West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection August 12, 2014 Kanawha City Office Upper Kanawha Tributary Watersheds TMDL Status Update Meeting

Agenda  “Introduction to TMDLs” recap  Overview of TMDL Project & Status  Overview of Allocation Strategies  Discussion – Free form questions and answers

What’s a TMDL?  “ Total Maximum Daily Load”  How much pollutant a stream can receive and remain healthy  Pollution Budget - prescribes reductions (where needed) of pollutants that result in the restoration of an impaired stream  TMDL development required by Clean Water Act for streams impaired by a pollutant

TMDL =  WLA +  LA + MOS   = “sum of”  WLA = “wasteload allocations”  LA = “load allocations”  MOS = “margin of safety”  WLAs - pollutant loads from “point sources”  Discharge from point  Need NPDES permit  LAs - pollutant loads from “nonpoint sources” and background  Precipitation/runoff driven  No permit required

What’s an impaired stream?  Stream that doesn’t meet water quality standards  West Virginia Water Quality Standards are codified in 47 CSR 2 CSR 2  WVDEP_47CSR2_WQS_FinalRule%206_27_2011.pdf WVDEP_47CSR2_WQS_FinalRule%206_27_2011.pdf WVDEP_47CSR2_WQS_FinalRule%206_27_2011.pdf  Standards include “Designated Uses  Standards include “Designated Uses“ for WV waters and “water quality criteria” to protect those uses  Criteria can be numeric or narrative  Impaired streams are enumerated on the 303(d) list

West Virginia Section 303(d) List / Integrated Report

Numeric Criteria of Concern  Total Iron  Aquatic Life/Public Water Supply  Not to exceed 1.5 mg/l as a 4 day average concentration more than once in a three year period  Public Water Supply mg/l  Fecal Coliform  Water 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

Numeric Criteria of Concern  Dissolved Aluminum  Aquatic Life  Not 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 as a 4 day average concentration more than once in a three year period  pH  Aquatic Life/Water Contact Recreation/Public Water Supply (All Uses)  No values below 6.0 nor above 9.0.

Numeric criteria of concern  Chloride  Aquatic 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  Total Manganese  Public Water Supply  Not to exceed 1.0 mg/l within a 5 mile zone immediately upstream of a water supply used for public or private consumption

Numeric Criteria of Concern  Selenium  Aquatic Life/Public Water Supply  Not to exceed 20 ug/l as a 1 hour average more than once in a three year period  Not to exceed 5 ug/l as a 4 day average concentration more than once in a three year period  Public Water Supply - 50 ug/l

Narrative Criteria Previous 47 CSR i Assessment  Based on Benthic Macroinvertebrates (aquatic bugs)  Stream scored based on abundance and type of bugs present  Streams with impaired communities were placed on the 303(d) list and slated for TMDLs

Narrative Criteria 2012 Legislative Changes  Senate Bill 562 passed by the 2012 West Virginia Legislature amended the WV Water Pollution Control Act  Requires DEP to develop and secure legislative approval of new rules to interpret 47 CSR i  Section b : p=22&art=11 p=22&art=11 p=22&art=11  No biological TMDLs are part of this effort  Streams currently listed as biologically impacted will undergo Stressor Identification process

Stressor Identification Process  Method to evaluate stressor/s of biologically impacted streams  Process used to evaluate if numeric criteria TMDLs (iron, fecal) will address biological stressors  Information will be retained and may be used to delist streams in the future

