Water quality assessment of Prairie Creek Reservoir in Delaware County, Indiana.(Report)

ABSTRACT. Prairie Creek Reservoir, located in an agricultural watershed in east-central Indiana, serves as a secondary drinking water supply through water releases to the White River and offers various recreational activities including fisheries. Monitoring of the reservoir and knowledge of its water quality has been very limited. Therefore, this study monitored water quality at seven locations to assess the current status, observe spatial and temporal differences, and to initiate long-term monitoring that would support future management decisions. The results of 2005-2006 monitoring demonstrate that the reservoir is an eutrophic, dimictic water body characterized by weak summer stratification (max. [DELTA]T

Keywords: Eutrophication, nutrients, monitoring, reservoir

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In 2000, 45% of the lakes and reservoirs in the United States were classified as impaired for one or more uses; nutrients and agriculture were identified as the leading cause and source of those impairments (U.S. EPA 2000). Fertilizers designed to increase the biological productivity of agricultural soils may also increase biological productivity of waters draining these soils and contribute to lake and reservoir eutrophication (Jorgensen et. al. 2005). A persistent load of nutrients to a water body can cause algal blooms, overabundance of macrophytes, and eventually lead to depletion of dissolved oxygen from water, causing severe stress or even death to aquatic organisms (Carpenter et al. 1998; U.S. EPA 2000; Marshall et al. 2006; Mau 2002; Weld et al. 2002). Eutrophication can also negatively affect recreation, industrial use, water supplies, and fisheries due to development of undesirable taste and odor of drinking water supplies, increased cost of drinking water treatment, summer fish kills, and increased rates of sediment accumulation (Carpenter et al. 1998; U.S. EPA 2000; Jorgensen et al. 2005; Sharpley et al. 1995; Smith 2003; Weld et al. 2002).

Monitoring activities have been widely utilized to assess the existing water quality and the effectiveness of land management practices on receiving water bodies (U.S. EPA 2006a; Mau 2002). In the State of Indiana, the Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) performs watershed monitoring, including monitoring of publicly-owned lakes and reservoirs, with a goal to evaluate suitability of water resources to support their beneficial uses such as aquatic life, water supply, recreation, and fishing (IDEM 2004, 2006). With about 64% of land in Indiana used for agriculture, nutrients were identified as the major cause of pollution in the state's reservoirs (IDEM 2000). Based on monitoring between 2000 and 2004, 19% of the sampled lakes and reservoirs in Indiana were classified as oligotrophic, 46% mesotrophic, 25% eutrophic, and 9% as hypereutrophic (IDEM 2006).

In Delaware County, Indiana, privately-owned Prairie Creek Reservoir serves as a secondary water supply for the City of Muncie through water releases into the White River during the dry seasons. However, the reservoir also provides a venue for recreational activities, such as fishing, camping, and boating. It is owned by the Indiana-American Water Company but leased and maintained by the City of Muncie, Department of Parks and Recreation (Cescon 1997; Delaware Muncie-Metropolitan Plan Commission 2007). Currently, the future of development and land management in the reservoir watershed is uncertain as the lease to the City of Muncie expires in 2021. As a result, Delaware Muncie-Metropolitan Plan Commission developed the Prairie Creek Reservoir Master Plan to address the future of land development in the watershed (Delaware Muncie-Metropolitan Plan Commission 2007).

The water quality of the reservoir and its watershed is of great interest and concern to the public. Seventy-three percent of public survey respondents (n = 300) valued this reservoir as a unique feature in the county and 93.9% of respondents viewed the reservoir as a positive asset to the community (Delaware Muncie-Metropolitan Plan Commission 2007). To maintain the services and the value of this reservoir, it is necessary to maintain its good water quality. However, a limited number of studies have addressed this issue (Weaver 1964; Haman 1964; Cescon 1997).