FINAL DRAFT Pine Creek Watershed Implementation Plan Update
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FINAL DRAFT Pine Creek Watershed Implementation Plan Update Plan Sponsor: North Hills Council of Government Report Prepared by: January 2021 i Contents Figures ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Tables ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... 6 Units of Measure ......................................................................................................................................... 6 1. Introduction and Project Background ......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Additional Watershed Planning Documents in the Pine Creek Watershed ................................. 1 1.2 Clean Water Act Section 319 Eligibility ......................................................................................... 3 2. Watershed Description .................................................................................................................. 5 2.1 Land Use ....................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Soils ............................................................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Topography and Drainage ............................................................................................................ 9 2.4 Population and Jurisdiction ........................................................................................................ 11 3. Water Quality ................................................................................................................................ 14 3.1 Water Quality Standards and Assessment Status ...................................................................... 14 3.2 Water Quality Data ..................................................................................................................... 18 4. Sources of Pollutants .................................................................................................................. 21 4.1 Sources of Sediment ................................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Sources of Phosphorus ............................................................................................................... 26 4.3 Sources of Nitrogen .................................................................................................................... 29 5. Previous Water Quality Improvement Projects ......................................................................... 32 6. Overall Recommended Management Measures ....................................................................... 34 6.1 Retrofitting Existing Stormwater Practices ................................................................................. 35 6.2 Installation of New Stormwater Practices .................................................................................. 38 6.3 Stream Restoration ..................................................................................................................... 41 6.3.1 Stream Riparian Buffers .................................................................................................... 41 6.3.2 Floodplain Restoration ...................................................................................................... 42 6.3.3 Stream Channel and Streambank Restoration ................................................................. 42 6.4 Land Conservation and Protection ............................................................................................. 44 6.4.1 Steep Slope Protection ..................................................................................................... 45 6.4.2 Land Conservation and Habitat Restoration ..................................................................... 45 6.5 Flood Control .............................................................................................................................. 46 7. Targeting Implementation Activities .......................................................................................... 48 7.1 Critical Areas for Water Quality Improvement Practices ........................................................... 48 7.2 Priority Areas for Flood Management and/or Erosion Control .................................................. 54 8. Funding and Technical Resources ............................................................................................ 59 8.1 Partners ...................................................................................................................................... 59 8.2 Estimated Costs .......................................................................................................................... 59 8.3 Funding ....................................................................................................................................... 60 ii 9. Education and Outreach.............................................................................................................. 66 9.1 Existing Education and Outreach ................................................................................................ 66 9.2 Additional Education and Outreach Needs ................................................................................ 66 10. Schedule and Milestones ............................................................................................................ 67 11. Evaluating Progress and Adaptive Management ..................................................................... 71 12. Monitoring Plan ............................................................................................................................ 73 13. References .................................................................................................................................... 77 Appendix A. NHCOG Municipal Managers Listing 2020 ................................................................... 79 Appendix B. ATTAINS Impairment Listings ....................................................................................... 80 Appendix C. Local Sponsor Issues and Concerns .......................................................................... 101 Appendix D. Model My Watershed Results ...................................................................................... 102 Appendix E. Town of McCandless Pine Creek Restoration Project .............................................. 114 Appendix F. Etna Green Infrastructure Master Plan Demonstration Project ............................... 115 Figures Figure 1. ALCOSAN service area. ................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2. Land use in the Pine Creek watershed (NLCD 2011). ..................................................................... 6 Figure 3. Soils in the Pine Creek watershed (NRCS SSURGO) ....................................................................... 8 Figure 4. Pine Creek watershed topography (USDA NRCS 2020). .............................................................. 10 Figure 5. Subwatersheds in the Pine Creek watershed (Image from 2009 Pine Creek WIP)...................... 11 Figure 6. City and township members of the North Hills Council of Government. .................................... 13 Figure 7. Aquatic life impairment in the Pine Creek watershed. ................................................................ 16 Figure 8. Aquatic recreation impairments in the Pine Creek watershed.................................................... 17 Figure 9. Surface water sampling locations in the Pine Creek watershed queried from eMapPA. ............ 20 Figure 10. Nonpoint sources of sediment to the Pine Creek watershed (Model My Watershed). ............ 22 Figure 11. Nonpoint sediment loading rates (lbs/ac/yr) by subwatershed in the Pine Creek watershed (Model My Watershed). ..................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 12. Results of the Pine Creek Watershed Riparian Risk Assessment (Figure (NAEC 2010). ............ 24 Figure 13. Nonpoint sources of phosphorus in the Pine Creek watershed (Model My Watershed). ........ 26 Figure 14. Nonpoint phosphorus loading rates (lbs/ac/yr) by subwatershed in the Pine Creek watershed (Model My Watershed). ..................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 15. Nonpoint sources of nitrogen in the Pine Creek watershed (Model My Watershed). .............. 29 Figure 16. Nonpoint nitrogen loading rates (lbs/ac/yr) by subwatershed in the Pine Creek watershed (Model My Watershed). ..................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 17. Existing stormwater dry pond locations in the Pine Creek watershed (Figure from 2009 Pine Creek WIP). ........................................................................................................................................