bioassessment of the rio grande upstream and downstream of los alamos national laboratory,new mexico, usabioassessment格兰德河的上游和下游的洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室,新墨西哥,美国.pdfVIP

Journal of Environmental Protection, 2012, 3, 1596-1605 /10.4236/jep.2012.311176 Published Online November 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jep) Bioassessment of the Rio Grande Upstream and Downstream of Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA 1 2 Philip R. Fresquez , Gerald Z. Jacobi 1Environmental Stewardship Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA; 2Jacobi and Associates, Santa Fe, USA. Email: fresquezp@ Received September 12th, 2012; revised October 11th, 2012; accepted November 8th, 2012 ABSTRACT Benthic macroinvertebrates (aquatic insects) were collected from the Rio Grande upstream and downstream of Los Alamos Canyon (LAC), a major drainage that crosses Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) lands in northern New Mexico, USA. LAC contains legacy waste, including radionuclides and polychlorinated biphenyls, and occasionally discharges storm water and snowmelt flows to the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande is the major waterway that flows southward across the state. In 2009, rock baskets were placed in waters 61- to 76-cm-deep within each reach (five per reach), and, after approximately 6 weeks of colonization, the rock baskets were retrieved. All samples were sorted com- pletely and organisms were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. Both reaches in 2009 were dominated by the collector filtering net-spinning caddisfly, Hydropsyche occidentalis. In 2011, benthic macroinvertebrates were col- lected using D kick nets from shallow riffle locations (15- to 31-cm depth) from each reach (six per reach). These sam- ples were collected after post- (Las Conchas) fire flooding events moved sediment and ash through the two study ar- eas—the downstream reach, however, was affected by higher flows and greater number of flooding events than those affecting the upstream reach. Each kick ne