Post on 26-Dec-2015
West Fork RiverWatershed TMDLs
West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection
Draft TMDL Public Meetings
April 21, 2014
TMDL/ water quality standards recap
Overview of this TMDL effort
Explanation/demonstration of electronic
documents, spreadsheets, tools
Questions and Answers
Agenda
What’s a TMDL?
“Total Maximum Daily Load”How much pollutant a stream can receive
and remain healthy
A Pollution Budget – prescribes reduction of pollutants (where needed) that result in the restoration of an impaired stream
TMDL development is required by the Clean Water Act for all streams impaired by a pollutant
What’s an Impaired Stream?
Stream that doesn’t meet water quality standards
WV Water Quality Standards are codified in 47CSR2 ttp://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/csr/ruleview.aspx?document=8208
Standards include
“Designated Uses” for
WV waters and the criteria
to protect those uses
Water Quality Criteria can
be numeric or narrative
Numeric Criteria of Concern
Total IronAquatic Life/Public Water SupplyNot to exceed 1.5 mg/l as a 4 day average
concentration more than once in a three year period Public Water Supply - 1.5 mg/l
Fecal ColiformWater Contact Recreation/Public Water Supply
Shall not exceed 200 counts/100ml as a monthly geometric mean (5 samples/month)
Nor to exceed 400 counts/100 ml in more than 10% of samples in a month
Additional Criteria of Concern
Dissolved AluminumAquatic LifeNot to exceed 750 ug/l as a 1 hour average
concentration more than once in a three year period
Not to exceed 750 ug/l (warmwater) as a 4 day average concentration more than once in a three year period
pHAquatic Life/Water Contact Recreation/Public
Water SupplyNo values below 6.0 nor above 9.0.
Additional criteria of concern
(Bingamon Run & tribs)ChlorideAquatic Life/Water Contact Recreation/Public Water Supply
Not to exceed 230 mg/l as a 4 day average concentration more than once in a three year period
Narrative CriteriaPrevious 47 CSR 2 - 3.2.i
AssessmentBased on Benthic MacroinvertebratesWest Virginia Stream Condition Index (WVSCI)
Standardized method for assessing benthic macroinvertebrates (aquatic bugs)WVSCI stream scores normalized to 0 - 100 rangeStreams scoring less than the 60.6 threshold value labeled as “impaired” and placed on the 303(d) listStreams listed as impaired slated for TMDLs “Biologically Impaired” streams evaluated for source/s of impairment during the TMDL development process (Stressor Identification Process)
Narrative Criteria2012 Legislative Changes
Senate Bill 562 passed by the 2012 West Virginia Legislature amended the WV Water Pollution Control Act
Requires “evaluation of the holistic health of the aquatic ecosystem”
Requires DEP to develop and secure legislative approval of new rules to interpret 47 CSR 2-3.2.i
Section 22-11-7b : http://www.legis.state.wv.us/wvcode/ChapterEntire.cfm?chap=22&art=11
No biological TMDLs are part of this effort
Stressor Identification Process
Method to evaluate stressor/s of biologically impacted streams
Process used to evaluate if numeric TMDLs (iron, fecal) will address biological stressors
Information will be retained and may be used to delist streams in the future (see Table 4.1)
TMDL = WLA + LA + MOS
= “sum of”
WLA = “wasteload allocations”
LA = “load allocations”
MOS = “margin of safety”
WLAs - pollutant loads for “point sources”
Discharge from point
Need NPDES permit
LAs - pollutant loads for “nonpoint sources” and background
Precipitation and runoff
No permit required
Project Timeline:Proposed streams advertised for public
comment April 2010
Initial Public Meetings (TMDL Intro) July 2010
Watershed Monitoring and Source Tracking July 2010 - June 2011
Draft TMDL Public Meeting Today
Impaired Waters
305 named streams – See Table 3-3 beginning on page 11 of Draft Report for a complete list of streams and impairments
Modeling
Modeling
MDAS (Mining Data Analysis System)
Fecal Coliform, iron, chlorides, Al and pH Can handle point and nonpoint sources (representation and allocation)Recognizes exposure duration and exceedence frequency components of criteria
Modeling
52 TMDL watersheds
700 subwatersheds
West Fork mainstem is included
Baseline Condition
Design precipitation period
Hourly precipitation data for a six-year period
Design period includes wet and dry years
Applied to present day land uses
Permitted discharges equal to permit limits
TMDL Condition
Existing pollutant sources reduced such that TMDL endpoints are achieved in each modeled subwatershed recognizing
