Evaluating the Efficacy of Floodplain Restoration for Improving Water Quality in an Urbanized, Post-Glacial Watershed, Amherst, MA

This study interrogates the emerging practice of floodplain reconnection in watershed management by comparing water quality parameters and floodplain conditions before, during, and after construction. The town of Amherst, MA has received funding to restore a floodplain during fall of 2021 on a section of Fearing Brooka narrow, urbanized, and incised stream that runs through and under the town centerby physically lowering the grade of the surrounding land and reintroducing native vegetation. Specific conditions monitored prior to construction include river discharge, conductivity, temperature, and concentrations of alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate, and ammonia, as well as chemical oxygen demand. Critical to the streams health in the community, E. Coli and total Coliform counts were regularly monitored. Initial observations have revealed a correlation between discharge and Coliform populations, with colony forming units (CFUs) reaching counts of over 30,000CFU/100ml following moderate rainfall events near the restoration site compared to levels closer to 10,000CFU/100ml during dry conditions. The spike in colony counts following rain events is expected to decrease pending the improved filtration from a restored floodplain. Analysis of the perturbations to this system will reveal conditions that improved, worsened, or remained unchanged from the floodplain intervention and will serve as a landmark case study for future floodplain restoration work in similar geologic and environmental conditions.