leave off the website to keep the citation “cleaner”. See what Breck’s opinion is on this.

[WBB4]As long as the citation is complete, the web URL is not needed. The journal citation is a constant. But the URL could vary depending on accession database you use. But note…for journal citations you should include the volume and (if provided) issue number rather than the publication date. Increasing for newer journals and especially for e-journals the citation will be a “doi” number. If present, you should provide that too.

[PJ5]Sounds like it!

[PJ6]Be sure “et al”s all get listed in the final citation.

[WBB7]This is a good example of a proper “volume(issue#): pages” type of citation. This is sufficient without the web URL.

[WBB8]So-called “grey” literature reports (i.e., not in peer reviewed journals are harder to cite correctly. This citation is good. The only other missing piece that you might be expected to add would be the publication place, in the case “Waterbury”, added at the location indicated.

[PJ9]LONG paragraph!

[PJ10]Reasonable division of tasks—sounds like you’ve organized well.

[WBB11]Grade: A (96%). I plan to post these proposals. If you wish to clean up some of the citations and resubmit, please do so.