Staff Writer
The water quality in Kennedy Brook and other area rivers and streams is improving but more remains to be done to ensure a healthy future for the waterways.
That was the determination of a group of environmental specialists who spent a month recently collecting data throughout Aroostook County, looking for whatever may be calling the waterways home, from good things like dragonfly larvae to less desirable findings such as contaminants like minerals and pesticides.
“The DEP performs this task once every five years,” said Environmental Specialist 4, Bill Sheehan, with the DEP office in Presque Isle.
On Aug. 20, Sheehan and a group of DEP researchers from Augusta made Kennedy Brook, just off the Chapman Rd., one of their first stops to see what had collected on meshed bags filled with rocks.
“Rock baskets were placed in 35 locations for a period of 30 days,” explained Sheehan, noting his office provided logistics help on the project.
Personnel from Augusta taking part in the collecting process with Sheehan included: Tom Danielson, a biologist with the bio-monitoring unit of DEP, based in Augusta; Amanda Roy, of the Augusta office; and Beth Connors, of DEP’s Portland office. Additional personnel working in other sections of Aroostook County included: Jeanne DiFranco, Hannah Wilhem and Michele Windsor.
Officials hoped to find the rocks colonized with macroinvertebrates.
“There are over 1,000 different bugs and insects” that call local waterways home, said Danielson. “Some require cold, clean water to survive and high oxygen. If we find communities with a lot of that — things like dragonfly larvae — it means the stream is healthy. That’s a good sign.
Other species, however, can tolerate more polluted conditions, such as slugs and snails.
“They tolerate low-oxygen conditions, areas that are nutrient-rich and more polluted. That’s a bad sign,” Danielson continued.
Kennedy Brook, according to Danielson, was sampled about five years ago and the result was not good.
“It didn’t come out that great,” he said, explaining, “Road work, construction and field run-off can affect water quality. It can cause low D.O. — dissolved oxygen — at night.”
Spring run-off and summer storms factor into water quality, since both create conditions whereby run-off finds its way into area waterways, such as Kennedy Brook.
“After a storm, there are surges — more water than a brook can handle,” said Danielson.
Sheehan said that’s the case with Kennedy.
“Kennedy gets a lot of storm water, all the way from The Aroostook Medical Center, Pine St., the University of Maine at Presque Isle area,” said Sheehan.
In all, Danielson said his group was focusing on 33 sites this year.
“We left rock bags submerged for a month. Macroinvertebrates use them like housing. They’re like new condominiums for them,” he said.
Three bags are placed at each site.
“We usually put them in a faster flowing area — try to have a rocky bottom,” said Danielson, as he made note of a caddisfly larvae. “This is a predator. It’s a fairly sensitive organism. It’s a good thing to find.”
Danielson said mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies tend to be sensitive organisms and need good, clean water to survive.
“Finding a high diversity of them is also a good sign. They’d be in the same stream where you’d find trout,” he said.
“Trout like cold water with lots of oxygen,” added Sheehan.
Sheehan said recent incidents have had their effect on the small brook that runs through downtown Presque Isle.
“I know in the last six years we’ve had fertilizer run-off — lawn fertilizer, oil spills, chlorine has affected Kennedy Brook,” said Sheehan. “It can all affect life in the brook.”
The insects found at the brook actually serve as a good indicator of the water’s quality, said Danielson.
“These insects spend their whole life here. They’re a better indicator of its (Kennedy Brook’s) long-term health,” Danielson said, noting it was still important to take chemical samples as well.
The data collected is “essentially a whole month’s worth of sampling,” said Sheehan.
“But if a problem’s found, that’s when the work begins to try to find out how to address it,” Sheehan said.
Danielson said his group also collected algae samples from the rocks.
“There’s probably 2,000 species of algae in the state,” he said.
The process also included taking the water temperature and determining an average for the month.
“Beth checked the PH — conductivity. That’s a measure of how many minerals/chemicals are in the water,” said Danielson, noting that for a forested stream in the county one would expect a reading of 100 to 200.
“This one (Kennedy) was 500. That’s a fair bit higher than you’d expect. Those are not all-natural minerals, meaning this brook can still stand some improvement,” he said. “Overall, it’s not looking the best.”
The state has established a water quality classification system to monitor and protect water quality. All of Maine’s water bodies are divided into categories:
• Rivers, streams, and small ponds;
• Ponds with more than 10 acres of surface area;
• Coastal and tidal waters; and
• Groundwater.
Within each category, waters are assigned a class rating of AA (best), A, B, and C. These ratings are then used to determine limits on licensed discharges of pollutants. (Information obtained from: www.mainerivers.org/legislation.htm#classification.)
Kennedy Brook was given a ‘B’ rating.
Pulling the bags from the water, the group proceeded to rinse the rocks in special buckets with mesh bottoms that let only let the water drain out. The samples collected from the brook were then transferred to jars with alcohol and transported back to Augusta where each species would be counted and classified.
“Our job is to go and monitor the health of a waterway to see if its attaining the goal or not,” said Danielson. “We work with the farming industry and towns to come up with a plan to keep waterways clean.”
“When a plan’s in place, that’s when federal funding for projects come into play,” noted Sheehan.
Danielson’s group and another crew covered several area waterways during their recent visit.
“Another crew sampled Squa Pan Stream and the Aroostook River out of Masardis,” he said.
Counties waterways sampled included: the Everett and Colony brooks, in Fort Fairfield; Merritt Brook, Caribou; Little Madawaska; Prestile Stream; St. John River; Fish River.
“We had a busy trip — five or so waterways a day. Overall, we dealt with 33 locations. We’ve sampled a lot of sites and many look very good,” said Danielson. “And we’ll continue to monitor those that could use some improvement.”
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
SPECIMEN SAMPLES from area waterways were saved and sent to Augusta, where DEP officials will determine the types found and what it means to the overall quality of the water. Here, Bill Sheehan, Environmental Specialist 4, of the DEP office in Presque Isle, pours alcohol into a jar held by Amanda Roy, of the Augusta DEP office, after samples were collected at Kennedy Brook in Presque Isle.
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
DETERMINING WATER QUALITY — Tom Danielson, a biologist with the bio-monitoring unit of DEP, based in Augusta, lifts a bag of rocks from Kennedy Brook during a recent expedition to determine the quality of the water. DEP officials placed bags in 33 waterways throughout Aroostook this summer, going back recently to collect them to see what types of algae and larvae took up residence on the rocks. The results help determine whether the water quality is good or needs improvement.
