From: Smith, Michael B <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 7:38 AM To: Lumino, Karen Subject: FW: unnamed stream state endangered or threatened species
Kathy's email below should answer your question.
Michael B. Smith Waste Management Prevention Division VT Dept Environmental Conservation One National Life Drive Davis One Montpelier, VT 05620-3704 802 249-5826
From: Kashanski, Cathy Sent; Thursday, January 09, 2014 3:45 PM To: Smith, Michael B Subject: RE: unnamed stream state endangered or threatened species
Hi Michael,
Idon't see that stream mapped on the stream layer that Ihave but if there is a culvert transporting it in some areas and there is a low area (and you are right you can almost see a channel in some spots) then an "unmapped intermittent stream" would be appropriate. I imagine too that the trees were left in that area to perhaps protect the stream (that perhaps flowed more at one point?).
Cathy Kashanski ANR DEC WSMD River/Stream Assessment
From: Smith, Michael B Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2014 10:18 AM To: Kashanski, Cathy Cc: [email protected]
Subject: FW: unnamed stream state endangered or threatened species
Kathy:
Another question about the Commerce St area if you don't mind. At the intersection of Shunpike Road and South Brownell (see attached map) there is a depression that seemsto be an intermittent stream that conveys groundwater discharge. It is in culverts in some areas but there seems to be a visible almost a stream on aerial images.
is there a specific "scientific" term we should use to refer to this area, or should we just call it an unmapped intermittent stream?
Michael B. Smith Waste Management Prevention Division VT Dept Environmental Conservation One National Life Drive Davis One Montpelier, VT 05620-3704 802 249-5826
From: Lumino, Karen fmailto:[email protected] Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2014 9:52 AM To: Smith, Michael B Subject: RE: unnamed stream state endangered or threatened species
How should we describe the surface water that flows under shunpike road near south brownell? I've never really thought of that as a stream confirmed by the fact that it doesn't show up on cathy's map either as a stream. But it is frequently wet in the back corner and there is surface water there.
From: Smith, Michael B [mailto:[email protected] Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 9:51 AM To: Lumino, Karen Subject: FW: unnamed stream state endangered or threatened species
I hope this helps
Michael B. Smith Waste Management Prevention Division VT Dept Environmental Conservation One National Life Drive Davis One Montpelier, VT 05620-3704 802 249-5826
From: Kashanski, Cathy Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 9:26 AM To: Smith, Michael B Subject: RE: unnamed stream state endangered or threatened species
Hi Michael,
First of all attached is the "mini-report" that I have done trying toget my head around the conditionsin Trib 4 to Muddy Brook (and Trib to Trib 4-the little segment that goes up behind Commerce Street) and which is exactly Trib 4's drainage - it has not been easy due to the dense development that has buried the stream, filled wetlands, and via stormwater systems changed the drainage area.
Secondly -here is my understanding in terms of answers to Karen's questions below. 1) This is a very small tributary and I don't believe there is habitat for endangered species there. When I put the
rare, threatened, and endangered species layer on inGIS, there is nothing that shows for that tributary or Muddy Brook where the tributary joins. Rich Langdon is correct I believe.
2) All of our streams, brooks, rivers etc. have aquatic biota/habitat as a state designated use. 3) Yes the Winooski River downstream is a known fishery.
I hope that this helps. Could we get a final copy of the Nobis report once it is considered final? Thanks!
« Cathy
Cathy Kashanski ANR DEC WSMD River/Stream Assessment
From: Smith, Michael B Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 7:50 AM To: Kashanski, Cathy Subject: FW: unnamed stream state endangered or threatened species
Catherine:
I am forwarding this to you as we have discussed the Commerce Street Plume/Mitec Superfund site in Williston in the past. Do you have any thoughts on Karen's questions (below) or if you are not the correct person to send this to,can you tell me who I should send it to?
Thanks for your help. (I will correct her that it is "Muddy Brook", not "Muddy River"!
Michael
Michael B. Smith Waste Management Prevention Division VT Dept Environmental Conservation One National Life Drive Davis One Montpelier, VT 05620-3704 802 249-5826
From: Lumino, Karen fmailto:[email protected] Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 4:05 PM To: Smith, Michael B Subject: unnamed stream state endangered or threatened species
Michael- can you or someone in your shop confirm the following three statements that appear in Nobis' draft Rl report (May 2013):
1. "The steam, locatedin the eastern portion of the Study Area, is a habitatfor twoState-designated threatened species..."
I'm questioning this statement because based on a july 2004 assessment of wetlands and other habitat by Normandeau Associates for Weston for EPA, the conclusion is that little suitable habitat was found for either the eastern pearlshell or the eastern sand darter within the unnamed stream (a.k.a Vermont Tributary #4 of Muddy Brook) so their occurrence would be unlikely. Richard Langdon concurred with this assessment.
