United States
     Environmental Protection
     Agency
        RESEARCH  PROJECT
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
      Water Supply and Water Resources Division
         Urban Watershed Management Branch
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES MONITORING AND
SAMPLING DATA
                                                         IMPACT STATEMENT
                                       This  project  will increase the  performance knowledge  of  Best
                                       Management Practices  (BMP)  and  to  assess BMP operation and
                                       maintenance effects on the performance of BMPs. There are currently
                                       no maintenance criteria for pollutants other than solids.

BACKGROUND:
Previous research  has indicated that maintenance schedules can have a  profound impact on the chemical oxygen
demand being discharged from a BMP.  There are also impacts on metal sediment concentration. This project is being
conducted to confirm results, extend to individual nutrient species, link to more easily monitored surrogate parameters
(if possible), and to confirm impacts on sediment metal concentrations.

DESCRIPTION:
This project  will monitor BMPs (in the Staten Island, NY Bluebelt) before and after  maintenance to assess BMP
performance for scheduling maintenance activity for stressors (pollutants) other than solids.  Secondly, soil sampling will
be conducted adjacent to water control structures to test for concentrations of inorganic nitrogen and soil properties in
soils for nitrate control. Sediment metal concentrations will also be tested to confirm impacts due to maintenance.

EPA GOAL: Goal #2 - Clean & Safe Water, Objective 2.2.1 - Improve Water Quality on a Watershed Basis
ORD MULTI YEAR PLAN: Water Quality (WQ), Long Term Goal - WQ-2 Protection and Restoration of Aquatic Systems
RESEARCH PARTNERS:
Collaborators: New York City Department of Environmental Protection

EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS

These data  may  support efforts to determine  denitrification rates  in  these soils and  may lead to future
recommendations to alter water levels in the BMPs to promote nitrate removal via denitrification by flooding wetland
soils adjacent to water control structures in the Bluebelt.
      National Risk Management Research Laboratory
      Water Supply and Water Resources Division

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OUTPUTS:
A draft journal article on maintenance needs to manage nutrients in retention ponds is expected in 2012.
RESOURCES:
The Staten Island Bluebelt: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/dep projects/bluebelt.shtml
National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL): http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/
Urban Watershed Management Research: http://www.epa.gov/ednnrmrl/
CONTACT:
Thomas P. O'Connor, Principal Investigator - (732) 321-6723 or oconnor.thomas@epa.gov
Steven Doub, Media Relations - (513) 569-7503 or doub.steven@epa.gov
Michelle Latham, Communications - (513) 569-7601 or latham.michelle@epa.gov



      National Risk Management Research Laboratory
      Water Supply and Water Resources Division
www.epa.gov/nrmrl
EPA/600/F-09/032
October 2009

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