Impaired Waters 43 named streams in Upper Kanawha watershed, Mainstem Kanawha not part of this effort SubwatershedStream NameCode24KCodeTrout Impairments pHDOFeAlClSeMnFC Upper KanawhaMission Hollow (Venable Branch)WVK-46KU-3 X Upper KanawhaChappel Hollow (Chappel Branch)WVK-46-AKU-3-A X Upper KanawhaLower Donnally BranchWVK-48KU-5 X X Upper KanawhaPointlick ForkWVK-49-FKU-6-F X Upper KanawhaUNT/Pointlick Fork RM 2.26WVK-49-F-4KU-6-F-4 X Upper KanawhaRattlesnake HollowWVK-49-IKU-6-N X Upper KanawhaGeorges CreekWVK-50KU-8 X Upper KanawhaNew West HollowWVK-58-B.8-1KU-19-R-1 XX Upper KanawhaWet BranchWVK-61-CKU-26-E X Upper KanawhaLongbottom CreekWVK-61-FKU-26-N X Upper KanawhaLaurel Fork/Longbottom CreekWVK-61-F-2KU-26-N-5 X Upper KanawhaCoal ForkWVK-61-HKU-26-U XX Upper KanawhaLaurel ForkWVK-61-H-1KU-26-U-7 X Upper KanawhaLeft Fork/Laurel ForkWVK-61-H-1-AKU-26-U-7-E X Upper KanawhaUNT/Left Fork RM 1.99/Laurel ForkWVK-61-H-1-A-4KU-26-U-7-E-4 X Upper KanawhaUNT/Coal Fork RM 4.63WVK-61-H-3KU-26-U-18 XX Upper KanawhaToms ForkWVK-61-KKU-26-AC X Upper KanawhaTenmile ForkWVK-61-LKU-26-AD X Upper KanawhaUNT/Tenmile Fork RM 1.22WVK-61-L-0.5KU-26-AD-1 X Upper KanawhaUNT/Tenmile Fork RM 3.98WVK-61-L-4KU-26-AD-9 X Upper KanawhaUNT/Tenmile Fork RM 4.17WVK-61-L-5KU-26-AD-10 X Upper KanawhaKellys CreekWVK-64KU-33 X X Upper KanawhaHorsemill BranchWVK-64-AKU-33-B X XX Upper KanawhaUNT/Horsemill Branch RM 0.50WVK-64-A-1KU-33-B-1 X X Upper KanawhaUNT/Horsemill Branch RM 0.83WVK-64-A-2KU-33-B-2 X X Upper KanawhaUNT/Horsemill Branch RM 1.58WVK-64-A-4KU-33-B-4 X XX Upper KanawhaFrozen BranchWVK-64-BKU-33-C X X Upper KanawhaSugarcamp BranchWVK-64-CKU-33-D X X Upper KanawhaHurricane ForkWVK-64-KKU-33-O X X Upper KanawhaGoose HollowWVK-64-LKU-33-P X Upper KanawhaCedar CreekWVK-65-QKU-39-AK X X Upper KanawhaMossy CreekWVK-65-YKU-39-BM X Upper KanawhaLong BranchWVK-65-Y-2KU-39-BM-7 X Upper KanawhaNorth Sand BranchWVK-65-HH-1KU-39-DG-2 X Upper KanawhaMaple ForkWVK-65-HH-1-AKU-39-DG-2-A X X Upper KanawhaHughes CreekWVK-66KU-42 X X Upper KanawhaBarn HollowWVK-66-B.6KU-42-K X Upper KanawhaGraveyard HollowWVK-66-B.7KU-42-L X Upper KanawhaSixmile HollowWVK-66-DKU-42-Q X Upper KanawhaBullpush ForkWVK-72-BKU-55-F X Upper KanawhaBurnett HollowWVK-72-B-2KU-55-F-3 X Upper KanawhaRiffle HollowWVK-72-B-4KU-55-F-5 X Upper KanawhaFourmile ForkWVK-72-FKU-55-P X

TMDL Watersheds

MDAS Model  Watershed Model  Runs dynamically on a 1-hour time step  Represents land use (hydrologic processes) and river processes  Can include nonpoint and point sources  Streambank Erosion component - Bank Pin Study

Modeling Approach  Segment watershed  Configure model to represent all sources  Calibrate model for hydrology (flow) and water quality  Metals  Iron Dis. AluminumManganese  Fecal  Chlorides  pH  Selenium  Sediment  Run MDAS for Baseline conditions (existing)  Run MDAS for TMDL scenario(s)

