Amy Blood 21 March 2013

Hammonton Lake Watershed Phosphorous Inflow Introduction:

Hammonton Lake, located in Hammonton Township, NJ is approximately 61.4 acres in size. Its lakeshed is about 1,747 acres. In 2002, a study was conducted on many lakes in New Jersey to determine their health and water qualityit was determined that phosphorous and fecal coliform were the most prominent contaminants within Hammonton Lake. Further research took place and a study focusing on Phosphorous in Hammonton Lake along with other Atlantic Lakes was published and entitled Total Maximum Daily Loads for Phosphorus to Address Nine Eutrophic Lakes in the Atlantic Coastal Water Region. The numbers used for their research in 2003 were altered to account for changes in land use within the past ten years to determine where the loading of phosphorous is coming from in the year 2013. Phosphorous inflow is being analyzed in order to assist in the creation of a Watershed Management Plan for Hammonton Lake.

Methodology:
Many assumptions were made -- time allowed for research was very limited. Assumption #1: The study published in 2003 by the NJDEP is accurate. It will be repeatedly cited as the 2003 study. I am completely unsure of how to calculate these sort of things on my own and I know it would take a substantial amount of time to figure it out. So I am assuming that the Unit Areal Loads determined by the previous Phosphorous study are adequate. I converted their Unit Areal Loads into acres and multiplied them by the amount of acres I have of each category in order to determine the 2013 Phosphorous loads in Hammonton Lake.

Unit Areal Loads (kg TP/acre/yr) 0.040 FOREST/ WETLAND/ WATER 0.404 URBAN 0.648 RESIDENTIAL, HIGH/MEDIUM 0.607 AGRICULTURE 0.810 COMMMERCIAL 0.688 INDUSTRIAL 0.283 RESIDENTIAL, LOW/RURAL 0.028 ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION TABLE 1 (ABOVE): Unit Areal Loads of Phosphorous, based on numbers from the 2003 study.

Assumption #2: My grouping of land uses is in line with the NJDEPs Division of Watershed Management. The land use codes generated by NJDEP GIS downloads were not the same as the land use classifications in the previous Phosphorous study. Anderson classification conversion into their classification was in their methodology, but it varies from year to year and they used outdated classificationfrom 1995/1997. Only the 1995 classification had barren landtherefore barren land had been grouped with forest, wetland, and water. This has been verified as acceptable by Dr. Chirenje.

Assumption #3: Calculations can all be based on simple linear algebra. It is assumed that the town was developed bit by bit within the last few years, not in bursts. There are no land use calculations for 2013so the change in types of land use will be based on the change between 1995, 2002, and 2007 and will assume that changes will continue to go that way. Line of best fit has been used in excel. Therefore, the land use would look like this:

Land Use In Acres, By Year

1995 2002 2007 2013 651.397 565.5981 494.3329 418.545 FOREST/ WETLAND/ WATER 150.247 106.1685 104.6093 74.0771 URBAN 430.032 469.056 480.4909 510.0077 RESIDENTIAL, HIGH/MEDIUM 93.246 94.62403 84.81846 83.3202 AGRICULTURE 90.926 117.7404 129.0934 150.2912 COMMMERCIAL 93.995 118.0862 157.2897 183.6384 INDUSTRIAL 294.551 333.1208 353.7593 385.123 RESIDENTIAL, LOW/RURAL TABLE 2 (ABOVE): Land use totals, in acres, based on land use coverages for 1995, 2002 and 2007 and then projected for 2013, linearly.

Assumption #4: The watershed has not changed in size over the last 10 years. When acreage totals were calculated using land use, they did not all match up. This may be because some areas were not classified fully in earlier years. Either way, the land area seems to have gotten bigger over time. Because this doesnt make sense (I clipped the same sized area each time), the 2007 land use has been shrunken (slightly) to be the same size as 1995, and the 2002 has been as well. This was done by multiplying all of the 2007 acreage by 0.9608 and the 2002 acreage by 0.9944. These are the proportions that the 1995 land use makes up of them (1995 totaled 1804.4 acres, 2002 totaled 1814.6 acres, and 2007 totaled 1878.1 acres). Therefore, the total acreage ends up being the same for all (1804.4 acres). Calculations are simplified that way. Further research and examination would need to take place to determine where the acres really did go. 2013 projections did not get converted into 1995 values because they were off by less than an acre, which is negligible. There is a possibility that the watershed has changed in size over the years due to climate/usage changes, but that has not been looked into. Assumption #5: Lake Hammonton is 61.4 acres in size. This acreage will be considered space for atmospheric deposition and will be subtracted from the Forest/ Wetland/ Water categories in future calculations. Also, the volume of the lake is approximately 79,000 m3 and the allowable load into Hammonton Lake, as determined by the 2003 Study is 210 kg/year.

Phosphorous Loading (kg TP/yr)

1995 2002 2007 2013 23.88652 20.41288 17.52765 14.45931 FOREST/ WETLAND/ WATER 60.82874 42.98319 42.35193 29.99073 URBAN 278.5632 303.842 311.2492 330.3694 RESIDENTIAL, HIGH/MEDIUM 56.62713 57.46398 51.50919 50.59931 AGRICULTURE 73.62429 95.33636 104.5291 121.6933 COMMMERCIAL 64.69291 81.2739 108.2561 126.3908 INDUSTRIAL 83.47599 94.4067 100.2557 109.1442 RESIDENTIAL, LOW/RURAL 1.740081 1.740081 1.740081 1.740081 ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION 643.4389 697.4591 737.4189 784.387 TOTAL TABLE 3 (ABOVE): This table depicts the Phosphorous entering Hammonton Lake on a yearly basis in kg. Land use type and amounts were accounted for.

Conclusions:
If a healthy Hammonton Lake has a maximum inflow of 210 kg TP/year, proper management must take place immediately. The current inflow has been determined to be 784.4 kg TP/year, a startling 374% higher than Hammonton Lakes total maximum yearly load. The ongoing urbanization of Hammonton has been increasing the phosphorous inflow by almost 8 kg TP/year. A management plan should focus on limiting further urbanization and changing the ways of the residents/business owners within the municipality of Hammonton.

Sources:
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Watershed Management. (2003). Total maximum daily loads for phosphorus to address nine eutrophic lakes in the atlantic coastal water region. Retrieved from website: http://www.epa.gov/waters/tmdldocs/10582_Atlantic Lakes.PDF Rutgers University Library, (2001). Lake restoration feasibility study: Hammonton lake, town of hammonton, atlantic county (R and V File #0113T044) Retrieved from Remington and Vernick Engineer website: http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/NJEDL.Report.n4461