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

kipp@uky.edu

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

Watershed Watch Database

http://kgs.uky.edu/wwky/

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.)

Mitigating Water QualityCurrent Issues

July 9, 2015Jim Kipp, kipp@uky.edu

QUESTIONS?

South Elkhorn Creek

Assessment Icons

Blue Lines = Not Assessed

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List of Sites

Icons for Field Data

Annual Reports Online