2. "...andis a State-designated areaforprotection andmaintenance ofaquatic lifeunder the Clean Water Act."
3. "The Winooski River downstream of the property is a knownfishery."
Also, since the unnamed stream flows into the Muddy River before the Winooski, how if at all should we characterize the Muddy River?
General Description Muddy Brook originates in the wetlands northeast of Shelburne Pond. The brook winds in an east-of-north direction up along the South Burlington/Williston border. Sucker Brook joins Muddy Brook from the east draining a large section of Williston and St. George. Allen Brook flows into Muddy Brook just before it enters the Winooski River. Muddy Brook is about 7 miles long and drains a 26 square mile watershed.
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Biological Monitoring
Muddv Brook Muddy Brook has been on the Part A Impaired Waters List since 1996 for non-support of aquatic biota due to nutrients and temperature. The last three macroinvertebrate samples taken and assessed have found the community in "good" condition. Fish sampling found a "poor" community but that was back twenty years ago and the latest samples was a "good" in 2003. There is no more recent sample. This brook is proposed for de-listing during the 2014 cycle.
Macroinvertebrate sampling on Muddy Brook Year sampled Rm 1.0 Rm 1.2 1988 poor 1990 good 1993 vgood-good 2000 fair 2003 good 2010 good 2011 good
Fish sampling on Muddy Brook found the following results: at rivermile 1.2 "poor" in 1988, "poor" in 1993 and "good" in 2003.
Notes from the most recent macroinvertebrate samples1 assessment at the rm 0.2 site stated that the density and richness were low and EPT taxa were very low. Nine of the ten dominant taxa are all moderately to highly tolerant. The condition in 2012 was unchanged since the 2010 sample at the same location. The rm 0.7 site, a new one, found very low density, richness low, and only four EPT taxa found. Four of the seven dominant taxa are tolerant to moderately tolerant. A tributary to Trib#4 is where the Commerce Street plume toxics have had an impact.
Fish sampling results were assessed as follows: at rivermile 0.2 "good" in 1993, "good" in 1995, "good" in 1997, "fair" in 1999, and "good" in 2002. "The assemblage at this site shows some impact from human activity, scoring between 31-35 out of a possible 45 in the MWIBI. The level of stress on the fish..., however, is not enough to consistently suppress biological integrity below Class B standards."
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Muddy Brook and Muddy Brook Trib #4 Sampling Sites Stream station location Muddy Brook rm 1.0 Off Industrial Ave, to end of Avenue A, behind storage
units and gravel/brick yard Muddy Brook rm 1.2 Located 100m below Kimball Ave off Kennedy Drive. Muddy Brook rm 3.3 Located just south of I-89 on gravel quarry road Muddy Brook Trib 4 rm 0.2 Located below South Brownell Rd crossing. Muddy Brook Trib 4 rm 0.3 Located above South Brownell Rd crossing. Muddy Brook Trib 4 rm 0.7 Above a small tributary to the east.
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Map of Trib #4 and Trib to Trib #4 to Muddy Brook with sampling sites (red bullseyes), hazardous waste sites (yellow diamonds), stormwater permits (green crosses), wetlands (yellow shading), water quality status (red=impaired), impaired drainage area (gray shading)
Hazardous Waste Sites
Commerce Street Plume (Mitec) - Tributary to Muddy Brook Trib #4 An unnamed tributary to Muddy Brook Trib #4 is impaired due to tetra and trichloroethylene as well as other VOCs and metals discharging to the trib from the Commerce Street plume that originates at the former Mitec parcel in Ailing Industrial Park in Williston. The site (SMS # 77-0120) is now a Superfund site (proposed 9/2004 and listed in 4/2005). The following information is taken from EPA's website.. The one acre site was home to manufacturing and electroplating operations from 1960 to 1986 - Mitec leased the site from 1979 to 1986. Between 1979 and 1984, Mitec discharged rinse water and sludge wastes associated with electroplating into an unlined lagoon. A concerned Mitec employee first told the Vermont Agency of Environmental Conservation, as it was then called, about the waste in 1982. Sampling in 1984 by AEC found chromium in groundwater below the lagoon and sampling by the Dept of Health found six residential drinking wells contaminated with TCE and PCE. Indoor air samples also showed high VOCs. Numerous sampling events occurred between 1984 and 2002 - groundwater, surface water, sediment, soil, and residential air. DCE at 180 ppb, TCE at 170 ppb, chromium at 3.4 ppb, and vinyl chloride at 11 ppb were found in wetlands and the unnamed tributary to Muddy Brook in 1996. Groundwater samples downgradient of the site had TCE at levels as high as 90,00 ppb in 1999. In 2002, EPA found elevated levels of 11 VOCs and 13 metals in monitoring wells through the industrial park and surrounding residential area. EPA held a public meeting about the Superfund site in January 2006.
