West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection August 6, 2014 Moorefield City Hall South Branch Potomac & Shenandoah Hardy Watersheds TMDL Status Update Meeting

Agenda  “Introduction to TMDLs” recap  Overview of South Branch Potomac /Shenandoah Hardy Watersheds 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 enumerated in the 303(d) list

West Virginia Section 303(d) List / Integrated Report

Numeric Criteria of Concern  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  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  Not to exceed 1.0 mg/l as a 4 day average concentration more than once in a three year period (S. F. Lunice - trout)  Public Water Supply mg/l

Numeric Criteria of Concern  Dissolved Oxygen  All uses  Unt/Robinson Run RM 2.84 (Warmwater)  Not less than 5.0 mg/l at any time  South Fork/Lunice Creek (Troutwaters)  Not less than 7.0 mg/l in spawning areas and in any case not less that 6.0 mg/l at any time

Numeric Criteria of Concern (fecal)  Fecal coliform is primary pollutant of concern  Fecal TMDLs for Anderson Run & Mill Creek will superceede EPA TMDLs  Undertaken in these watershed due to number of impaired tributaries  All other EPA fecal TMDLs will remain in place  Insufficient resources to re-evaluate

Numeric Criteria of concern (Iron & D.O.)  Iron  Certain fecal impaired streams were listed as iron impaired  Comprehensive iron modeling was conducted on all 2014 TMDL watersheds  With no AMD sources in the watersheds, iron impacts are related to sediment  Draft will present TMDLs for streams impaired by modeling  Dissolved Oxygen evaluation  Evaluation will be conducted to determine if sources addressed in fecal TMDL will result in improved DO (no formal modeling or TMDL for D.O.)

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 27 named streams in South Branch Potomac & 4 named streams in the Shenandoah Hardy watersheds (Mainstems not included) SubwatershedStream NameCode24KCodeTrout Impairments pHDOFeAlClSeMnFC South Branch Potomac UNT/UNT RM 1.38/UNT RM 0.30/South Branch Potomac River RM WVPSB-1.9-A-1PSB-16-A-1 X South Branch PotomacBuffalo CreekWVPSB-5PSB-30 X South Branch PotomacDumpling RunWVPSB-9-BPSB-35-B X South Branch PotomacAnderson RunWVPSB-18PSB-62 X South Branch PotomacMudlick RunWVPSB-18-APSB-62-C X X South Branch PotomacUNT/Mudlick Run RM 2.88WVPSB-18-A-0.8PSB-62-C-3 X South Branch PotomacUNT/UNT RM 1.62/Mudlick Run RM 2.88WVPSB-18-A-0.8-BPSB-62-C-3-B X South Branch PotomacTurnmill RunWVPSB-18-A-1PSB-62-C-4 X X South Branch PotomacWalnut Bottom RunWVPSB-18-BPSB-62-J X South Branch PotomacUNT/South Branch Potomac River RM 40.44WVPSB-21-TPSB-79-DL X South Branch PotomacUNT/South Branch Potomac River RM 59.19WVPSB-21.5PSB-82 X South Branch PotomacUNT/UNT RM 2.27/South Branch Potomac RiverWVPSB-21.5-EPSB-82-E X South Branch PotomacUNT/UNT RM 4.07/South Branch Potomac River RM 59.19WVPSB-21.5-GPSB-82-F X South Branch PotomacMill CreekWVPSB-25PSB-97 X South Branch PotomacJohnson RunWVPSB-25-APSB-97-B X South Branch PotomacNorth Mill CreekWVPSB-25-BPSB-97-E X South Branch PotomacStony CreekWVPSB-25-B-1PSB-97-E-48 X X South Branch PotomacBrushy RunWVPSB-25-B-2PSB-97-E-47 X X South Branch PotomacSouth Mill CreekWVPSB-25-CPSB-97-F X South Branch PotomacRobinson RunWVPSB-26-APSB-98-G X South Branch PotomacUNT/Robinson Run RM 2.84WVPSB-26-A-4PSB-98-G-4 X X South Branch PotomacSouth Fork/Lunice CreekWVPSB-26-DPSB-98-TX XX X South Branch PotomacBig Star RunWVPSB-26-D-2PSB-98-T-11X X South Branch PotomacPowers HollowWVPSB APSB-105-B X South Branch PotomacJordan RunWVPSB-28-APSB-105-J X South Branch PotomacLaurel Run/Jordan RunWVPSB-28-A-2PSB-105-J-10X X South Branch PotomacDeer RunWVPSB-35PSB-139 X Shenandoah HardyUNT/Capon Run RM 4.49WVSNF-1-APSN-201-P X X Shenandoah HardyCrab RunWVSNF-2PSN-207 X X Shenandoah HardyUNT/Crab Run RM 3.97WVSNF-2-NPSN-207-N X X Shenandoah HardyUNT/Crab Run RM 5.65WVSNF-2-TPSN-207-T X X

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  Iron  Fecal  Sediment  Run MDAS for Baseline conditions (existing)  Run MDAS for TMDL scenario(s)

South Branch Potomac/Shenandoah Hardy Watersheds Project Status  Completed:  Monitoring  Source tracking  Baseline Modeling  Bio. Stressor Ids  Status Update Meeting  Next Steps:  Allocations  Draft Document  Public Meeting  EPA Approval

 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  Package Plants  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  Reductions based on Sensitivity analysis to address severity of agricultural vs. urban/residential impacts

Metals (Fe) Sources  Point sources  Discharges from active quarry operations  Non-mining stormwater industrial discharges  Construction Stormwater  Nonpoint sources  Streambank erosion  Sediment sources (forestry, oil and gas, roads, agriculture, urban/residential)

Iron Allocation Strategy  Reduction of streambank erosion to best available in watershed  Reduction of sediment sources, where necessary, to meet TSS loadings equal to 100 mg/l  Future growth allowances for stormwater construction of 2.5% of subwatershed acreage

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 – in progress  Report development  Finalization and EPA approval

South Branch Potomac/Shenandoah Hardy Watershed TMDL Path Forward  DEP/Tetra Tech will allocate loads and wasteloads and develop draft report  Formal public comment period and public meeting on the draft TMDLs in Fall 2014  DEP will 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...