water quality investigations how does land-use impact water quality? mitigating water quality ...
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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 useTRANSCRIPT
Water Quality InvestigationsHow Does Land-Use Impact Water Quality?Mitigating Water Quality – Current Issues
July 9, 2015
Jim Kipp, Associate DirectorKentucky 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
descriptivecharacteristics/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 PollutionActivities 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)
http://water.ky.gov/waterquality/Pages/IntegratedReport.aspx
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)..…3,5482. Sedimentation/Siltation…………….……..3,1673. Nutrient/eutrophication……….…………..1,6734. Cause unknown……………….…………….……8695. Total dissolved solids… ………………….……7746. Organic enrichment (sewage)………….….7637. Specific conductance…………………..………7628. Iron……………………………………………..………2679. pH…………………………………………….…………22810. 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.
http://watermaps.ky.gov/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)
• http://kgs.uky.edu/wwky/
Annual Reports• http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/KRWW/Sampl
ing%20Results/Annual%20Reports.html
2014 Sampling Sites
http://www.uky.edu/WaterResouces/FF/
http://www.epa.gov/
• 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.)
South Elkhorn Creek
Assessment Icons
Blue Lines = Not Assessed
Search by County
List of Sites
Icons for Field Data
Annual Reports Online