There has been a significant amount of sampling at the Commerce Street Plume site over the past several years. Expanded monitoring occurred in 2010 by Nobis Engineering for U.S. EPA Region 1. In May 2010, 29 groundwater samples were collected and submitted for analysis of VOCs, SVOCs, and target analyte metals. In June, Nobis did temperature profiling throughout the unnamed stream to identify potential groundwater infiltration points and in July, they installed porewater samplers and collected porewater samples. In November and December 2010, 45 groundwater samples were collected from 42 monitoring wells. TCE, Cis-1,2-DCE, and vinyl chloride were all detected in some of the 20 porewater locations with TCE exceeding the GWPR/MCL in 3 of the 4 locations detected; Cis-1,2-DCE exceeding the GWPR/MCL in 1of the 8 locations detected; and vinyl chloride exceeded the GWPR/MCL in 5 of the 5 locations detected. There are VOCs, naphthalene, and metals (arsenic, cadmium and manganese) detected in the shallow overburden groundwater with VOCs and the metals above standards in some of the wells.
In 2012, there was a screening level ecological risk assessment (SLERA) conducted for U.S. EPA by Environmental Services Assistance Team (ESAT). Due to uncertainty about the ecological risk from TCE at the site, macroinvertebrate surveys were done at five stations in the Trib to Trib #4 to Muddy Brook. Surface water was sampled for temperature, pH, D.O., conductivity, chlorides, VOCs, bromide, fluoride, nitrate, nitrite, sulfate. Sediments were sampled for VOCs, SVOCs, the target analyte list metals, and total organic carbon. Also at each site, infaunal invertebrates (down 3 inches into the sediment) and epifaunal invertebrates were sampled. Habitat condition was also assessed by scoring ten habitat parameters (1 being lowest condition, 20 being the best possible condition).
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Below are two tables with some of the results of the monitoring that occurred. One table shows surface water results and the second shows sediment sampling results. The sites selected correspond with porewater sampling sites from earlier monitoring and assessment except that one "off-site" reference site was sampled above the stretch where porewater was sampled in 2010. The "off-site reference" and PW-2 are both above the Commerce Street plume contamination; PW-11 is at the contaminated site; PW-17 and PW-20 are below the contaminated site and are sampled to look for recovery.
Table 1.Surface water results from sampling Trib to Trib#4 Muddy Brook Off-site PW-2 PW-11 PW-17 PW-20
The health of the infauna community decreases from a maximum at the off-site reference to PW-11 or PW-17 then recovers at PW-20 based on several metrics (Hilsenhoff biotic index and % tolerant taxa) although other metrics don't show this same trend leaving the situation unclear in terms of this community.
The trend for the epifaunal community is much more clear with seven metrics showing a maximum condition in the off-site reference dropping to the worst condition (for 6 of the 7 metrics) usually at PW-17 (the first site below the impact site) and then recovering to a better condition at PW-20.
The conclusions of this 2012 monitoring work is that the impacts on the macroinvertebrate community are more likely due to the high chlorides and conductivity than to the VOCs. The conductivity and chloride concentration is "nearly constant from the reference [site] to the impact area PW-11 and then rises sharply at PW-17 with conductivity doubling and chloride nearly tripling." This matches the macroinvertebrate and water quality sampling that Vermont DEC did in 2005 and 2010 at Trib #4 Muddy Brook just downstream from this Superfund site-related sampling.
Stormwater Permits in Muddy Brook subwatershed It is difficult to determine the exact number of stormwater permits issued in the Muddy Brook subwatershed but based on the results of analysis of the issued stormwater permits that are mapped on ArcGIS within the subwatershed, there are about 87 operational permits, 17 multi-sector general permits, and 12 construction permits with discharges to Muddy Brook or its tributaries and wetlands. A number of these are large projects such as Burlington International Airport, the Air National Guard, and a number of industrial parks.
Assessment Status
Impaired Miles Muddy Brook Tributary #4 and Trib to Trib #4 : 0.9 miles - Trib #4 mouth upstream 0.9 miles going up the tributary behind Commerce St buildings - aquatic biota/habitat impaired due to stormwater runoff, chlorides, enrichment and other stressors from commercial and industrial land runoff, encroachment.
Stressed Miles Muddy Brook: 1.2 - from the mouth at the Winooski River upstream - aquatic biota/habitat and aesthetics stressed due to sedimentation, increased temperatures, nutrients from urban (industrial, commercial, and residential) runoff.
Unnamed trib to MuddyBrook Trib#4: 0.5 - aquatic biota/habitat stressed due to TCE, PCE, vinyl chloride, and metals from the Commerce Street plume (Mitec haz waste site that has not been cleaned up).
