USGS/TCEQ Cyanobacteria/Cyanotoxin Program
Presented to
Texas Commission on Environmental QualitySurface Water Quality Monitoring Meeting
Christopher Churchill, Ph.D.
U.S. Geological SurveyNorth Texas Program Office, Fort Worth
November 7, 2017
Presentation outline• Objectives• Study design• Methods• Salient results• Deliverables• FY 18-19 study
Acknowledgements• Funding Cooperator
– Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
• Partners– Texas Parks and Wildlife Department– U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Objectives• Detect and quantify
– Cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins– Taste-and-odor compounds (TAOCs)– Chlorophyll-a and pheophytin-a– Cations/anions, nutrients, TDS, and TOC
• Determine phytoplankton taxonomy• Methods assessment/comparison
– Determine most accurate, cost-effective methods– Future study design
Study design FY 16-17• Phase 1
– QAPP• Phase 2
– Equipment preparation• Phase 3
– Field work (August 29, 2016 – October 12, 2016)• Eighteen reservoirs• Four QC samples
• Phase 4– Data management and reporting
Methods• Cyanobacteria and other phytoplankton
– Taxonomy– Biomass/Biovolume– Concentrations
• Cyanotoxins– Dipstick kits– Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)– Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry
(LC/MS/MS)• TAOCs
– Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS)
Methods (cont.)• Basic field water chemistry
– Temp, DO, pH, SC, turbidity, irradiance, chlorophyll, and phycocyanin
• Water transparency• Meteorology
– Air temperature– Barometric pressure– Wind speed and direction
Methods (cont.)• Lab water chemistry
– Major ions, DOC, TDS, nutrients, and TOC
• Biotic chemistry (photopigments)– Chlorophyll-a– Pheophytin-a
• Number of water-quality constituents– Field and water chemistry: 60– Cyanotoxins and TAOCs: 41
Study reservoirs
Salient results• Green algae and cyanobacteria detected in all
sampled reservoirs– Green algae: 41 different genera– Cyanobacteria: 27 different species
• Microcystis aeruginosa– NRCS Upper Bosque River site, Benbrook Lake, and Fort
Phantom Hill Reservoir• Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii
– Detected in 13 reservoirs• Golden algae detected in 14 reservoirs• TAOCs detected in most reservoirs
Preliminary results, subject to revision
Texoma – 8/30/2016Phytoplankton data summary
Preliminary results, subject to revision
Green algae
Golden algae
Cyanobacteria
CyanobacteriaGreen algae
Percent of sample
Lake O’ the Pines – 09/28/2016 Phytoplankton data summary
Green algae
Cyanobacteria
Golden algae
Euglenophyta Dino-flagellates
Preliminary results, subject to revision
DiatomsGreen algae
Cyanobacteria
Diatoms
Percent of sample
Palestine – 10/03/2016Phytoplankton data summary
Preliminary results, subject to revision
Green algae
Golden algae
Cyanobacteria EuglenophytaCryptophyta
CyanobacteriaGreen algae
Percent of sample
Grapevine – 10/05/2016Phytoplankton data summary
Preliminary results, subject to revision
Diatoms Green algae
Cyanobacteria Euglenophyta DinoflagellatesCryptophyta
CyanobacteriaGreen algae
Percent of sample
Kemp – 09/14/2016Phytoplankton data summary
CyanobacteriaGreen algae
Diatoms Green algae
Cyanobacteria Haptophyta Dino-flagellates
CryptophytaGolden algae
Preliminary results, subject to revisionPercent of sample
NRCS Upper Bosque River Site – 09/07/2016Phytoplankton data summary
Cyanobacteria
Green algae
Cyanobacteria
Preliminary results, subject to revision
Golden algae
Percent of sample
TAOCs and photopigmentsTaste-and-odor compounds
(ng/L)Photopigments
(mg/L)Reservoir Date MIB Geosmin Chlorophyll-a Pheophytin-a
Texoma 8/30/2016 12.3 <1.0 0.023 <0.003
Upper Bosque 9/7/2016 6.7 20.3 0.046 0.006
Arrowhead 9/14/2016 153.4 16.9 0.017 0.007
Kemp 9/14/2016 <1.0 1.7 0.012 <0.003
Lake O' the Pines 9/28/2016 10.1 24.3 0.038 0.007
Palestine 10/3/2016 13.0 11.1 0.049 0.006
Benbrook 10/5/2016 4.1 69.5 0.040 <0.003
Grapevine 10/5/2016 4.0 2.4 0.008 0.021
Preliminary results, subject to revision
Salient results (cont.)• Microcystins detected in four reservoirs
– Max 23 µg/L Upper Bosque River site
• Cylindrospermopsin detected in two reservoirs– Max 0.84 µg/L Lake Kemp
• Saxitoxin detected in one reservoir– Max 0.03 µg/L Lake Kemp
• Nodularin present in Upper Bosque River site
Preliminary results, subject to revision
Deliverables• Data set
– All data other than taxonomy
• Data Release through ScienceBase– Taxonomy data
• Phytoplankton Data for 18 Texas Reservoirs, August through October, 2016. US Geological Survey data release
• https://doi.org/10.5066/F7J965BH
• Summary Report– Project overview and summary of findings
Study design FY 18-19• Phase 1
– QAPP• Phase 2
– Methods assessment/comparison• Phase 3
– Field work• Deliverables planned for FY 18
– Summary Report: Methods comparison FY 16-17 study• Deliverables planned for FY 19
– Data set and Summary Report: FY 18-19 study
Negative dipstick kit test result for anatoxin-asamples collected at NRCS Upper Bosque River Site No. 4 near Stephenville, TX on 9/7/2016
Positive dipstick kit test result for microcystin (> 10 µg/L) for samples collected at NRCS
Upper Bosque River Site No. 4 near Stephenville, TX on 9/7/2016
Harmful algal bloom (Microcystis) at NRCS Upper Bosque River Site No. 4 near Stephenville, TX on 9/7/2016
Visible Microcystis colonies in a surface-water grab sample collected at NRCS Upper Bosque
River Site No. 4 near Stephenville, TX on 9/7/2016
