2004 WATER QUALITY REPORT to CONGRESS Prepared Pursuant to Clean Water Act Section 305(B)
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STATE OF CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Bureau of Water Management 79 Elm Street Hartford, CT 06106-5127 Arthur J. Rocque, Jr., Commissioner 2004 WATER QUALITY REPORT TO CONGRESS Prepared Pursuant to Clean Water Act Section 305(b) April 2004 For further information contact: Planning & Standards Division Bureau of Water Management Department of Environmental Protection 79 Elm Street Hartford, CT 06106-5127 Phone: 860-424-3020 Fax: 860-424-4055 The Department of Environmental Protection is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, offering its services without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, or disability. In conformance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the DEO makes every effort to provide equally effective services for persons with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities needing auxiliary aids or services should call 860-424-3333. Printed on recycled paper. ii Table of Contents Chapter Page Table of Contents iii List of Tables and Figures iv Chapter 1. Executive Summary 1-1 Chapter 2. Connecticut Surface Water Resources and Management 2-1 Chapter 3. Economic and Community Costs and Benefits of Clean Water 3-1 Chapter 4. Assessment Methodology of Surface Waters 4-1 Chapter 5. Water Quality (Use Support) Summaries 5-1 Chapter 6. Wetlands Assessments 6-1 Chapter 7. Ground Water Protection 7-1 Chapter 8. Public Health and Aquatic Life Concerns 8-1 Chapter 9. References 9-1 Appendix A. Waterbody Segment Locations A-1 Appendix B. Use Support in Rivers and Causes/Sources of Impairment B-1 Appendix C. Use Support in Lakes and Causes/Sources of Impairment C-1 Appendix D. Use Support in Estuaries and Causes/Sources of Impairment D-1 Appendix E. Codes for Terms Used in Use Support Tables E-1 Appendix F. Connecticut Reservoir and Trophic Status F-1 Appendix G. Applicable Water Quality Standards and Criteria for Assessed Waters G-1 Appendix H: Biological Sampling Stations and Provisional Results: Fall 1996-Fall 2000 H-1 iii Tables and Figures Tables Table of Acronyms used in the 2004 Water Quality Report to Congress v Table 2-1. Connecticut Water Resources Atlas 2-1 Table 4-1. Designated uses for surface waters as described in Connecticut Water Quality Standards and 305(b)/303(d) Reports. 4-2 Table 4-2. Aquatic life use support categories and contributing decision criteria for wadeable streams. 4-9 Table 4-3. Aquatic life use support in estuaries as determined by dissolved oxygen levels. 4-10 Table 4-4. Fish consumption use support and criteria. 4-11 Table 4-5. Shellfishing use support as determined by shellfish bed classifications. 4-11 Table 4-6. Decision criteria for various categories of primary contact use support. 4-13 Table 4-7. Overall use support categories. 4-14 Table 5-1. Summary of Evaluated and Monitored Waterbody Segments. 5-1 Table 5-2. Use support summaries for Connecticut waters, 2004. 5-9 Table 5-3. Summary of Potential Causes Impairing Rivers. 5-10 Table 5-4. Summary of Potential Causes Impairing Freshwater Lakes. 5-11 Table 5-5. Summary of Potential Causes Impairing Estuaries. 5-12 Table 5-6. Summary of Potential Sources Impairing Rivers. 5-13 Table 5-7. Summary of Potential Sources Impairing Freshwater Lakes. 5-14 Table 5-8. Summary of Potential Sources Impairing Estuaries. 5-15 Table 5-9. Summary of trophic status of “significant” and all assessed lakes. 5-15 Table 5-10. Special Monitoring Projects 2002-2003. 5-16 Table 6-1. Present and historical wetland and watercourse acreage in Connecticut. 6-1 Table 6-2. Tidal wetlands and submerged aquatic vegetation. 6-3 Table 8-1. Fish Consumption Advisories for Connecticut Waters, 2002. 8-3 Table 8-2. Fish kills reported in Connecticut during 2002 and 2003. 8-4 Table 8-3. Bathing beach closures reported in Connecticut for 2002 and 2003. 8-7 Figures Figure 2-1. Perennial streams and lakes in Connecticut. 2-2 Figure 4-1. Rotating basin schedule of stream monitoring and reporting. 4-5 Figure 5-1. A comparison of stream miles assessed in Connecticut in 2002 and 2004. 5-2 Figure 5-2. Primary contact use support in assessed rivers. 5-4 Figure 5-3. Aquatic life use support in assessed rivers. 5-4 Figure 7-1. Major aquifers in Connecticut (from USGS, Melvin et al. 1986). 7-1 Figure 8-1: Connecticut public drinking water supply watersheds. 