science BRIEF
BUILDING A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS
www.epa.gov
Water Quality Research Program
Providing Research Solutions to Manage Water Quality
The Experimental Stream Facility
Clermont County, Ohio
Introduction
A watershed is the natural land area
that drains into a common waterway,
such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland,
aquifer, or even the ocean. Watersheds are
important—they supply drinking water,
provide recreation, and sustain life. So it's
also important to reduce the loading of
stressors (pollutants) to watershed streams
and lakes.
Part of EPA's Sustainable Water
Infrastructure Initiative is encouraging
the adoption of the "watershed approach,"
which is incorporating watershed-sensitive
alternatives into utility planning and
management practices. The watershed
approach is supported by the results from
the research conducted at the Experimental
Stream Facility (ESF).
Background
ESF is a research facility located in
Milford, Ohio. EPA leases ESF from
Clermont County, and scientists and
engineers from the Water Quality
Research Pogram in EPA's National
Risk Management Research Laboratory
(NRMRL) share space with the Clermont
County Sewer District Water Quality
Testing Laboratory.
ESF is in the watershed drained by the
Lower East Fork of the Little Miami
River. Water is pumped through ESF
from the Lower East Fork to provide a
balance between the controlled conditions
of a laboratory and the variability of the
natural environment necessary to sustain
native communities. Studies are performed
to understand the relationship dynamics
between the plant and animal life in the
laboratory and those in the river.
Small-stream ecosystems comprise
over 72 percent of the river miles in the
United States. Yet the role they play in
managing watershed-level water quality
remains uncertain and they are commonly
overlooked in watershed models. Many
small streams remain unregulated, so
they are put into culverts or replaced with
storm sewers during land development,
which eliminates any role they may play
in maintaining water quality. Researchers
in the Water Quality Research Program
conduct studies to better understand
the relative importance of small-stream
ecosystems and the role they play in
watershed management.
ESF is the result of collaborative efforts
from a number of sources. The facility
was originally designed for the needs of
a multinational corporation (the Proctor
and Gamble Company). Today, cross-
laboratory collaboration takes advantage
of expertise within several divisions
within EPA's Office of Research and
Development, while biweekly meetings
attended by project officers, technicians,
and contractor staff guide the research
activities.
National Risk Management
Research Laboratory
www.epa.gov/nrmrl/
Features
ESF is unique in design and experimental
setup. Because some stream channels
receive test chemical doses while others
do not, it is possible to distinguish
chemical effects from natural
environmental influences on stream
organisms. Emerging contaminants of
concern, such as endocrine-disrupting
compounds, can be added precisely and
simultaneously with the influent river
water at the head of each experimental
channel. Suspended solid and nutrient
concentrations in the supplied river water
can be manipulated as well. Very few
operations other than ESF have the level
of dosing precision and fail-safe design
hardwired into their experimental setup.
Furthermore, incoming and outgoing river
water and effluents can be automatically
monitored and recorded every few minutes
for temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen,
conductivity, stream flow conditions
(light levels, temperature, and humidity),
turbidity, and weather conditions.
ESF allows researchers to explore the
effects of contaminants on traditional
assessment endpoints, as well as to
develop new and more effective measures
(e.g., early warning biologically based
monitors and reproductive endpoints),
in a setting that can be scaled up to field
conditions. Plus, connections between
pollutant loads and biotic endpoints can
be identified, a critical step in developing
effective models in support of EPA water
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory
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quality regulations, and implementation
and monitoring plans.
The facility features:
• Stream channels - eight 40-foot-
long channels with upper and lower
sections and a tail tank; many flow
configurations are possible
• Water sources - two natural sources
(the East Fork of the Little Miami
River and the Heiserman Stream)
and final effluent from the adjacent
wastewater treatment plant
• Solar irradiance - special lights
simulate a stream with a forest canopy
and a stream in an open field
• Chemical dosing system
• Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (SCADA) system -
sensors, valves, and meters connected
to a central computer to monitor
and control flows, lights, chemical
delivery, and data collection
ESF may be used by scientists and
engineers in other federal agencies,
states, academic institutions, nonprofit
organizations, and private companies.
Provisions are in place to ensure that
EPA research will not be impacted by
any agreements. In most cases, EPA will
provide federal employees to operate
the facilities.
Objectives
The research conducted at ESF identifies
the links between known environmental
stressors in stream flow and the structure
and function of stream ecosystems.
However, attempts to measure the
effectiveness of specific watershed BMPs
on stream ecology have been unsuccessful
because the studies lacked a systematic
framework for linking pollution reductions
to in-stream biological conditions.
Water researchers are attempting to close
that data gap with the operation of ESF
and a watershed-level monitoring program
to test, apply, and calibrate results. The
goal is to amass sound scientific evidence
of how well management practices meet a
desired biotic endpoint.
ESF study results are incorporated into
a watershed research plan designed to
characterize, track, and model water
quality for better watershed management,
especially as the results relate to the
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Major objectives of ESF research include:
• Understanding the interaction
between stream organisms and
environmental stressors such as
consumer product chemicals
• Assessing the relative sensitivity
of acute, chronic, and mesocosm
(between a microcosm and a
macrocosm in size) studies for
understanding the toxicity of
consumer product chemicals in the
environment
• Assessing the ability of laboratory
fate tests to help researchers
understand fate (the movement and
transformation of pollutants over
time) in surface water
Results
In the first year of its operation,
experimental results have been published
and one proceedings paper delivered at
national and international meetings. In
2005, standard operating procedures were
developed during preliminary ESF studies
that manipulated stream flow regime as a
treatment effect. Baseline variables were
defined for each experiment.
In 2006, collaborative research began
with a dosing experiment that validated
bivalve behavioral monitoring as an early
warning of potential copper pollution.
Two screening studies were conducted
with endocrine-disrupting compounds.
These studies compared the response of
traditional indicators of ecological stress,
biomonitors, and new biotic exposure
endpoints in fathead minnows.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Since then, ESF research has evolved
into a multidisciplinary program, relying
on the expertise of ecologists, molecular
biologists, toxicologists, and engineers.
Each ESF study is designed to provide
information on ecosystem structure and
functions. The information is used in
relation to the development and testing
of new indicators of ecological stress,
water quality monitoring technologies,
and methods and models for water quality
management.
The chief beneficiaries are the
environmental decision makers who will
use ESF data in watershed models to
better characterize how streams react to
and process emerging contaminants and
stressful mixtures, and to quantitatively
link known stressors in stream flow with
the structure and function of stream
ecosystems.
CONTACT
Donald Brown
(513)569-7630
brown.donald(g!epa.gov
Christopher Nietch
(513)569-7460
nietch.christophertgiepa.gov
SEE ALSO
Water Quality Research Program
http://www.epa.gov/ORD/npd/waterqualityresearch-
intro.htm
Sustaining Our Nation's Water Infrastructure (PDF)
(24 pp, 640 KB)
http://www.epa.gov/waterinfrastructure/pdfs/
brochure_si_sustainingournationswaters.pdf
Sustainable Infrastructure for Water and Wastewater
http://www.epa.gov/waterinfrastructure/
Recycled/Recyclable
Printed with vegetable-based ink on
paper that contains a minimum of
50% post-consumer fiber content
processed chlorine free
EPA/600/F-08/006
July 2008
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