Upper Kanawha Watershed Project Status  Completed:  Monitoring  Source tracking  Baseline Modeling  Bio. Stressor Ids  Status Update Meeting  Next Steps:  Allocations  Draft Document  Public Meeting  EPA Approval

 Universal Reduction of targeted sources  Streambank erosion, Failing Septics, etc  Top-down approach  Headwater subwatersheds analyzed first analyzed first  Allocation strategy dictates order and magnitude of reduction order and magnitude of reduction  If necessary, loads are reduced then routed to downstream subwatershed Allocation Methodology

 WVDEP priorities:  Ensure criteria compliance at all sws outlets  Target the primary causative sources  Strategy in general  Critical conditions must be considered  Sometimes only one significant source in sws  Always some amount of professional judgement Allocation Methodology

Fecal Coliform Sources  Point sources  HAUs  Package Plants  Municipal Sewage Plant  Mining Bathouses  MS4 areas  Nonpoint source  Failing septic systems and/or straight pipe illicit discharges  Stormwater runoff from urban/residential lands  Stormwater runoff from agricultural lands

Fecal Coliform Strategy  100% reduction of all untreated sewage discharges (failing septics, straight pipes) as required by WV Bureau for Public Health regulations  Sensitivity analysis to address severity of agricultural vs. urban/residential impacts

Iron Sources  Streambank erosion  Abandoned Mine Lands and seeps  Bond Forfeitures Lands and seeps  Upland Sediment Sources  Harvested Forest  Oil and Gas  Agriculture  Urban Residential outside MS4 areas  Roads  Active Mining  MS4 areas  Construction Stormwater General Permits

Iron Allocation Strategy  Streambank erosion loadings reduced to best available in watershed  Sediment sources set to iron loadings equivalent to 100 mg/l TSS  Future growth for Construction Stormwater area initially allocated at 2.5% of subwatershed area  AML seeps set to WQ criteria at discharge

Iron Allocation Strategy continued  Sensitivity Analysis based reductions, if needed  mining permits / bond fortfeiture reduced below baseline  sediment sources reduced below 100 mg/l TSS  Construction stormwater growth allowance reduced

Dissolved Aluminum/pH Sources and Strategy  Horsemill Br, Sugarcamp Br, Cedar Crk  Sources  AML  Active Mining  Strategy  Evaluate effects on pH and Al(d) of any concurrent iron TMDLs being developed  Add alkalinity to counter acid effects of AML seeps, and evaluate Al(d) attainment  Sensitivity – increase alkalinity and/or reduce aluminum to attain both pH and Al(d) criteria

Chloride Sources & Strategy  Source  Certain permitted mining discharges  Reductions Strategy  Mining outlets –  Reduce problematic point source discharges to criteria at end of pipe (230 mg/l)

Manganese Sources & Strategy  Horsemill Branch & Sugarcamp Branch (Kelly Creek) are impaired for manganese based on proximity to drinking water intake  Sources  Bond Forfeiture  AML  Strategy  AML seeps reduced to water quality at end of pipe  Evaluate contribution from Bond Forfeiture sites and reduce as necessary

Selenium Sources and Strategy  Sources  Certain permitted mining discharges  Strategy  Reduce discharges from instream structures and large volume continuous discharges to criteria  Reduce on-bench outlets as necessary to attain criteria at all subwatersheds

WVDEP TMDL Process (4 yrs)  Stream Selection - (4/2011)  Pre-TMDL monitoring, source identification and characterization - (7/2011 – 6/2012)  Contract to model water quality and hydrology – (1/2013)  Determine baseline condition and allocate pollutant loads  Draft Report development  Finalization and EPA approval

Upper Kanawha Watershed TMDL Path Forward  Allocate loads and wasteloads and develop draft report  Formal public comment period and public meeting on the draft TMDLs in Fall 2014  Address comments, prepare final draft and submit to EPA for approval (final draft will include Response Summary)

Contact Information  Comments should be submitted to Steve Young at (10 meg limit for )  Questions - contact Dave Montali, Jim Laine, Mike McDaniel  (304)  or

Discussion/Questions...