Aquatic macroinvertebrates and water quality of Sandia Canyon, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1995

The Biology Team of ESH-20 (the Ecology Group) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has collected samples from the stream within Sandia Canyon since the summer of 1990. These field studies measure water quality parameters and collect aquatic macroinvertebrates from sampling sites within the upper canyon stream. Reports by Bennett and Cross discuss previous aquatic studies in Sandia Canyon. This report updates and expands the previous findings. The Biology Team collected water quality data and aquatic macroinvertebrates monthly at three sampling stations within Sandia Canyon in 1995. The two upstream stations occur near a cattail (Typha latifolia) dominated marsh downstream from outfalls that discharge industrial and sanitary waste effluent into the stream, thereby maintaining year-round flow. The third station is approximately 1.5 miles downstream from the outfalls within a mixed conifer forest. All water chemistry parameters measured in Sandia Canyon during 1995 fell within acceptable State limits and scored in the {open_quotes}good{close_quotes} or {open_quotes}excellent{close_quotes} ranges when compared to an Environmental Quality Index. However, aquatic macroinvertebrates habitats have been degraded by widespread erosion, channelization, loss of wetlands due to deposition and stream lowering, scour, limited acceptable substrates, LANL releases and spills, and other stressors. Macroinvertebrate communities at all the stations had low diversities, low densities, and erratic numbers of individuals. These results indicate that although the stream possesses acceptable water chemistry, it has reduced biotic potential. The best developed aquatic community occurs at the sampling station with the best habitat and whose downstream location partially mitigates the effects of upstream impairments