Deerfield River Watershed Water Quality (2021-2023)

Deerfield River

Green River

DRWA

Chloride

Nitrogen

Phosphorus

Bacteria

E. coli

Turbidity

Conductivity

Tributaries

2021

2022

2023

Author

Ryan O’Donnell

Published

July 2, 2024

Monitoring Background

The Deerfield River Watershed Association (DRWA) monitoring program first begin in 2017. This report is a review of the past three years of data collected by volunteers at sites throughout Deerfield watershed, including its tributaries, in both Vermont and Massachusetts. It was conducted with the support of the Vermont Department of Environmental Concervation’s (VT DEC) LaRosa Partnership Program, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Mass DEP) Water Quality Monitoring Grant, the Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC), the Green River Watershed Alliance (GRWA), and DRWA volunteers.

The goals of this watershed monitoring program are to engage volunteers and educate our members by collecting quality assured data about the rivers in our watershed. This data will be used to provide recreational safety information, guide restoration efforts by DRWA, CRC, or other partners, and to assist VT DEC and MassDEP with their assessments.

Monitoring Locations

Interactive Map

The map below is interactive. Hover your mouse (or click if using a touch screen) over a point, line, or shape on the map to see more information about that feature.

Results by Parameter

About E. coli

Escherichia coli is a coliform bacteria found in the guts of all warm-blooded animals (including mammals, birds, and humans) that is excreted when they poop. Not all E. coli is pathogenic (illness causing), but some strains can be extremely harmful. It is used an indicator organism for fecal contamination of rivers and lakes. Because it is found in the gut, abundant E. coli numbers in water mean there is a higher likelihood that the water is contaminated with human or animal waste and that there is an increased risk of waterborne illness. This could be from one of the harmful strains of E. coli or other pathogenic organisms that are often found in human or animal waste but are much more difficult or costly to test for.

Single E. coli organism colored purple — Source: WikiCommons

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made water quality recommendations for levels of E. coli to determine suitability for recreation. These are broken down into primary and secondary contact recreation. Primary contact means there is a high likelihood of accidentally ingesting water due to being fully immersed in the water such as during swimming, water skiing, or surfing. Secondary contact means there is a lower likelihood of accidentally swallowing water due to water spray or brief unintended immersion such as boating, fishing, or wading. In this report and throughout CRC’s sharing of bacteria data, “swimming” is shorthand for primary contact and “boating” is shorthand for secondary contact.

Results

The results below are grouped by site and then by wet or dry weather. Wet weather is classified as greater than one tenth an inch (>0.1”) of rain in the 24 hours prior to sampling.

Interactive Charts

These graphs are interactive! Hover your mouse (or click if using a touch screen) over the boxes to see the quartile and mean values. Hover your mouse (or click if using a touch screen) over a point to see the individual result, the date of the sample, and to highlight other samples from the same date on the graph.

The dry weather averages for these sites regularly meet
the standard for swimming. The furthest downstream site,
Wilimington Above Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF),
was only tested a few times and only after wet weather, so
there is unfortunately no dry weather data for that site.
The average after wet weather was acceptable upstream of
Wilmington Center, but then was above the standard at the
two lower sites. Past analysis of results from this section
of the river has suggested that elevated bacteria coming
from Beaver Brook (just upstream of the Wilmington Center
site) could be contributing to these higher levels but is
not the sole source. Agricultural and urban runoff may also
be sources of elevated bacteria during wet weather at these
locations.

The mainstem Deerfield River has very good water quality
throughout the length tested during dry weather and at most
locations during wet weather as well. The 5 & 10 Bridge site
is downstream of the confluence with the Green River, which
receives a majority of the runoff from Greenfield. Even with
that urban runoff input, the average level at the 5 & 10
Bridge site is only slightly above the swimming standard.

