U.S. Geological Survey
Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4266

Surface-Water Quality on the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Reservation, Northeastern Kansas, June 1996 Through November 1998

Abstract

Water-quality samples were collected from 20 surface-water sites across the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Reservation in northeastern Kansas. Samples were collected twice at all 20 sites during June 1996 and June 1997 after herbicide application and quarterly at 5 of the 20 sampling sites from June 1996 through November 1998. Water-quality constituents of primary interest included physical properties, nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients, herbicides, fecal bacteria, and suspended solids. Samples were considered to be representative of flows that occur 65 percent of the time at each of five surface-water sites.

The median nitrite plus nitrate concentration was 0.183 mg/L (milligram per liter) for 79 samples, and the maximum concentration was 1.46 mg/L as nitrogen, which is substantially less than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Maximum Contaminant Level for drinking water of 10 mg/L as nitrogen. The median concentration for total phosphorus was 0.048 mg/L for 79 samples, five of which, from four sites sampled quarterly, exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recommended criterion of 0.100 mg/L for aquatic life.

Of 82 samples analyzed for triazine herbicides, primarily atrazine, 29 contained triazine concentrations that were less than the minimum reporting level of 0.1 mg/L (microgram per liter). Triazine concentrations in four samples collected on June 26, 1996, exceeded 3.0 mg/L. Triazine herbicide concentrations tended to be highest during late spring runoff after herbicide application.

Fecal coliform bacteria concentrations in 79 samples had a median concentration of 290 colonies per 100 milliliters of water. In six samples, two from Bills Creek and one each from four Little Soldier Creek sites, fecal coliform bacteria concentrations exceeded the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's criterion for noncontact recreation (2,000 colonies per 100 milliliters), indicating possible contamination from waste systems, agricultural sources, or wildlife populations.

Suspended-solid concentrations tended to be somewhat higher in samples from Soldier Creek than in samples from Little Soldier Creek and in samples from tributary streams. Higher concentrations of suspended solids may result from agricultural runoff as well as streambank erosion, especially along Soldier Creek.

Trombley, T.J., 1999, Surface-Water Quality on the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Reservation, Northeastern Kansas, June 1996 Through November 1998: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4266, 67 p.

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