Water Quality in the Lake Erie-Lake Saint Clair Drainages
Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania, 1996–98

By Donna N. Myers, Mary Ann Thomas, Jeffrey W. Frey, Stephen J. Rheaume, and Daniel T. Button

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 1203

The full report is available in pdf.  Links to the pdf.

A contribution of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program

• NATIONAL WATER-QUALITY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM
• SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS
  • Stream and River Highlights
  • Ground Water Highlights
• INTRODUCTION TO THE LAKE ERIE-LAKE SAINT CLAIR DRAINAGES
  • Major water-quality issues
  • Environmental setting and hydrologic conditions
• MAJOR FINDINGS
  • Pesticides were detected in every stream sample
  • The pesticides most frequently detected in streams were generally those most heavily applied
  • Pesticide metabolites were frequently detected
  • Pesticide concentrations in streams are related to land use, rainfall, runoff, and season
  • Pesticide concentrations in streams have public-health and economic consequences
  • Another consequence of heavy pesticide use is the potential effect on aquatic life
  • NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE—Concentrations of nutrients and herbicides in certain streams are among the highest in the Nation
  • Runoff from agricultural land to streams is an important pathway of phosphorus to Lake Erie
  • Decreases in the amounts of suspended sediment carried by rivers correspond to increases in farmers’ use of conservation tillage
  • Contamination of bed sediments may be causing adverse effects on aquatic life
  • Land use and chemical use contribute to the contamination of sediments and fish
  • Bioaccumulative contaminants in fish may pose a risk to fish-eating wildlife
  • Land use appears to affect fish-community composition
  • Recent residential development has had a widespread effect on ground-water quality
  • Ground water is vulnerable to contamination in agricultural areas underlain by till
  • NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE—Nitrate and herbicides in ground water in agricultural areas
• STUDY UNIT DESIGN
• APPENDIX–WATER-QUALITY DATA FROM THE LAKE ERIE-LAKE SAINT CLAIR DRAINAGES IN A NATIONAL CONTEXT
  • Chemical in Water
  • Chemical in Fish Tissue and Bed Sediment
  • Biological Indicators
• References
• A Coordinated Efffort
• Glossary