The Green River changes drastically as it flows from rural
Vermont through some agricultural use and into the city of
Greenfield near its mouth. The water quality reflects this
change in landscape as the bacteria counts are typically low
upstream of Greenfield and then increase as the river flows
through Greenfield. In between the two Greenfield sampling
locations, a small tributary named Maple Brook enters the
Green. Maple Brook is mostly buried under Greenfield and
receives almost all the stormwater from the town when it
rains, which all goes into the Green River between those
two sites. Because even the dry weather samples are often
elevated in Greenfield, there are likely additional sources
of bacteria in addition to precipitation runoff.

The East Branch North River has mysteriously high bacteria
levels in Jacksonville, VT, that are somewhat attenuated
by the Foundry Village Rd sampling location in Colrain, MA.
DRWA has tested upstream and downstream of the wastewater
treatment facility (WWTF) and it is not the source of
bacteria. Some other small source tracking efforts have
been taken that have not identified potential sources of
bacteria in Jacksonville. The South River flows through
many agricultural fields and has somewhat variable bacteria
levels in both wet and dry weather.

About Nitrogen

Total nitrogen (TN) tests for nitrogen in all its forms, including nitrate (NO3-), nitrite (NO2-), ammonium (NH4+), and as part of organic matter. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plants and can be found in the atmosphere as well as all living beings. It is also a key component of many fertilizers. An overabundance of nitrogen in our waterways can contribute to eutrophication (overgrowth of algae) and anoxia (lack of oxygen) in saltwater systems, such as Long Island Sound which is where all the water from the Deerfield watershed ends up eventually. Nitrogen levels can also contribute to eutrophication in freshwater systems that also have high phosphorus levels.

There is no numerical state standard for nitrogen in Massachusetts and the standard in Vermont is a very lax 5.0 mg-N/L of water. No sites that we test come close to exceeding that standard. The EPA recommends a limit of 0.38 mg-N/L based on what natural levels would be in this region. We choose to compare our results to the EPA suggested standard.

Results

The results below are grouped by site and then by flow level. Low flows are considered the bottom 25% of flows of all time, moderate flows are the middle 50%, and high flows are the top 25%. These flows are determined by analyzing the nearest 1-2 USGS gage stations. In order to prioritize safety, volunteers never collect during flooding or other high flow conditions which would make sampling dangerous.

Total nitrogen is very soluble in water and so is easily diluted in higher flows. Most of the sites below show that the levels are the lowest during moderate flows. During high flows, there is a variety of concentrations, likely depending on how much extra sediment and contamination the water is moving.

During this time period, total nitrogen testing was conducted only at sites selected to participate in the VT Agency of Natural Resource’s LaRosa Partnership Program (LPP). Sites in Vermont are nominated by DRWA and local state employees and then selected based on overarching data needs in Vermont and availability of funding.

Interactive Charts

Overall, the total nitrogen levels in the North Branch
Deerfield River are usually below the EPA recommendation
with a slight increasing trend moving from upstream to
downstream.

We have only one site that was tested during this time
period on the Green River. Total nitrogen levels were
usually below the EPA recommendation.

The East Branch North River was tested above and below
the Jacksonville Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF)
for two years downstream and one year upstream. There are
significantly higher nitrogen levels downstream of the
WWTF, which is to be expected. In low flow conditions, the
TN levels in the East Branch North River tend to exceed the
EPA recommendation.Beaver Brook TN levels tend to be below
the EPA recommendation, but are occasionally borderline in
both low and moderate flows. Ellis Brook is downstream of
recently rebuilt settling ponds of the North Branch Fire
Distrct #1 WWTF and TN levels are extremely low.Negus Brook
is a tributary to Ellis Brook that was tested accidentally
due to locating the sampling site using outdated aerial
imagery. Interestingly, despite theoretically not being
impacted by the WWTF, its TN levels are much more variable.

About Phosphorus

Total phosphorus (TP) tests for phosphorus in all its forms, including organic and inorganic phosphates (PO4-3). Organic phosphates are those that are bound to plant or animal tissue and formed primarily through biological processes, but they may occur from the breakdown of organic pesticides. Inorganic phosphates include orthophosphates, produced in natural processes and found in sewage, and polyphosphates, used in treating boiler waters and in detergents. An overabundance of phosphorus in our waterways can contribute to toxic algae blooms, eutrophication, and anoxia in freshwater systems, such as lakes and ponds. Phosphorus levels can also contribute to eutrophication in saltwater systems that also have high nitrogen levels.

