Water quality monitoring at Acadia National Park: Northeast Temperate Network 2011 summary report

Gawley, William

From Official Introduction: "This report on the water quality of Acadia National Park (ACAD) generated by the Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) Water Quality Monitoring Program includes data gathered in the 2011 monitoring season and displays these results in graphic form, accompanied by a brief interpretation. Appendix A contains data collected from 2006 through 2011. The vital signs for freshwater bodies included in the NETN Freshwater Monitoring Protocol (Lombard et al 2006) are water chemistry, nutrient enrichment, water quantity, and the detection of invasive plant species. These metrics were chosen to address the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program objective to detect change in the status of physical, chemical, or biological attributes of the ecosystem. The NETN freshwater monitoring protocol calls for a total of 37 park lakes and streams to be sampled monthly from May through October, with 11 sites monitored annually and the remainder visited on a 2 year (streams) or 3 year (lakes) rotating schedule. Park staff measure physical and in-situ water chemistry parameters each month, and periodically gather water samples for analysis at the University of Maine’s (UMO) Sawyer Environmental Chemistry Research Laboratory. Additionally, stage height (water level) is recorded weekly at 17 lakes during the open-water season. All monitoring data are incorporated into a series of comprehensive databases that ultimately feed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “STORET” data system, the repository for all NPS water quality and quantity data. Sampling Sites Acadia National Park lakes and streams that are monitored by NETN are mapped in Figure 1. Eight lake sites are sampled annually, while nine additional lakes are monitored as a part of a rotating design in which each lake is sampled every 3rd year. A total of eleven lakes are monitored each year. Three continuous-record stream sites (with stream flow gages that collect data automatically) are sampled annually, and seventeen partial-record stream sites (monthly stream flow data collection) are sampled using a rotating design where each site is sampled every other year. A maximum of nine partial-record sites and three continuous-record stream sites are sampled each year. The lake and stream sites monitored in 2011 are listed in Tables 1 and 2 respectively.”