Increased flood flows, decreased dry weather flows, erosion, and elevated concentrations of bacteria, nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants are water-related problems characteristic of urbanized areas. Urban Best Management Practices (BMPs) are actions or procedures that are designed to minimize these problems and may include stormwater retrofits and stream channel rehabilitation, street sweeping and litter clean-up days, anti-littering laws, enforcement of existing laws, and education. In 1999, the USGS, in cooperation with the State of Vermont and the City of Burlington, with additional support from the Lake Champlain Basin Program, initiated a study of the effectiveness of urban BMPs in the Englesby Brook watershed. Substances carried by Englesby Brook are flushed into Lake Champlain, an important resource shared by Vermont, New York, and Quebec.

 

To determine baseline water quality before BMPs are put in place, continuous streamflow and water-quality data are being collected on Englesby Brook at a stream-gaging station about 1,200 feet upstream from the mouth. Water samples are automatically collected when streamflow increases during storms or snowmelt and are subsequently analyzed for nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. E. coli bacteria are analyzed at the Burlington Main Wastewater Treatment Facility about 1 mile from the USGS collection site. Provisional data results are posted on the Englesby Brook web page at: http://vt.water.usgs.gov/CurrentProjects/Englesby/Englesby.htm

 

--Laura Medalie (802) 828-4512 or lmedalie@usgs.gov

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