There is no numerical state standard for phosphorus in Massachusetts and the standard in Vermont is based on gradient and temperature. All except one of the sites are high or medium gradient cold-water streams which have a standard of 9 μg-P/L for Class A(1) and B(1) waters and 15 μg-P/L for Class B(2) waters. Currently, Vermont’s Deerfield watershed streams are classified as B(2); the Vermont portion of the Green River may be reclassified to A(1). Both standards are shown on the charts below.

Results

Total phosphorus tends to cling to sediment rather than dissolve in water so is transported in higher concentrations during high flows. Most of the sites below show that the levels are the lowest during moderate flows but much higher in high flows.

During this time period, total phosphorus testing was conducted only at sites selected to participate in the VT Agency of Natural Resource’s LaRosa Partnership Program (LPP). Sites in Vermont are nominated by DRWA and local state employees and then selected based on overarching data needs in Vermont and availability of funding.

It is important to note that the graphs below have a logarithmic y-axis to better show the spread of results. That was needed because some of the high results collected during an extremely heavy rain event in July 2021 were too high to see on the same graph as the rest of the results with a linear axis.

Interactive Charts

Total Phosphorus seems consistently highest on the North
Branch Deerfield River at the Valley Trail site which is
located a mile or so downstream of the Mount Snow ski area
including its former snowmaking pond Snow Lake. We have
added a site in 2024 just downstream of Snow Lake so it
will be interesting to see if sediment contributions from
the lake are driving this high point or if we should look
for other potential sources. Overall, levels range greatly
moving downstream from there with the highest concentrations
occurring during high flows and lowest during moderate
flows.

Total phosphorus levels at the state line were on average
below the standards in both low and moderate flows and quite
a bit higher during high flows. This is consistent with
the observation of significant amounts of sediment moving
through the Green River watershed during high flows due to
several active landslides in the headwaters.

The East Branch North River was tested above and below
the Jacksonville Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF)
for two years downstream and one year upstream. There are
significantly higher phosphorus levels downstream of the
WWTF, which is to be expected. The TP levels both above and
below the WWTF tend to exceed the state standards although
levels are significantly higher downstream.Beaver Brook
also tends to have consistently higher than ideal phosphorus
levels, especially during low flow conditions. Ellis Brook
is downstream of recently rebuilt settling ponds of the
North Branch Fire Distrct #1 WWTF and TP levels are pretty
low, especially in comparison to other. Negus Brook is a
tributary to Ellis Brook that was tested accidentally due
to locating the sampling site using outdated aerial imagery.
Interestingly, despite theoretically not being impacted by
the WWTF, its TP levels are much more variable and higher
overall.

About Turbidity

Turbidity is a measure of how murky or cloudy water is. Clay, silt, finely divided inorganic and organic matter, algae, soluble colored organic compounds, and microscopic organisms all contribute to how turbid water is. Low and slow flows in streams tend to be less turbid while high flows after rain events are usually more turbid. Turbidity is a measured by the intensity of light scattered by particles suspended in a water sample. It is measured in nephometric turbidity units (NTU). Typically, low flowing, clear water have turbidity values of 10 NTU or lower.

The Massachusetts standard for turbidity is stated as “These waters shall be free from color and turbidity in concentrations or combinations that are aesthetically objectionable or would impair any use assigned to this Class.” Vermont water quality standards state that average annual turbidity should not exceed 10 NTU in Class A and cold water fishery Class B waters; the average should not exceed 25 NTU in warm water fishery Class B waters.

Results

In most cases, turbidity is most affected by sediment suspended in the water and so we expect to see higher values during high flows. Most of the sites below show that the levels are the lowest during moderate flows but much higher in high flows.

It is important to note that the graphs below have a logarithmic y-axis to better show the spread of results.

