Mark A. Have 1973 <p>This study was done in response to the shellfish industry's&nbsp;concern that bacteria in effluent from the national wildlife refuges&nbsp;along the northeast coast of the United States may be adversely&nbsp;affecting the harvest of shellfish. A line graph shows inconsistent&nbsp;relationships between bird population at the Montezuma refuge and&nbsp;total coliform, fecal coliform, and fecal <i>Streptococci</i> counts. <i>Salmonella</i>&nbsp;were found in only one of 17 samples of water taken within&nbsp;the refuge. Counts of nonpathogenic bacteria in the two major streams&nbsp;flowing into the refuge, Black Brook and White Brook, were greater&nbsp;than they were in water flowing out of the refuge. Specific conductance&nbsp;of water flowing out of the refuge was less than that of water flowing&nbsp;into the refuge, although the effluent had higher concentrations of&nbsp;phosphorus and nitrogen than the influent. A settling-pond effect in the&nbsp;quiet water of the refuge may help explain the improvement in the&nbsp;quality of the water leaving the refuge. The study shows how its quality&nbsp;changes both chemically and biologically as water flows through the&nbsp;refuge. Further study is needed, however, to determine the effects that&nbsp;a similar effluent would have on a coastal habitat of shellfish.</p> application/pdf en U.S. Geological Suvey Effects of migratory waterfowl on water quality at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, Seneca County, New York article