Mustinka River Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Report
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Mustinka River Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Report November 2013 Authors The MPCA is reducing printing and mailing costs MPCA Mustinka River Watershed Report by using the Internet to distribute reports and Team: information to wider audience. Visit our Dave Dollinger, Ben Lundeen, Kevin Stroom, website for more information. Andrew Streitz, Bruce Monson, Shawn Nelson, MPCA reports are printed on 100% post- Kris Parson, Andrew Butzer, Dereck Richter consumer recycled content paper manufactured without chlorine or chlorine derivatives. Contributors / acknowledgements Citizen Stream Monitoring Program Volunteers Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Minnesota Department of Health Minnesota Department of Agriculture Red River Watershed Management Board Project dollars provided by the Clean Water Fund (from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment) Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 520 Lafayette Road North | Saint Paul, MN 55155-4194 | www.pca.state.mn.us | 651-296-6300 Toll free 800-657-3864 | TTY 651-282-5332 This report is available in alternative formats upon request, and online at www.pca.state.mn.us Document number: wq-ws3-09020102b List of acronyms AUID Assessment Unit Identification Analysis Procedure Determination MPCA Minnesota Pollution Control Agency CCSI Channel Condition and Stability Index MSHA Minnesota Stream Habitat Assessment CD County Ditch MTS Meets the Standard? CI Confidence Interval N Nitrogen CLMP Citizen Lake Monitoring Program Nitrate-N Nitrate Plus Nitrite Nitrogen CR County Road NA Not Assessed CSAH County State Aid Highway NHD National Hydrologic Dataset CSMP Citizen Stream Monitoring Program NH3 Ammonia CWA Clean Water Act NS Not Supporting CWLA Clean Water Legacy Act NT No Trend DOP Dissolved Orthophosphate OP Orthophosphate E Eutrophic P Phosphorous EQuIS Environmental Quality Information PCB Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls System PWI Protected Waters Inventory EX Exceeds Criteria (Bacteria) RNR River Nutrient Region EXP Exceeds Criteria, Potential Impairment SWAG Surface Water Assessment Grant EXS Exceeds Criteria, Potential Severe Impairment SWCD Soil and Water Conservation District FS Full Support SWUD State Water Use Database FWMC Flow Weighted Mean Concentration TALU Tiered Aquatic Life Uses H Hypereutrophic TKN Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen HUC Hydrologic Unit Code TMDL Total Maximum Daily Load IBI Index of Biotic Integrity TP Total Phosphorous IF Insufficient Information TSS Total Suspended Solids K Potassium USGS United States Geological Survey LRVW Limited Resource Value Water WPLMN Water Pollutant Load Monitoring Network M Mesotrophic MCES Metropolitan Council Environmental Services MDA Minnesota Department of Agriculture MDH Minnesota Department of Health MDNR Minnesota Department of Natural Resources MINLEAP Minnesota Lake Eutrophication Contents Executive summary ............................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 2 I. The watershed monitoring approach ............................................................................................ 3 II. Assessment methodology ............................................................................................................ 7 III. Watershed overview .................................................................................................................. 10 IV. Watershed-wide data collection methodology ............................................................................ 18 V. Individual watershed results ...................................................................................................... 25 Mustinka River Watershed Unit HUC 09020102010 ............................................. 27 Five Mile Creek Watershed Unit HUC 09020102020 ............................................. 34 West Branch Mustinka River Watershed Unit HUC 09020102030 ............................................. 38 Twelve Mile Creek Watershed Unit HUC 09020102040 ............................................. 43 C.D. #27 Watershed Unit HUC 09020102050 ............................................. 49 Eighteen Mile Creek Watershed Unit HUC 09020102060 ............................................. 50 VI. Watershed-wide results and discussion ...................................................................................... 54 VII. Summary and recommendations ................................................................................................ 63 Literature cited ................................................................................................................................... 65 Appendix 1 - Water chemistry definitions ............................................................................................. 67 Appendix 2 - Intensive watershed monitoring water chemistry stations in the Mustinka River Watershed .......................................................................................................................................... 68 Appendix 3.1 - AUID table of stream assessment results (by parameter and beneficial use) ................... 69 Appendix 3.2 - Assessment results for lakes in the Mustinka River watershed........................................ 72 Appendix 4.1 - Minnesota statewide IBI thresholds and confidence limits ............................................. 82 Appendix 4.2 - Biological monitoring results – Fish IBI (assessable reaches) ........................................... 83 Appendix 4.3 - Biological monitoring results-macroinvertebrate IBI (assessable reaches) ....................... 84 Appendix 5.1 - Good/fair/poor thresholds for biological stations on non-assessed channelized AUIDs .... 85 Appendix 5.2 - Channelized stream reach and AUID IBI scores-FISH (non-assessed) ................................ 86 Appendix 5.3 - Channelized stream reach and AUID IBI scores-macro invertebrates (non- assessed) ....... 87 Appendix 6.1 - Minnesota’s ecoregion-based lake eutrophication standards ......................................... 88 Appendix 6.2 - MINLEAP model estimates of phosphorus loads for lakes in the Mustinka Watershed ..... 88 List of Figures Figure 1. Major watersheds within Minnesota (8-Digit HUC). ..................................................................... 3 Figure 2. Monitoring locations of local groups, citizens and the MPCA lake monitoring staff in the Mustinka Watershed ...................................................................................................................... 4 Figure 3. The intensive watershed monitoring design ................................................................................ 5 Figure 4. Intensive watershed monitoring sites for streams in the Mustinka River Watershed .................... 6 Figure 5. Flowchart of aquatic life use assessment process ........................................................................ 9 Figure 6. The Mustinka River Watershed lies within three ecoregions in west-central Minnesota.............. 10 Figure 7. Land use in the Mustinka River Watershed................................................................................ 12 Figure 8. State-wide precipitation levels during the 2012 water year........................................................ 14 Figure 9. Precipitation trends in west-central Minnesota (1990-2010) with five year running average ....... 14 Figure 10. Precipitation trends in western Minnesota (1895-2015) with nine year running average ........... 15 Figure 11. Topography of the Mustinka River Watershed ......................................................................... 16 Figure 12. Locations of permitted groundwater withdrawals in the Mustinka River Watershed ................ 17 Figure 13. Total groundwater and surface water withdrawals in the Mustinka River Watershed (1991 - 2011) .......................................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 14. Locations of area MDNR observation wells .............................................................................. 21 Figure 15. Hydrograph from observation well 75001 in Stevens County .................................................... 22 Figure 16. Locations of wells in the MPCA Ambient Groundwater Monitoring Program ............................ 23 Figure 17. Summary of naturally occurring aresenic values from groundwater samples (Traverse-Grant Regional Hydrogeologic Assessment, MDNR) ................................................................. 24 Figure 18. Water evelvation for East Toqua Lake 2003-2012 .................................................................... 24 Figure 19. Currently listed impaired waters by parameter and land use characteristics in the Mustinka River Watershed unit .............................................................................................................. 33 Figure 20. Currently listed impaired waters by parameter and land use characteristics in the Five Mile Creek subwatershed ................................................................................................................ 37 Figure 21. Currently listed impaired waters by parameter and land use characteristics in the west branch Mustinka River subwatershed ............................................................................................