Criteria value, duration and exceedence frequency
Margin of safety
Required component of TMDLs
Explicit 5% used in most TMDLs
TMDL endpoints for numeric criteria
are 95% of criterion value
(ex.1.425 mg/l for 1.5 mg/l criterion)
Margin of Safety
Baseline/TMDL Example
0.5
0.75
1
1.25
1.5
1.75
2
2.25
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Simulation Period(Days)
Iron
, Tot
al (m
g/L)
Water Quality Criteria TMDL Target (WQ Criteria & 5%MOS)
Baseline Condition TMDL Condition
Pollutant Sources (Iron)Streambank erosion
Abandoned Mine Lands
Upland Sediment Sources
Harvested Forest
Oil and Gas
Agriculture
Urban Residential Stormwater
Roads
Active Mining
Construction Stormwater General Permits
Iron Reduction Strategy
Streambank Erosion reduced to reference stream loadings
Sediment sources, including AML, set to iron loadings equivalent to 100 mg/l TSS
AML seeps set to WQ at end of pipe
Mining point sources set to WQ at end of pipe where needed for modeled attainment
Iron Reduction Strategy continuedFuture growth for Construction Stormwater
throughout the impaired watershed drainage was initially allocated at 2.5% of subwatershed area
If further reductions needed then based on sensitivity analysis:
CSGP areas were reduced incrementally from 2.5 to 0.5 % and/or
Dominant land sources were reduced incrementally below 100 TSS threshold until endpoint is met or 70 mg/l TSS
If further reductions needed at subwatershed pour points then CSGP areas were reduced to 0%
Nonpoint source reductions did not result in LA lower than background concentrations
Point Source reductions did not result in WLA more stringent than water quality standards end of pipe
Modeled Aluminum Sources
Significant Dissolved Aluminum/pH sources:
Abandoned Mine Land seeps
Atmospheric Acid Deposition
Active mining sources and sediment associated aluminum sources were also represented in the model but no reduction was required
Dissolved Aluminum/pH Reduction Strategy
All pH/Dissolved Aluminum impaired streams are also impaired for iron
First step is reduction of total iron sources (e.g. seeps) to meet iron TMDL endpoints since instream dissolved iron concentrations can reduce pH levels and affect instream dissolved aluminum levels
Alkalinity was added to achieve target pH of approximately 6.5 at all subwatershed pourpoints.
If further reductions were needed, total aluminum reductions and/or further alkalinity additions were made until Al(d) and pH TMDL endpoints were met
Fecal Pollutant Sources & StrategyFecal Coliform
STP effluents represented at existing limits (200/400)
Failing/nonexistent on-site sewage systems – 100% reduction
Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) - reduced to water quality criteria (200/400 cts)
Sensitivity Analysis based reductions
Urban runoff
Agriculture
Source allocations developed for all subwatersheds contributing to chloride impaired streams
Individual WLAs were developed for all high volume, pumped discharge, mining outlets (discharges dominated stream flow)
Individual WLA based on chronic aquatic life protection criterion (230 mg/l)
Non appreciable chloride contributions from all other sources are contained in aggregated loads for Background & other Nonpoint sources
Future Growth HighlightsNew facility anywhere in watershed if
meeting water quality criteria end of pipe
Subwatershed-specific future growth allowances have been provided, where possible, for site registrations under the Construction Stormwater General Permit
Full details on Future Growth can be found beginning on page 86 of the Draft report
Public CommentPublic Comment period ends May6, 2014Documents may be reviewed/downloaded from DEP webpage http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/watershed/TMDL/Pages/default.aspx
CD available upon request – CD includes GIS Shapefiles and Technical Report
Comments should be submitted to Steve Young at Stephen.A.Young@wv.gov
Questions - contact Dave Montali, Jim Laine
(304) 926-0499 (Ext 1063, 1061,)
David.A.Montali@wv.gov
James.C.Laine@wv.gov
TMDL Products
Main Report – Overall description of the TMDL development process for the West Fork River watershed
Technical Report with detailed appendices
TMDL Products
Allocation spreadsheets:
Fecal Coliform, Iron, Dis. Al, pH, Chlorides
TMDL for each stream,
WLAs and LAs by SWS
Filterable
GIS shapefiles, along with Technical Report and Appendices, available on CD
CD /Spreadsheets/ GIS Demo