Proposed Lake Michigan Rivers Network NMN proposed 17sites. Lake Michigan group added 3 additional sites that already conduct flow and quality monitoring. NMN Design – 90% of inflow sampling outlets of HUC 6 watersheds. In Lake Michigan the proposed design would sample only 67% mostly at HUC 8 sites. The 3 additional sites increases the inflow sampled to 72% and adds important geographic areas and long term data sets. Primary river monitoring entities in the Lake Michigan Basin - USGS, States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Secondary entities – Universities, Tribes, Sewerage Districts

River Monitoring Gaps None of the 20 sites include the complete analyte list and sampling frequency proposed. Twelve sites in Michigan, 6 in Wisconsin, and 2 in Indiana All 20 sites have continuous flow monitoring. 18 of the 20 sites have some water quality sampling. There are constituent gaps in all areas: habitat, biology, bacteria, sediments, major ions, metals, organics, emerging contaminants and nutrients Currently, very few of the analytes are collected at any site at the proposed monthly plus high flows frequency. Currently about $500,000 is spent by the Lake Michigan monitoring entities on flow and water quality monitoring. It is estimated to cost about $1.2M to monitor to the proposed design.

Demonstration Project to Reduce River Monitoring Gaps All 20 river sites will be brought up to the proposed NMN Nutrient Tier 1 monitoring design for frequency through this spring and summer. Sampling will augment ongoing efforts so Tier I nutrients will be collected monthly at all 20 sites  Will conduct a comparability assessment of USGS and State protocols – One concurrent replicate samples will be collected to look for any variability in field collection methods. One other sample this year will be split to compare labs.

Nutrients Demonstration Effort

Demonstration Project to Reduce River Monitoring Gaps Will deploy Semi Permeable Membrane Devices (SPMDs) at 20 sites for one month during base flow. Semi-permeable membrane devices (SPMD) are passive samplers for assessing trace levels of hydrophobic organic contaminants. SPMDs are designed to mimic biological membranes, such as the gills of fish. The following classes of compounds have been shown to concentrate in SPMDs: –Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons –Polychlorinated biphenyls –Polychlorinated dioxins and furans –Organochlorine pesticides –Pyrethroid insecticides –Nonyl phenols –Several herbicides and many industrial chemicals –Alkylated selenides

Advantages of using SPMDs SPMDs don't need to be fed. Because bioconcentration of many organic compounds mainly results from partitioning between gill membranes and water, SPMDs can be used to estimate bioconcentration factors for respiratory uptake of organic compounds. Studies of bioavailability and bioconcentration factors demonstrate that SPMDs are easier to use and less expensive than fish because they are more easily standardized than aquatic organisms and, for studies done at different sites or in different seasons, the data have better compatibility. Because deployment of the SPMDs is over a long time period, the chemical concentrations in the SPMDs represent a time-weighted average. SPMDs also eliminate many of the problems encountered when sampling biota. The SPMD sampling locations are fixed. The SPMDs are easily deployed and retrieved. Migration, mortality, metabolism, or selective- depuration (contaminants) problems, which are common in live biota samples, are nonexistent with SPMDs. From the SPMD basics website

SPMD Tests Three SPMDs will be deployed at each site. One trip blank will be used for every 2 sites during deployment and recovery. Each SPMD will be cleaned and undergo dialysis to extract the compounds into an organic solvent One extract from each site will be sent to the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center for the screening tests MICROTOX and the ultraviolet fluorescence scan. Microtox bioassay measures the light production of photo-luminescent bacteria when exposed to the SPMD extract Ultraviolet fluorescence scan, provides a semi- quantitative screening for PAHs

SPMD cont. The second extract will be sent to the USACOE Lab in Vicksburg, MS. The P450RGS assay is a screening tool for aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) type compounds that include PCBs, PAHs, dioxins, and furans. Trip blanks, lab replicates and lab blanks will also be analyzed. The third extract will be kept frozen at EST (provider of the SPMDs). If funds are available next year, chemical analysis will be done on sites with high potential toxicity to determine what analyte (s) is driving this response.