Lower 1 Rouge Storm Water Management Area

Hydrology.  No streamflow monitoring was performed in the Lower 1, but the monitoring site at John Daly Road (US1) in the Lower 2 can still be used as a good indication of streamflow conditions in the Lower 1 since it is just downstream of the Lower 1 and Lower 2 boundary.  At this stream gage, the mean streamflow recorded in 2002 was the lowest recorded since 1997 (for years with a complete set of data for the six month period) and was 69 percent of the 1997 through 2001 average.  Dry weather streamflow in the Lower Rouge downstream of Beck Road continues to be dominated by effluent from the Ypsilanti Communities Utilities Authority (YCUA) wastewater treatment plant, which began discharging in 1996.  The mean streamflow during the 2000 monitoring period remained the highest recorded since 1994.  In the Lower since 1994, 2000 remained the wettest season on record and 2002 was the driest season on record. The precipitation total in 2002 was 65 percent of the long-term average precipitation total for 1994 through 2001.    

Water Quality.  Continuous DO and water temperature monitoring is performed at Hannan Road (US9) to represent the Lower 1 SWMA, even though it is formally located at the upstream end of the Lower 2 SWMA.  2002 was the second year of continuous monitoring at Hannan Road (US9) and 100 percent of the DO values met the 5 mg/L State standard.  Mean DO in 2002 decreased from 9.2 mg/L in 2001 to 7.7 mg/L in 2002 most likely due to including the summer months in the statistical summaries when the DO is typically lower.  Continuous temperature monitoring did not exceed a maximum temperature of 29.4°C (85°F).  Since 2002 was the first complete season of continuous monitoring at this location, sufficient data are not available in the Lower 1 SWMA to perform a trend analysis for DO.