1. Extreme eutrophication and cyanotoxin levels in Farmington Bay, a polluted embayment of the Great Salt Lake, Utah Wayne Wurtsbaugh, Utah State Univ. Amy Marcarelli, Michigan Tech. Univ. Gregory Boyer, SUNY, Syracuse SETAC, 2009

2. Great Salt Lake 120 km 4400 km 2 Z m = 4.5 m Terminal Lake

3. Gunnison Bay (29% Salinity) Gilbert Bay (16%) Farmington Bay (0.1 – 9%) Bear River Bay (1-22%) Great Salt Lake Greater Metropolitan Salt Lake City > 1 million people

4. Farmington Bay Farmington Bay Length: 24 km Area: ca. 228 km 2 Mean depth: ~ 0.6 m Salinity: 0.1 - 9% (seawater - 3.5%) Sewer Canal Farmington Bay Jordan River Wastewater Treatment Plants 2° Treatment

5. Freshwater Inflows Gilbert Bay (16% Salinity) N – S Salinity Gradient Farmington Bay Bi-directional flow

7. Very High Nutrient Loading and Eutrophication Source: D. GrossinWurtsbaugh et al. 2002 Basedondataof theUDWQfor 1999&2000: Storetdatabase Davis Co. WWTPs Source: D. GrossinWurtsbaugh et al. 2002 Basedondataof theUDWQfor 1999&2000: Storetdatabase 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 Davis Co. WWTPs HYPER- EUTROPHIC Source: D. GrossinWurtsbaugh et al. 2002 Basedondataof theUDWQfor 1999&2000: Storetdatabase 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 Davis Co. WWTPs 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2500 3000 Source: D. GrossinWurtsbaugh et al. 2002 Basedondataof theUDWQfor 1999&2000: Storetdatabase 0 500 1000 1500 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2500 3000 Davis Co. WWTPs 0 500 1000 1500 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2500 3000 Davis Co. WWTPs Jordan River (w/ wastewaters) Salt Lake City Sewage Canal 0 500 1000 1500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 0 500 1000 1500 HYPER- EUTROPHIC Phosphorus Loading. m 2 - (mg · y - 1) Farmington Bay (not on 303d list!) Trophic State Index Utah’s 130 Priority Lakes (Impaired)

8. Nutrients Grow Algae! Excess nutrients in Farmington Bay produce high algal standing crops

9. Experimental analyses Salinity controls phytoplankton response to nutrient enrichment in the Great Salt Lake, USA 3-day Exposure to different salinities % Marcarelli et al. (2006) Can. J. Fish. Aquatic Sci. (%)

10. Extreme Chlorophyll Levels in Farmington Bay Moderate in other bays Hypereutrophic Mean 166 µg/L 20 17 2002 2003 2005 2006 2007 2009

11. Toxic cyanobacterial densities Nodularia WHO criteria for moderate probability of adverse health effects in recreational waters May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Nodularia May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dunelliela viridis

12. Toxic Nodularin Levels (PPIA analysis) in Three Bays of the Great Salt Lake WHO Moderate Risk Human Health Waterfowl Mortalities Doñana Park, Spain

13. Salinity – Phycocyanin (2009)

14. N – S Salinity Gradient  Phycocyanin Pigments Salinity  Farmington Bay 17-Aug-2009 Gilbert Bay (16%)

15. N – S Salinity Gradient Farmington Bay Phycocyanin   Nodularin

16. Impacts on Beneficial Uses? Abysmal Water Quality But Not a Straightforward Question Abysmal Water Quality But Not a Straightforward Question Higher salinities – Negligible Fish Higher salinities – Negligible Fish No use for drinking water or irrigation No use for drinking water or irrigation Boating limited to airboats & duck hunters Boating limited to airboats & duck hunters However, extensive bird use However, extensive bird use What are the impacts? What are the impacts?

17. Water Quality Oxygen and H 2 S Conditions Temperature (C), DO (mg/L) and Sulfide (mg/L) Depth (m) Daytime Sediments Depth profile of oxygen, temperature and hydrogen sulfide. Grey area represents the deep brine layer.

18. Problems: Oxygen loss from water (anoxia) Decaying algae strip oxygen from water column

19. Problems: Low oxygen → Low invertebrates in open waters Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Artemia & Harpacticoid (Number / Liter) Brine shrimp  Harpacticoid copepods   Corixids 1 mm Air-breathing

20. “Algal Toxins—Initiators of Avian Botulism?” Murphy et al. (2000). ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY 15 Is this a cause of botulism outbreaks in Great Salt Lake wetlands?

21. Remote Sensing (MODIS Satellite) demonstrates how Farmington Bay Influences Gilbert Bay Chlorophyll Concentrations - How will a 250% increase in human population influence Farmington and Gilbert Bays? - Nutrient and organic matter from Farmington Bay contribute to brine shrimp resource in Gilbert Bay, but….

