Our focus in this paper is on water quality and hydrologic monitoring from December 2016 through November 2017, although we also include prior monitoring data. The Haworth study area ( Figure 1C) consists of monitoring locations upstream and downstream of the restoration area on the North Branch of the Macatawa River. The Middle Macatawa study area ( Figure 1B) has two upstream sites (Macatawa River (Macatawa Up) and Peters Creek), which both flow into the Macatawa River and one downstream site (Macatawa River at the USGS gauging station (Macatawa Down)). Monitoring sites were established upstream and downstream of each restoration area. Possible reasons for the lack of improved water quality: (1) The restored wetlands are too young to function optimally in sediment and phosphorus retention (2) the scale of these BMPs is too small given the overall loads (3) the locations of these BMPs are not optimal in terms of pollutant reduction and (4) the years following postconstruction were relatively dry so the wetlands had limited opportunity to retain pollutants.

We also measured water quality in Lake Macatawa, and found the lake remained highly impaired. downstream water quality two years following BMP construction. While both turbidity and phosphorus increased significantly during storm events compared to baseflow, we found no significant difference in upstream vs. We measured turbidity, total phosphorus, and soluble reactive phosphorus both upstream and downstream of these wetland complexes during base flow and storm events. The Macatawa Watershed is located in west Michigan, is heavily agricultural, and drains into Lake Macatawa, a hypereutrophic lake with total phosphorus concentrations usually exceeding 100 µg/L.

In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of two wetland restoration projects, designed to handle runoff during high flow events and serve as flow-through retention basins before returning flow further downstream. However, monitoring of their efficacy is not a standard practice.

Implementation of best management practices, both structural and nonstructural, is the usual response to this challenge, with the presumption that they are effective. Reducing nonpoint source pollution is an ongoing challenge in watersheds throughout the world.

Macdown figure