Biological and Water Quality Study of the Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries Lorain, Cuyahoga, Lake, and Ashtabula Counties, Ohio
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Biological and Water Quality Study of the Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries Lorain, Cuyahoga, Lake, and Ashtabula Counties, Ohio Ohio EPA Technical Report AMS/2015-ERIET-2 Division of Surface Water Assessment and Modeling Section November 2020 TMDL DEVELOPMENT | AMS/2015-ERIET-2 Central Basin Lake Erie Tributaries 2015 November 2020 Biological and Water Quality Study of the Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries, (2015 Sample Year) Lorain, Cuyahoga, Lake, and Ashtabula counties, Ohio November 2020 Ohio EPA Technical Report AMS/2015-ERIET-2 Prepared by: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Surface Water Lazarus Government Center 50 W. Town Street, Suite 700 Columbus, Ohio 43215 Division of Surface Water Northeast District Office 2110 East Aurora Rd Twinsburg, Ohio 44087 and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Groveport Field Office 4675 Homer Ohio Lane Groveport, Ohio 43125 Mail to: P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049 Mike DeWine, Governor, State of Ohio Laurie A. Stevenson, Director, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency i AMS/2015-ERIET-2 Central Basin Lake Erie Tributaries 2015 November 2020 Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Beneficial Uses .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Improvements to Water Quality ....................................................................................................................................................... 15 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Study Area Description .............................................................................................................................................................................. 21 Results and Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Macroinvertebrate Community ......................................................................................................................................................... 25 Cuyahoga County ................................................................................................................................................................................ 31 Lake County .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Ashtabula County................................................................................................................................................................................ 34 Fish Community ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Stream Physical Habitat ........................................................................................................................................................................ 56 NPDES Permitted Facilities ................................................................................................................................................................. 65 Water Chemistry ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 71 Grab Results .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 71 Water Quality Sonde Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 75 Weight of Evidence Nutrient Evaluation .................................................................................................................................. 78 Sediment Chemistry ............................................................................................................................................................................... 83 Organic Sediment Results ............................................................................................................................................................... 87 Recreation Use .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 91 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 96 References ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 97 ii AMS/2015-ERIET-2 Central Basin Lake Erie Tributaries 2015 November 2020 List of Tables Table 1. Aquatic life use attainment status for sampling locations in the Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries study area, 2015.......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Table 2. Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries study area streams that are unlisted or assigned unverified aquatic life uses in Ohio Water Quality Standards. The streams are recommended for warmwater habitat, exceptional warmwater habitat, or coldwater habitat aquatic life uses. The coldwater habitat recommended sites are based on biological sampling alone. .................................................................................. 13 Table 3. Existing and recommended beneficial use designations for water bodies within the Central Basin Lake Erie Tributaries study area. ................................................................................................................................................... 14 Table 4. Lake Erie Central Basin tributaries sampling stations, 2015 (listed by stream name and stream code). ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 18 Table 5. Summary of macroinvertebrate data collected from artificial substrates (quantitative sampling) and natural substrates (qualitative sampling) in the Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries study area, June to September 2015. ......................................................................................................................................................................... 26 Table 6. Uncommonly collected sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa locations in Lorain, Cuyahoga, and Lake counties in the Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries study area, June to September 2015. ......................... 30 Table 7. Uncommonly collected sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa and all freshwater mussel locations in Ashtabula County in the Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries study area, June to September 2015. State listed species: E=Endangered, SC= Species of Concern. ............................................................................................. 30 Table 8. Summary of fish community data based on wading, pulsed D.C. electrofishing samples collected in the Lake Erie study area, 2015 (no boat sampling occurred). ........................................................................................ 43 Table 9. Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) matrix with warmwater habitat (WWH) and modified warmwater habitat (MWH) attribute totals and ratios for the Lake Erie study area, 2015. ...................... 58 Table 10.Facilities regulated by an Individual NPDES permit in the study area. ............................................................ 65 Table 11. Concentrations of monitored chemicals in effluent discharged from six facilities in the Lake Erie tributaries study area. .............................................................................................................................................................. 69 Table 12. Exceedances of Ohio Water Quality Standards criteria (OAC3745-1) for chemical/physical parameters measured in the Ohio Tributaries to the Lake Erie Central Basin Tributaries study area, 2015. Bacteria exceedances are presented in the Recreation Use Section. ....................................................... 74 Table 13. Exceedances of Ohio Water Quality Standards criteria (OAC 3745-1) for chemical and physical parameters derived from diel monitoring. .....................................................................................................................