1.
GRAND LAKE ST MARYS WATER QUALITY UPDATE –
2021 IN REVIEW
STEPHEN J. JACQUEMIN
WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY – LAKE CAMPUS,
AGRICULTURAL AND WATER QUALITY EDUCATIONAL CENTER

2.
2021 Grand Lake St Marys Watershed Overview
- Unique Environmental Conditions
- Heavy ice pack that stayed on longer than normal
- Low spring external loading & High summer internal loading
- High fall external loading
- Tremendous Shifts in Algal Community
- Low PAR coming through ice pack reduced ‘resident BG’
- Low external loads maintained low growth rates
- High internal loads created shift in algal until reaching ‘typical’ in August
- Lowest Year in a Decade for Total Microcystin Toxins
- Unclear whether BG present was non toxic strain OR N availability changed
- Continued Efficacy of Tributary Wetlands
- Great concentration reductions
- Record pumping rates
- Continued Expansion of Wetlands in the Watershed
- Burntwood Creek Langenkamp Project
- Mercer County Wastewater Plant
- Formal Documentation of GLSM
- Numerous publications are forthcoming about natural history and
environmental restoration of the watershed

3.
2021 Unique Environmental Conditions

4.
2021 Cumulative Streamflow Total

5.
Images Courtesy of
OEPA and NOAA
Collaborative
Satellite Monitoring
Program
May 11, 2021
August 29, 2021 October 20, 2021
2021 Shifts in Algal Community
May 23, 2021 June 15, 2021 July 15, 2021
August 5, 2021

6.
Emerging Technologies For Citizen Science

7.
Microcystis  Aphanizomenon  Planktothrix
2021 Shifts in Algal Community

8.
2021 Algal Community Visuals
SPRING MID SUMMER

9.
2021 GLSM Total Microcystin Data
Why Low Toxicity?
- Not all blooms are toxic
- It is possible to have high biomass but low toxicity
- Often complicated result of nutrient limitation
- Microcystin is not the only toxin capable of being produced

10.
Coldwater Creek, Prairie Creek, Beaver Creek
- Pumping rates were consistent or higher than past years
- Achieved similarly high or higher reductions in dissolved P, total P, nitrate, and sediment
- Up to 95% reduction in concentrations
- Translated to tremendous load reductions similar or higher than last year
- Continue to operate at a relatively footprint and achieve high effect
- Formal summary coming in February 2022
Wetland Updates

11.
Burntwood Creek Langenkamp
Restored Wetland
- Funded through H2Ohio
- Construction underway and to be completed
2021
- ~90 acres total with 5-10 acres trees, 10-20
acres prairie grass, 50-60 acres wetland
- Connected to Burntwood Creek via notch
expected to capture ~20 flows per year -
pump is expected for remainder
Expanding Wetlands in GLSM
Gilliland Restored Wetland
- Funded through conservation grant
- Construction underwater and to be completed
2021
- 2.0 acres wetland, 1.5 acres trees, 5.5 acres
prairie grass
- Connected to lake via water control structure
to allow exchange of water
- Located west of Club Island by existing
preserve
Montezuma Club Island Wastewater
Treatment Plant Wetland
- Locally Funded Project - Construction
completed 2020/21
- 2.5 acre wetland
- Connected to treatment plant processing cell
via water control structure - processes ~100K
gal/day
- Preliminary results from summer monitoring
are mixed for dissolved P - eager for year 2
- Located adjacent to current WWTP

12.
Documentation of a massive lake wide
fish die off on Grand Lake St Marys
with notes on long-term changes in the
fish assemblage and habitat in the
watershed over the past century
- Coauthored with M. Cubberley
- Complete long term overview description of
habitat in GLSM watershed
- In depth discussion of fish assemblages over
the past 150+ years in the watershed
- In depth description of modern fish
assemblages of the lake
- Accepted for publication in ‘The American
Midland Naturalist’
Improving the Documentation of GLSM Environment
On the Potential for Reconstructed
Wetlands to Remediate Fecal Coliform
Loading in an Agricultural Watershed
- Coauthored with S. Newell and six undergraduate
students from Wright State
- Documentation of coliform runoff patterns and
linkages with surrounding watershed
- Documentation of fecal coliform remediation
potential of wetlands (Coldwater Creek)
- Findings that wetland efficacy driven by residence
time and plant growth activity with capacity to
reduce concentrations by an average of 40%
- Manuscript submitted for Review
Exploring long term trends in
microcystin toxin values associated with
persistent harmful algal blooms in
Grand Lake St Marys
- Coauthored with S. Newell (Wright State), J.
Doll (Francis Marion), L. Johnson (NCWQR)
- Establishes environmental covariates in a
functional model that explains long term
trends in microcystin toxins
- Using variation in lake conditions as well as
tributary inflow to model toxins and discern
the why that underpins the toxin number
- Manuscript currently In Preparation

13.
GRAND LAKE ST MARYS WATER QUALITY UPDATE –
2021 IN REVIEW
STEPHEN J. JACQUEMIN
WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY – LAKE CAMPUS,
AGRICULTURAL AND WATER QUALITY EDUCATIONAL CENTER