HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019 WQ exe summaryTOWN OF NANTUCKET NATURAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
THAÏS M. FOURNIER, WATER RESOURCE SPECIALIST TFOURNIER@NANTUCKET-MA.GOV
2 BATHING BEACH ROAD 508-228-7200
NANTUCKET, MA 02554 EXT 7604
Executive Summary
Water Quality Assessment of Nantucket’s Harbors and Great Ponds
2019
Abstract:
The executive summary reviews the water quality monitoring results of the estuarine sampling undertaken
through the ongoing Nantucket Island-Wide Water Quality Monitoring Program. The program is a multi-year
collaboration between the Town of Nantucket (TON) Natural Resources Department and the Coastal Systems Program
within the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, School for Marine Science and Technology.
The objectives of the monitoring program are:
1. To determine the present (2019) ecological health of each of the main salt ponds and estuaries within the Town
of Nantucket,
2. To gauge (as historical data allows, 2010-2019) the decline or recovery of various salt ponds and embayments
over the long-term (also part of TMDL compliance), and
3. To provide the foundation (and context) for development of potential alternatives for nutrient and resource
management and quantitative measures of success.
Introduction:
As increasing numbers of people occupy coastal watersheds, the associated coastal waters receive increasing
pollutant loads. Coastal embayments throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are becoming nutrient enriched.
The primary nutrient causing the increasing impairment of our coastal embayments is nitrogen, with its primary sources
being wastewater disposal, and nonpoint source runoff that carries nitrogen (e.g., fertilizers) from a range of other
sources.
Nantucket proactively monitors the quality of its water systems to develop action plans to ensure public safety
and strengthen the islands ecosystems. As in previous years, this annual Water Quality Technical Memorandum
summarizes the water quality monitoring results of the estuarine sampling undertaken through the ongoing Nantucket
Island-wide Water Quality Monitoring Program. Water sample collection and analysis has been performed according to
specific protocols developed at the outset of the monitoring first started in 2010, such that year to year results would be
cross comparable from one Nantucket estuary to another. The sampling program focuses on the summer/early fall
months (June - September) as this time frame is typically representative of worst case water quality conditions and the
basis for habitat management decisions.
The physical/environmental parameters measured in the estuaries during the 2019 sampling season included:
total depth, Secchi depth (light penetration), temperature, conductivity/salinity, general weather (rain, cloudiness, etc.),
wind force and direction, dissolved oxygen levels and observations of moorings, birds, shell fishing and unusual events
(fish kills, algal blooms, etc.). Laboratory analyses of estuarine waters included: salinity, nitrate + nitrite, ammonium,
dissolved organic nitrogen, particulate organic carbon and nitrogen, chlorophyll-a and pheophytin-a and
orthophosphate.
Trophic State of Nantucket Estuaries:
The trophic state of an estuary is a quantitative indicator of its nutrient related ecological health and is based on
key ecological metrics: concentrations of inorganic and organic Nitrogen, water clarity, lowest measured concentrations
of dissolved oxygen, and Chlorophyll-a pigments (proxy for phytoplankton biomass/blooms). Nutrient related trophic
health scales generally range from Oligotrophic (healthy-low nutrient) to Mesotrophic (showing some signs of
deterioration of health due to nutrient enrichment) to Eutrophic (habitats significantly impaired and degraded, high
levels of nutrients and organic matter and community shifts). The Trophic Health Index Score used here is a standard
numerical scale based on criteria for open water embayments and uses the above mentioned measured parameters to
create a habitat quality scale (Howes et al. 1999, http://www.savebuzzardsbay.org).
Results:
Table 1. Summary of present status and trends of water/habitat quality of estuaries based on 2019 water quality
monitoring data reconciled against historic data collected from 2010-2018 and MA Estuaries Project
(MEP) nutrient threshold analyses undertaken for each system except Miacomet Pond.
Embayment TMDL Status Trend Trophic Health Score Remedial Actions
Nantucket
Harbor
0.35mg/L
(0.36mg/L
Polpis)
Approaching N
target
Improving High quality Planned sewering
Madaket
Harbor
0.45 mg/L Approaching N
target
Improving High-moderate
quality
Landfill remediation
Hummock
Pond
0.50mg/L Significantly
impaired
Variable Moderate-fair quality Pond openings
Long Pond 0.80mg/L Approaching N
target
Improving Fair quality Landfill remediation
Miacomet
Pond
0.60mg/L (not
regulated)
Significantly
impaired
Unchanged Moderate-fair quality Potential
dredging/chemical
treatment of nutrient
laden sediment
Sesachacha
Pond
0.60mg/L Moderate
improvement
Variable Moderate-fair quality Pond openings
Conclusion:
The Town of Nantucket has been working for decades to protect and more recently restore its estuaries and
their aquatic resources. At present and based on the 2010 - 2019 water quality database developed under the Island-
wide unified water quality monitoring program, activities to lower nitrogen enrichment and its negative impacts to
water and habitat quality have been planned and implementation is ongoing in four estuarine systems: Nantucket
Harbor (raised jetties and planned sewering), Madaket/Long Pond (lined landfill cells and future potential dredging),
Sesachacha Pond (biannual openings), Hummock Pond (biannual openings). In addition, the TON’s recent fertilizer
application by-law should reduce nutrient inputs into Nantucket’s embayments. As a result, it is anticipated that the
efficacy of these management activities should be seen in the present and future water quality monitoring results.
Figure 1. Temporal trends in Nantucket Total Nitrogen levels at all stations. Note that in all cases the 2017-2019 levels are lower
than the earliest grouping with 2014-2016 being in the middle. TN levels have declined harbor-wide over the past 10 years due to
nitrogen mitigation strategies implemented by the Town.
Figure 2. TN levels in Madaket Harbor main basin (MH-2,3-4), Hither Creek (MH-1) and Long Pond (stations Long 5 & 6) over the
past decade. Note that in all cases the 2017-2019 levels are similar to (but slightly lower than) the earlier grouping in Hither
Creek and Madaket Harbor. In contrast Long Pond shows significant reductions in over time.
0.000
0.200
0.400
0.600
0.800
1.000
1.200
1.400
Madaket Harbor / Long Pond
TN concentration (mg/L)
TN (avg. 2010,12,13)TN (avg. 2014,15,16)TN (avg. 2017,18,19)
Figure 3. Change in TN level in Hummock Pond main basin (HUM-1,3,5,7) and the Head of Hummock basin (HUM-7) over the past
decade grouped to reduce the variation to see if any trends existed. Note that the 2014-2016 (most successful pond openings)
showed the highest water quality (lowest TN levels) throughout the pond, while the previous period and recent period had higher
TN levels.
Figure 4. Summer average total nitrogen levels by station over time in freshwater Miacomet Pond. As a freshwater pond a
regulatory TMDL target for nitrogen or phosphorus has yet to be established. Miacomet Pond remains a nutrient degraded
system in 2019.
Figure 5. Total nitrogen levels by station over time in Sesachacha Pond, horizontal line is the TMDL Total Nitrogen (TN) level.
Longer openings in 2010-2014 resulted in lower TN levels, recent opening attempts are again being more successful (2018), but TN
levels remain above the target level.