Water_Lab (1)

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Portland State University *

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Dec 6, 2023

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Lab 2: Watersheds and Water Quality In this week’s lab, you will be exploring watersheds, stream characterization, and water quality using a set of online interactive tools, graphs, and references. You will be working in small groups during your regularly scheduled lab time and be able to ask questions to your TA as you navigate the assignment. Deliverable: You will turn in a complete document with answers to the following 10 bolded questions. When writing up your deliverable, please include the question and your associated answer below it in blue. Be sure to answer each part of the 10 questions and write your answers in complete sentences. Although you will be working through answers within groups and in-class, your answers must be written by you and each student must submit their own document. When you are finished, upload your assignment as a PDF or Word doc to the assignment drop box on Canvas by midnight the day before your lab. This lab is worth 10 points. Part I: Watersheds (5 questions, 5 points) We will introduce the following links in class to get you started ● http://www.washingtonnature.org/fieldnotes/two-minute-takeaway-what-is-a- watershed ● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pwW2rlGIa8 ● https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/hows-my-waterway Instructions: A. Go to this link to view how watersheds connect in the USA http://watersheds.fernleafinteractive.com/ Search for Region Pacific Northwest and zoom in Take note of upstream (red), and downstream (blue) locations. Hover your cursor over the Columbia River, just north of Portland. Now hover the cursor over the Sandy River (between Portland and Mt. Hood, south of the Columbia River). 1a. What do you notice about the size of the upstream area in either case? Why do you think this is? Locate the Great Basin on the map (hint it’s in Nevada). Hover the cursor around this area. 1b. What do you notice about the downstream areas, does the water flow to the ocean? Why do you think that is?

Go to this link to view a streamflow map of the United States: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/index.php?id=ww_past Change the time period to 28 days, and the year to 2015 (leave today’s month and day). Take note of the values in the Pacific Northwest. 2. Are the flow values generally above or below normal? Now change the year to 2016. 3. How do the values of streamflow differ in 2016 from 2015 in the Pacific Northwest, why do you think this changes year to year? Observe and compare the (2) graphs below which represent surface water runoff (in some cases floods following rain events or, in some cases, show the effects of ocean tides on rivers). Surface water Peak streamflow for Bull run river (In Northern extent of Columbia River watershed)

Surface water Peak streamflow for Beaver Creek (In Southern extent of Columbia River watershed) 4. a. On the Bull Run graph, is the rate of increase quick (sharp peaks) or gradual (rounded or low peaks) between years (HINT: connect the dots)? 4. b. On the Beaver Creek graph, is the rate of increase quick (sharp peaks) or gradual (rounded peaks) between years? (HINT: connect the dots)? 5. Which year has the highest peak streamflow, and which has the lowest for each of the graphs? Why do you think the Bull run graph is different from the Beaver Creek (some examples; size, qualities, flooding, elevation and watershed size when comparing)? Google search for more information about each stream to help answer the question.

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Part II: Stream characterization and water quality (5 questions, 7 points) Open Google Earth and take a look at Balch Creek, along the Lower Macleay trail in Forest Park. We will be visiting Balch Creek on our second field trip. This lab uses data collected from Balch Creek. Balch Creek is a tributary of the Willamette River, and flows north from the West Hills of Portland. The stream is 5.6km in length and drains 9.1km2. Most of the watershed is located within the urban forest with park and natural area use, but there is development in the upper portion of the basin (BES 2010). Read the following background information: Water temperature controls the rates of biological and chemical processes, and is a fundamental component to water quality. Higher temperatures may increase algae populations, which may lead to uncontrolled blooms that deplete the water of oxygen content (IPCC 2007). Therefore water temperature and dissolved oxygen are highly, and inversely, correlated. Temperature-sensitive aquatic species may not be able to survive in water outside of a certain temperature range and without enough dissolved oxygen. Land use change, in the form of urban intensification, may lead to increased air and stream temperatures (Paul and Meyer 2001). This is because land use practices directly affect habitat and water quality by influencing the chemical and physical nature of streams. As land is developed, the amount of impervious surface increases and more water runs off the land instead of infiltrating into the soil, carrying pollutants to nearby water bodies. Forests and undeveloped land adjacent to streams help protect water quality and habitat by filtering pollutants from runoff waters. Vegetated buffers may also provide shade during summer months and protect stream life from higher temperatures, as well as prevent sediment loading in the stream by controlling erosion. Additional complexities down the trophic cascade can also affect the physical and chemical nature of streams; e.g. disproportionally high pressure of large herbivores (e.g. deer, elk) can significantly alter the abundance, and hence the shade that riparian vegetation provides. Such impacts have been studied in areas where top predators (i.e. wolves, mountain lion) were removed from the landscape; e.g. Yellowstone, Banff, and Yosemite National Parks. Across Forest Park, invasive plants, particularly English ivy, English holly, and Himalayan blackberry, can reduce diverse, native plant communities to indistinct monocultures of a single or few groundcover or shrub species. When invasive plants are not controlled, the resulting lack of floristic diversity is particularly detrimental to arthropod diversity, but it is likely to have broad negative impacts on the distribution and abundance of vertebrate wildlife too (PP&R 2012)