Interactive Charts

Overall, turbidity in the North Branch Deerfield River tends
to be low with the highest levels being at the Valley Trail
site which is downstream of Mount Snow and Snow Lake.

The mainstem of the Deerfield River also has very low
turbidity results. The river passes through several dams
which would also trap sediment as it moves downstream which
would reduce turbidity overall.

Since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, the Green River has
been known to run very muddy after any significant rainfall.
These results reflect this with higher turbidity levels
being recorded on occasion, but overall results are still
very low.

Across the board, all the other tributary locations tend to
have low turbidity levels.

About Chloride

Chlorides (Cl) are naturally found in both salt and fresh water environments. Chloride ions separate from chloride salts, such as sodium chloride (table salt), potassium chloride, or magnesium chloride. Concentrations of chlorides in the environment have increased sharply since the widespread adoption of using road salts as a deicer starting in the 1970s. Chlorides can also come from water softener discharge, wastewater effluent, fertilizers, or dust inhibitors used on dirt roads in the summer. Chloride concentrations tend to be higher in areas with lots of pavement and other treated surfaces. High chloride concentrations in freshwater systems can stress or kill aquatic plants and animals.

There are no standards for chlorides in either Vermont or Massachusetts. US EPA has recommended that waters not exceed 860 mg/L for acute toxicity or 230 mg/L for chronic toxicity.

About Conductivity

Specific conductivity (also known as specific conductance) is a measure of how well water conducts electricity. Conductivity is easy to test for and gives a broad look at potential water quality issues. It can be affected by the underlying geology and soil (ions dissolved out of rocks and soil), acid mine drainage (variety of metals and other contaminants), agricultural runoff (including nitrates and phosphates), and road runoff (automobile fluids and road salt). Sudden changes in conductivity could indicate a change in water quality. In the northeastern United States, conducitivity levels are primarily influenced by road salts

Conductivity is not in itself regulated but is a good indicator of road salt usage or other water quality problems.

Results

Because these two parameters are so closely related, the two charts are shown next to each other below.

Both chloride and specific conductance tend to dilute at higher flows, so the lowest concentrations are observed at the highest flows.

During this time period, chloride testing was conducted only at sites selected to participate in the VT Agency of Natural Resource’s LaRosa Partnership Program (LPP). Sites in Vermont are nominated by DRWA and local state employees and then selected based on overarching data needs in Vermont and availability of funding. Specific Conductance testing was conducted at all locations.

Interactive Charts

Once again, the highest levels of both chloride and specific
conductance are at the Valley Trail site located downstream
of Mount Snow and Snow Lake. Ski areas experience a lot of
winter traffic and tend to use more road salt in the name of
safety. Many of Mount Snow’s parking lots are near Snow Lake
with little to no buffer to prevent road salt runoff from
entering the water.

There are no chloride results for the mainstem of the
Deerfield but specific conductance levels are consistently
low for the entire length monitored.

The upper Green River watershed has lower specific
conductance, and it increases as it moves into Greenfield.
The State Line site shows that the upper watershed chloride
levels are extremely low.

Of the other tributaries, South River and Negus Brook have
the highest specific conductance. Negus Brook is also on the
list of sites that gets tested for chloride and it has the
highest chloride levels of the other tributaries.

Conclusions and Next Steps

Overall, the Deerfield River Watershed has very good water quality for the region, especially the Massachusetts portion of the mainstem Deerfield River. The North Branch Deerfield River in Wilmington, the East Branch North River in Jacksonville, and the Green River in Greenfield are heavily impacted at times. Wilmington and Greenfield would benefit from efforts to reduce urban and agricultural runoff. In the case of Jacksonville, it is unclear where the source of bacteria is but once identified should be addressed.

Water quality monitoring is continuing through 2024 and planned for 2025. An additional site was added between the Upstream of Mount Snow and the Valley Trail location to better parse what impacts Snow Lake may be having on water quality. Bacterial source tracking is ongoing in Jacksonville as time and funding allow.