Biological and Water Quality Study of the Lower Scioto River and Selected Tributaries, 2011
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Biological and Water Quality Study of the Lower Scioto River and Selected Tributaries, 2011. Pickaway, Ross, Pike and Scioto Counties, Ohio Scioto River at Higby Road, RM 56.17 Division of Surface Water Draft - July 12, 2018 i EAS/2017-02-02 Draft Lower Scioto River 2011 July 12, 2018 Biological and Water Quality Study of the Lower Scioto River and Selected Tributaries Pickaway, Ross, Pike and Scioto Counties, Ohio Draft - July 12, 2018 OEPA Report DSW/EAS/2017-02-02 Prepared by State of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Surface Water Lazarus Government Center 50 West Town Street, Suite 700 P.O. Box 1049 Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049 Southeast District office 2195 Front Street Logan, Ohio 43138 Central District Office 50 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43216 Ecological Assessment Section 4675 Homer Ohio Lane Groveport, Ohio 43125 John R. Kasich, Governor Craig W. Butler, Director State of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ii EAS/2017-02-02 Draft Lower Scioto River 2011 July 12, 2018 Table of Contents List of Figures .....................................................................................................................................ii List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................ii Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................2 Results ...............................................................................................................................................4 Aquatic Life Use ............................................................................................................................4 Aquatic Life Use Trend Assessment ..................................................................................................... 15 Recreation Use ............................................................................................................................ 16 Water Chemistry ......................................................................................................................... 19 Stream Physical Habitat .............................................................................................................. 27 Biological Communities ............................................................................................................... 35 Scioto River mainstem ......................................................................................................................... 35 Scioto River Tributaries ........................................................................................................................ 36 Fish Tissue (Human Health) ......................................................................................................... 52 Lakes Assessment ........................................................................................................................ 53 Sediment Quality ........................................................................................................................ 53 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................56 Appendices A-1: Notice to users, biosurvey background information, mechanisms for water quality impairment, and methods. A-2 Metals/Nutrients A-3 NPDES A-4 Datasonde A-5 Bacteria A-6 Sediment A-7 Fish species and abundance for each sampling location A-8 Fish scores for the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) and the Modified Index of well-being (MIwb) A-9 Macroinvertebrate taxa list for each sampling location A-10 Macroinvertebrate ICI scores and metrics A-11 Lakes Report i EAS/2017-02-02 Draft Lower Scioto River 2011 July 12, 2018 List of Figures Figure 1. Cumulative aquatic life use attainment for all assessed waters contained within the lower Scioto River basin, 2011-12 ............................................................................................................................................... 1 Figure 2. Lower Scioto study area (pink) shown within the entire Scioto River basin. ............................................ 2 Figure 3. Lower Scioto River study area, showing principal streams and tributaries, population centers, selected pollution sources, and distribution of water resource monitoring stations, 2011-12. .................................... 3 Figure 4. Lower Scioto River study area color-coded to attainment status of existing or recommended aquatic life use designation, showing principal streams and tributaries, population centers, and selected pollution sources, 2011-12. .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Figure 5. Sand bedload discharging to an unnamed tributary to Carrs Run from Ohio Basic Minerals mining operation. ................................................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 6. Aquatic life use attainment for the lower 100 miles of the Scioto River mainstem, 1979-2011. ............ 16 Figure 7. Flow hydrograph for the Scioto River at Chillicothe, Ohio, May through October 2011 (USGS 2011). Daily median flow for the period 1920-2017 is indicated with a dashed line. Various markers indicate Scioto River discharge on the dates when monitoring data were collected............................................................ 20 Figure 8. Station average, minimum, and maximum dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH data collected from continuous monitoring units (Datasonde©) in the lower Scioto River, August 16-18, 2011. Note: DO spread and maximum values increased longitudinally and pH values approached and exceeded the maximum criterion; both were indicative of highly stimulated primary productivity. .................................................. 21 Figure 9. Longitudinal station average of ammonia-N (NH3-N), nitrate and nitrite-N (NO3+NO2-N) and total phosphorus (TP), from the lower Scioto River, 1979-2011. Dashed line (NH3-N) represents analytical detection limit. Shaded areas a and b represent a range of values for context, bounded by WWH nutrient targets and 95th percentile from reference sites, for the ECBP and WAP ecoregions (Ohio EPA 1999). ........ 22 Figure 10. Longitudinal performance of the IBI, MIwb, and QHEI, for the lower Scioto River, 1979-2011. Shaded areas indicate applicable WWH biocriteria and area of nonsignificant departure for the ECBP and WAP ecoregions. Dashed lines mark the QHEI EWH and WWH benchmark. Solid arrows identify points of discharge of major public and private NPDES permitees. ............................................................................ 51 List of Tables Table 1. Aquatic life use attainment status for sampling locations in the lower Scioto River watershed, 2011. ..... 6 Table 2. Summary of E.coli bacteria data collected June-October 2011. Recreation use attainment is based on comparing the geometric mean to the Primary Contact Recreation (PCR) criteria for Class A and B streams (per OAC 3745-1-07 at the time of this survey). All values are expressed in colony forming units (cfu) per 100 ml of water. .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Table 3. Exceedances of Ohio Water Quality Standards criteria (OAC Chapter 3745-1) for chemical/physical parameters measured in the lower Scioto River study area, 2011. .............................................................. 23 Table 4. Summary statistics for select nutrient water quality parameters sampled in the lower Scioto River watershed study area, 2011. The 90th percentile value from reference sites from the Western Allegheny Plateau ecoregion is shown for comparison (Ohio EPA 1999). Values above the 90th percentile reference condition are shaded in yellow. ................................................................................................................... 25 Table 5. QHEI matrix of macrohabitat features by station for the lower Scioto River survey area, 2011. ............. 28 Table 6. Gross measures of biological community performance for the lower 100 miles of the Scioto River mainstem, 1979-2011. ................................................................................................................................. 35 Table 7. Summary of macroinvertebrate descriptive statistics, field observations, and narrative evaluations for the lower Scioto River mainstem, June to October 2011. ICI scores and narrative assessments are color- coded to the following quality categories: Exceptional - Very Good (blue) and Good - Marginally Good (green) Fair (yellow), and Poor-Very Poor (Red). ......................................................................................... 40 ii EAS/2017-02-02 Draft Lower Scioto River 2011 July 12, 2018 Table 8. A summary of macroinvertebrate descriptive, field observations, and narrative evaluations from lower Scioto River basin tributaries, June to October 2011. ICI scores and narrative assessments are color-coded to the following quality categories: Exceptional - Very Good (blue), Good - Marginally Good (green), Fair (yellow), and