Water Quality Investigations How Does Land-Use Impact Water Quality? Mitigating Water Quality – Current Issues July 9, 2015 Jim Kipp, Associate Director Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute

Pollution: (Hu)man-made or (Hu)man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical (such as temperature or specific conductance), biological, and radiological integrity of water Clean Water Act (Section 502[19]) Kentucky identifies 538 separate pollutants

Water Quality quality – from the Latin word “qualis” meaning: of what kind descriptive characteristics/attributes/distinguishing features degree of excellence - Q: how good is it? A: typically dependent upon the intended use

Designated Uses Warm water aquatic habitat Cold water aquatic habitat Primary contact recreation (full immersion – swimming - May 1-October 31) Secondary contact recreation (incidental contact – boating, fishing - all year) Domestic water supply (taste and odor) Outstanding state resource waters Fish consumption advisories (implied)

Classifications Fully Supporting (good to excellent) Partially Supporting (fair, does not fully meet requirements for designated use) Nonsupporting (poor water quality for the designated use)

Sources of Pollution Activities and Practices Agriculture (20) Non-point Source (31) Habitat Impacts (16) Silviculture (12) Resource Extraction (21) Point Sources (11) Transportation (9) Recreation (6) Sediments (4) Marine/Boating (9) Water Withdrawal (3) Permitted Sources (11) Illegal Waste Disposal (7) Other (15) 175 TOTAL

Marine/Boating (9) 74 Marina boat construction 75 Marina boat maintenance 76 Marina dredging operations 77 Marina fueling operations 78 Marina-related shoreline erosion 79 Marina/boating pumpout releases 80 Marina/boating sanitary on-vessel discharges 94 Other Marina/Boating On-vessel Discharges 117 Shipbuilding, repairs, drydocking

Sources of Information Integrated Reports to Congress on the condition of Water Resources in Kentucky (305b and 303d)

Fixed (long-term) ambient surface water quality network

Reporting categories assigned to surface waters 1 All designated uses for water body fully supporting. 2 Assessed designated use(s) is/are fully supporting, but not all designated uses assessed. 2B Segment currently supporting use(s), but 303(d) listed & proposed to EPA for delisting. 3 Designated use(s) has/have not been assessed (insufficient or no data available). 4A Segment with an EPA approved or established TMDL for the listed uses not attaining full support. 4B Nonsupport segment with an approved alternative pollution control plan (e.g. BMP) stringent enough to meet full support level of all uses within a specified time. 4C Segment is not meeting full support of assessed use(s), but this is not attributable to a pollutant or combination of pollutants. 5 TMDL is required. 5B Segment does not support designated uses based on evaluated data, but based on Kentucky listing methodology insufficient data are available to make a listing determination. No TMDL needed.

Leading causes affecting aquatic life use water quality statewide, in miles.

Percentage of Assessed Stream Miles Supporting Primary Contact Recreation 2012

Pollutants affecting Kentucky rivers and streams (assessed miles) 1.Fecal coliform + E. coli (pathogens)..…3,548 2.Sedimentation/Siltation…………….……..3,167 3.Nutrient/eutrophication……….…………..1,673 4.Cause unknown……………….…………….……869 5.Total dissolved solids… ………………….……774 6.Organic enrichment (sewage)………….… Specific conductance…………………..………762 8.Iron……………………………………………..………267 9.pH…………………………………………….………… Total suspended solids…..……….………….221

Kentucky Division of Water Water Health Portal An interactive Web-based map application that enables users to learn about the health of the streams in their area and across the Commonwealth. NOTE: The Water Health Portal performs best when using Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari

Water Maps Portal

Kentucky River Watershed Watch Database (Note: Downloads do not currently work with Internet Explorer) Annual Reports ling%20Results/Annual%20Reports.html ling%20Results/Annual%20Reports.html

2014 Sampling Sites

Watershed Watch Database

In search box, type in – water BMPs – LID (acronym for low impact development) – erosion BMPs – pathogen BMPs – nutrient BMPs – stormwater BMPs Can also do general searches using these same terms with Internet search engines (Google, Bing, etc.)

Mitigating Water Quality Current Issues July 9, 2015 Jim Kipp, QUESTIONS?

South Elkhorn Creek

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Blue Lines = Not Assessed

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Annual Reports Online