Now you will graphically examine the relationships among air temperature, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen that we have plotted for you (see below), using real datasets from Balch Creek. Stream characterization refers to collecting accurate information that may be used to determine the extent and severity of pollution problems, as well as to guide decisions about specific strategies for remediating waterways and locating systems for water quality improvement (Skousen and Mains 1997). This may include water quantity and quality measurements, macroinvertebrate sampling, assessment of watershed and riparian land use/cover, soil composition and structure, or other parameters of interest to the researcher. Water quality is a measure of the suitability of water for a particular use based on selected physical, chemical, and biological characteristics (USGS 2001). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for establishing and regulating nationwide standards for water quality. In this section you will examine relationships among variables. The graphs below show the relationship between air and water temperatures, and the set on the right show water temperature and dissolved oxygen. Each graph displays a pattern that represents the type of relationship that the variables share. In general, there are three types: Positive: the relationship between the two variables is such that a change in one variable is associated with a change in the other variable, in the same direction. Negative: the relationship between the two variables is such that a change in one variable is associated with a change in the other variable, in the opposite direction. Unclear: there is no discernible direction in the relationship between the two variables. 6 Graph questions (4 questions, 4 points): 1. Using the graphs above, what is the relationship between water temperature and air temperature (positive, negative, or unclear)? (Hint: pick a line graph relationship listed below

and indicate why you think these variables have this relationship, also read background info and draw a straight line on each graph, going through as many points as possible). 2. What is the relationship between water temperature and dissolved oxygen? Why do these variables demonstrate this relationship? 3. These graphs show 12 years of data. If in the next 12 years air temperatures averaged 2˚C higher, how might water temperatures change? Do you think both graphs would be equally affected? Explain. 4. If managers planted trees next to the streams to increase shading, how might dissolved oxygen be affected in Balch creek? Explain. Stream and riparian characterization questions (1 question, 1 point) : For the purposes of this section, you will use stream characterization to gain an understanding of the processes and patterns operating within each watershed. Make sure to review the material provided and the references listed below; i.e. especially those by the Portland Parks and Recreation Office (PP&R) to learn more about stream characterization and Balch Creek. 5. Develop three suggestions that watershed managers might employ to help improve water quality in this watershed (other than the example provided in question four, “plant trees”). References City of Portland, OR, Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) and Brown & Caldwell. 1998. Fanno Creek Resource Management Plan. City of Portland, OR, Bureau of Environmental Services (BES). 2010. Westside streams water quality and trend analyses status report. Confalonieri, U., Menne B., Akhtar, R., Ebi, K.L., Hauengue, M., Kovats, R.S., Revich, B. and A. Woodward. 2007. Human health. Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK. Cordy, G. E. 2001. A primer on water quality. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet FS-027-01. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-027-01/. Paul, M. J. and J. L. Meyer. 2001. Streams in the urban landscape. Annual Review of Ecology and the Systematics 32: 333-365. Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R). 2012. Forest Park Wildlife Report. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/427357 Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R). 2007. Riparian Habitat Conditions Assessment Report of Balch

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Creek. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=155700 Skousen, J. and C. Mains. 1997. Watershed characterization handbook for streams impacted by acid mine drainage (You can’t judge a stream by its color). Presented at the Acid Mine Drainage Conference and the National Coalition for Rural Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation, Pittsburgh, PA. US EPA. 1997. Volunteer stream monitoring: A methods manual. US EPA Office of Water: Washington, D.C. EPA 841-B-97-003.

Water_Lab (1)

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