22. Conclusions - Farmington Bay is highly eutrophic - Salinity a major control factor for Nodularia blooms - Cyanotoxin levels far exceed recommended guidelines - How will a 250% increase in population influence the bay and Great Salt Lake? - Lack of culinary use, fish, swimming complicates issue

23. Funding Utah Division of Water Quality Utah Forestry, Fire and State Lands Utah State University Tides Foundation Utah Wetland Foundation US Geological Survey Central Davis Sewer Treatment District Assistance Dave Powelson Michelle Kang Erin Fleming Katie Fisher Dave Epstein David Naftz (USGS) Shane Brandt (U. New Hampshire) Mike Satchwell Thanks

24. Slides for questions past here

25. State Agency Response (until recently) See no evil See no evil Hear no evil Hear no evil Smell no evil Smell no evil

26. Designated Beneficial Uses & Issues Aquatic Wildlife Aquatic Wildlife Brine shrimp Brine shrimp Brine flies Brine flies Other insects Other insects Birds Birds Fish (potentially) Fish (potentially) Recreational Use Recreational Use Secondary Contact recreation Secondary Contact recreation Odors (Lake stink) Odors (Lake stink)

27. The Capital Times, Madison Sept. 6, 2003 Cyanobacteria can cause severe skin rashes in sensitive individuals Problems: Toxicity of Cyanobacteria “At least 6000 birds of 47 species, including endangered ones, such as marbled teal and white-head duck, died within two weeks of the algal bloom.” Veterinary Record (2007) Cyanobacteria densities reach 10X World Health Organization’s recommendation for contact recreation and 20X densities causing bird mortalities elsewhere.

28. Problems: Anoxia & Odors ALGAE Death & Decomposition H 2 S (rotten egg smell) O2O2 X Nutrients In a 2002 National Geographic article the lake as a whole was “... derided as a putrid, fly- infested sump, a dead thing”

29. Odor Survey Around Lake

30. Problems: Low oxygen → Low invertebrates in open waters Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov 2003 2003 Artemia & Harpacticoid (Number / Liter) Brine shrimp  Harpacticoid copepods   Corixids 1 mm Air-breathing

31. What can be done? Breaching the automobile causeway to increase salinities Breaching the automobile causeway to increase salinities Diversion of the Salt Lake City Sewage Canal and the wastewater outfalls from Davis County treatment plants to the larger Gilbert Bay Diversion of the Salt Lake City Sewage Canal and the wastewater outfalls from Davis County treatment plants to the larger Gilbert Bay Flushing Farmington Bay with freshwater from the Jordan River during spring runoff Flushing Farmington Bay with freshwater from the Jordan River during spring runoff Tertiary treatment of sewage wastes ($$$$$$$$$$) Tertiary treatment of sewage wastes ($$$$$$$$$$)

32. Abstract Title: Extreme eutrophication and cyanotoxin levels in Farmington Bay, a polluted embayment of the Great Salt Lake, Utah W.A. Wurtsbaugh, Utah State University, Logan, UT A.M. Marcarelli, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI G.L. Boyer, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY Abstract: The Great Salt Lake of Utah is surrounded on its eastern and southern shores by 1.4 million people, with projections of 5 million by 2050. Agricultural, industrial and particularly secondary- treated domestic wastes from this population flow primarily into Farmington Bay, a 280 km2 shallow "estuary" with a mean depth near 0.5 m. Fish are rare but bird use is extensive and massive mortalities of waterfowl and shorebirds have occurred in the bay. Phosphorus loading rates of >2 g m-2yr-1 cause hypereutrophic conditions: Secchi depths are usually 0.6 mg/L, mean Chl. a is 179 ug/L and the combined trophic state index (TSI) is 85. Brine shrimp grazing can ameliorate (Secchi >1 m) the hypereutrophic conditions, but these grazers are rarely abundant due to predation from air-breathing corixid insects and/or the severe water quality in the bay. Surface water salinities in the bay range seasonally and with drought cycles from 0.2 - 9% and exert primary control on the biotic community. A 15% salt wedge also enters from the main lake. Nocturnal anoxia in the entire water column is common. Anoxic and reducing conditions within the salt wedge produce hydrogen sulfide concentrations >8 mg/L, and when windstorms mix this H2S into the overlying water, the entire water column has gone anoxic for >2 d. At salinities of 1-5%, field sampling and bioassays have demonstrated excessive growth of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (Nodularia spumigena). These produce concentrations of the cyanotoxin nodularin that frequently exceed the WHO's health advisory limit and have exceeded 100 ug/L. In comparison to Farmington Bay, the trophic states in the main lake (Gilbert Bay) and shallow Bear River Bay are much lower (respective mean Chl. of 18 and 32 ug/L). The eutrophication is discussed relative to the sociopolitical climate that until recently has largely neglected water quality issues in North America's largest salt lake.