New England WSC hydrologic technician collecting a water-quality sample at Maple Meadow Brook, Wilmington, MA.
Water Quality Data Collection to Support Aluminum Criteria Development in Massachusetts
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By New England Water Science Center
July 9, 2019
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) are collaborating on a study to collect water-quality data at streams and ponds in Massachusetts that receive aluminum discharges from wastewater treatment (WWTF) or public-water supply (PWS) facilities. The objective of this study is to inform the development of MassDEP guidelines on discharge-specific data collection to support the derivation of aluminum criteria using multiple linear regression (MLR) models developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2018 (EPA 2018).
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Aluminum sulfate (Alum) and polyaluminum chloride (PACL) are used in water treatment by both PWS facilities and WWTFs to bind with suspended particles, causing them to settle to the bottom, and by WWTFs to improve phosphorous removal. Aluminum can be toxic to aquatic life, more so to fish and sensitive life stages of amphibians, and less so to macroinvertebrates, amphibians, and birds. The toxicity of aluminum in aquatic environments is highly dependent upon water chemistry.
The EPA published updated aquatic life ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) guidance for aluminum in December 2018. The updated guidance reflects the latest science on aluminum toxicity, which shows that pH, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and hardness can affect the toxicity of aluminum in surface water. Unlike the fixed criteria in the 1988 AWQC guidance for aluminum (acute: 750 µg/L; chronic: 87 µg/L) (EPA 1988), the 2018 guidance uses MLR models to derive aluminum criteria that reflect water chemistry variability. EPA developed and released an Aluminum Criteria Calculator (V.2.0) that uses the MLR models to calculate recommended freshwater acute and chronic criteria based on local pH, DOC, and total hardness data entered by users.
Study objectives
The study objective is to collect water-quality data (pH, DOC, and hardness) at freshwater sites in Massachusetts, and to use this process to inform the development of MassDEP guidelines on discharge-specific data collection to support aluminum criteria derivation using EPA’s recommended 2018 AWQC guidance (EPA 2018).
Eleven facilities participated in the study, including four Wastewater Treatment Facilities and seven Public-Water Supply facilities. Sites associated with each facility were sampled once a month from April 2018 to April 2019 to provide for sampling over an entire year.
Water-quality samples were also collected and analyzed for dissolved copper, sodium, chloride, potassium, sulfate, and alkalinity. These data will be useful to MassDEP for the development of guidelines for using EPA’s recommended Biotic Ligand Model to derive freshwater copper criteria (separate from this project).
An overview of Surface Water Quality Standards Review and Development Activities at the MassDEP Watershed Planning Program can be found here:
https://www.mass.gov/regulations/314-CMR-4-the-massachusetts-surface-water-quality-standards
Collecting a water-quality sample
New England WSC hydrologic technician collecting a water-quality sample at Maple Meadow Brook, Wilmington, MA.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) are collaborating on a study to collect water-quality data at streams and ponds in Massachusetts that receive aluminum discharges from wastewater treatment (WWTF) or public-water supply (PWS) facilities. The objective of this study is to inform the development of MassDEP guidelines on discharge-specific data collection to support the derivation of aluminum criteria using multiple linear regression (MLR) models developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2018 (EPA 2018).
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Aluminum sulfate (Alum) and polyaluminum chloride (PACL) are used in water treatment by both PWS facilities and WWTFs to bind with suspended particles, causing them to settle to the bottom, and by WWTFs to improve phosphorous removal. Aluminum can be toxic to aquatic life, more so to fish and sensitive life stages of amphibians, and less so to macroinvertebrates, amphibians, and birds. The toxicity of aluminum in aquatic environments is highly dependent upon water chemistry.
The EPA published updated aquatic life ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) guidance for aluminum in December 2018. The updated guidance reflects the latest science on aluminum toxicity, which shows that pH, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and hardness can affect the toxicity of aluminum in surface water. Unlike the fixed criteria in the 1988 AWQC guidance for aluminum (acute: 750 µg/L; chronic: 87 µg/L) (EPA 1988), the 2018 guidance uses MLR models to derive aluminum criteria that reflect water chemistry variability. EPA developed and released an Aluminum Criteria Calculator (V.2.0) that uses the MLR models to calculate recommended freshwater acute and chronic criteria based on local pH, DOC, and total hardness data entered by users.
Study objectives
The study objective is to collect water-quality data (pH, DOC, and hardness) at freshwater sites in Massachusetts, and to use this process to inform the development of MassDEP guidelines on discharge-specific data collection to support aluminum criteria derivation using EPA’s recommended 2018 AWQC guidance (EPA 2018).
Eleven facilities participated in the study, including four Wastewater Treatment Facilities and seven Public-Water Supply facilities. Sites associated with each facility were sampled once a month from April 2018 to April 2019 to provide for sampling over an entire year.
Water-quality samples were also collected and analyzed for dissolved copper, sodium, chloride, potassium, sulfate, and alkalinity. These data will be useful to MassDEP for the development of guidelines for using EPA’s recommended Biotic Ligand Model to derive freshwater copper criteria (separate from this project).
An overview of Surface Water Quality Standards Review and Development Activities at the MassDEP Watershed Planning Program can be found here:
https://www.mass.gov/regulations/314-CMR-4-the-massachusetts-surface-water-quality-standards
Collecting a water-quality sample
New England WSC hydrologic technician collecting a water-quality sample at Maple Meadow Brook, Wilmington, MA.
New England WSC hydrologic technician collecting a water-quality sample at Maple Meadow Brook, Wilmington, MA.