8-2 iv Acronyms Used in the 2004 Water Quality Report to Congress 303(d) Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act requiring a list of waters not meeting water quality standards every two years 305(b) Section 305(b) of the Federal Clean Water Act requiring a water quality report every two years 319 Section 319 of the Federal Clean Water Act addressing nonpoint source pollution ADB Assessment Database - tracks 305(b) water quality assessments ALUS Aquatic Life Use Support APA Aquifer Protection Area BMP Best Management Plan CALM Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology (for 305(b) and 303(d) reporting) CFU Colony Forming Units CMA (Connecticut) Coastal Management Act CSO Combined Sewage Overflow CT DEP or DEP Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection CT DPH or DPH Connecticut Department of Public Health CWA (Federal) Clean Water Act CWF Clean Water Fund DA-BA (Connecticut) Department of Agriculture - Bureau of Aquaculture DECD (Connecticut) Department of Economic and Community Development DWSRF Drinking Water Supply Revolving Fund GIS Geographic Information System IPM Integrated Pest Management IWL Impaired Waters List LISS Long Island Sound Study MCL Maximum Contaminant Level MTBE Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether NEMO Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials NHD National Hydrography Dataset (for stream mapping nationwide) NPS Nonpoint Source (pollution) NRCS Natural Resource Conservation Service OLISP Office of Long Island Sound Program (at CT DEP) PWS Public Water Supply QRWA Quinnipiac River Watershed Association QSHC Quinebaug-Shetucket Heritage Corridor QWP Quinnipiac Watershed Partnership RBP Rapid Bioassessment Protocols SDWA (Federal) Safe Drinking Water Act SECCOG Southeast Connecticut Council of Governments SET Sediment Erosion Table STORET (US EPA's) data STORage and RETrieval system TMDL Total Maximum Daily Load TWA (Connecticut) Tidal Wetlands Act US EPA or EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency USDA United States Department of Agriculture USGS United States Geological Survey UST Underground Storage Tank WPC Water Planning Council WQS Water Quality Standards v This page is purposely left blank. vi Chapter 1 . Executive Summary Section 305(b) of the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires each State to monitor, assess and report on the quality of its waters relative to designated uses established by the State’s Water Quality Standards (CT WQS 2002b). This process is the principal means by which States report on water quality and the extent of water quality impairments to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the United States Congress, and the general public. States submit 305(b) reports biennially to US EPA, where the information is compiled into a national summary, the National Water Quality Inventory (US EPA 2002). An electronic report of Connecticut’s assessment database was provided to US EPA separately. This written report fulfils the Federal requirement for a narrative report. Section 303(d) of the CWA requires States to list all waters not meeting water quality standards and to prioritize those waters for management. Prior to 2002, the Connecticut 305(b) and 303(d) reports were separate documents, as was the case for most States. Following guidance issued by US EPA in 2001, CT DEP developed a Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology (CT CALM, CT DEP 2002e and 2004b), which effectively unified and documented protocols for the assessment of waters for both sections of the CWA. Impaired waters listed under Section 303(d) are now generated as a subset of all waters assessed under Section 305(b), using the CT CALM. The 2004 303(d) List or 2004 List of Connecticut Waterbodies Not Meeting Water Quality Standards (CT DEP 2004a) is printed as a separate document. The CT CALM (2004b) comprises Chapter 4 of this report. Geographic Coverage In 2001, the CT DEP completed a five-year rotating basin strategy for statewide monitoring in wadeable streams and rivers (CT DEP 1999). One or more major basins were targeted for monitoring each year during the five-year cycle. This allowed CT DEP to increase the miles of assessed perennial streams from 15% to more than 25%. Assessment information obtained during the full basin rotation was reported in the 2002 305(b) Report. Despite gains in monitored miles, this type of focused monitoring cannot be extrapolated to achieve the CWA goal to provide a “description of the quality of all navigable waters of the State”. To work toward the comprehensive assessment goal, CT DEP, with funding and cooperation from US EPA Region I, conducted a pilot statewide probabilistic monitoring effort in wadeable steams during 2002 and 2003. Through this approach, a statistically valid sample of streams was monitored to represent conditions of all wadeable streams in the State. During this two-year period, the rotating basin approach was suspended, although some focused monitoring was still conducted at reference sites, in rivers with known problems, and as intensive monitoring prior to and following Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) implementation. Because laboratory and data analyses have not been completed for all probabilistic sites, a full statistical analysis and extrapolation to all wadeable streams will not be done until the 2006 305(b) Report. For this report, data from probabilistic sites and any targeted monitoring conducted during 2002 and 2003 were incorporated into stream assessments on a segment-by- segment basis. Where no new information was available, river assessments remain the same as 1-1 for the 2002 305(b) Report.