ARRA 8 Upper Fox River Pool Monitoring Project Grant 2P-00E73201

Purpose

Monitoring activities related to the Upper Fox River TMDL.

Objective

The development of a TMDL to address the phosphorus and sediment loading to Lake Winnebago is necessary because 50% of the nutrient and sediment load to the Lower Fox River is directly from Lake Winnebago. In order for the Lower Fox TMDL (currently in development) to meet its goals, reducing the pollutant load from Lake Winnebago is critical. The Objective of this project is to address phosphorus and sediment loading from the Upper Fox River Basin to Lake Winnebago, and therefore support the work of the Lower Fox River Basin TMDL. This will be the second of three years of data needed to accurately model the sediment and phosphorus loading to Lake Winnebago.

Outcome

There are 11 sample sites total between the 9 waterbodies that will be sampled at varying sampling schedules: On the Fond du Lac River, Montello River, and Waukau Creek, bi-weekly surface water samples will be collected from March to November, and monthly from December to February and analyzed for total suspended solids, total phosphorus, and total dissolved phosphorus.. On the Fox and Puchyan Rivers, weekly samples will be collected from March 1 to June30, and bi-weekly July 1 to February 28. On lakes Poygan, Butte des Morts, and Winneconne, samples will be collected at one site on each lake bi-weekly from May 1 to Sept. 30, and 1 time beneath the ice in February. Lake Winnebago will have three sites sampled on it during the same sampling schedule as the other lakes. Lake surface water samples will be analyzed for ammonia, total phosphorus, total dissolved phosphorus, total kjeldahl nitrogen, and chlorophyll-a. Event samples will be collected by automated samplers installed on the Montello River, and Fond du Lac River. This project estimates that 20 event samples will be collected this year at each site. USGS will maintain the flow gauges installed on the Montello River, Puchyan River, Fox River, Waukau Creek, and Fond du Lac River. At the end of the year USGS will use the sample data and flow data to estimate phosphorus and sediment loads for each waterbody. The deliverable from this project is the second of three years of monitoring data needed to accurately model the sediment and phosphorus loading from the Upper Fox Basin into Lake Winnebago. Flow gauging is contracted through USGS.

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