Upper White River Watershed Regional Plan
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Upper White River Watershed Regional Watershed Assessment and Planning Report November 2011 Lenore P. Tedesco1, Jill Hoffmann2, Lisa Bihl2, Bob E. Hall1, Robert C. Barr1 and Michael Stouder1 1Center for Earth and Environmental Science, IUPUI 723 W. Michigan St. Indianapolis, IN 46202 2Empower Results LLC. 1939 Rockford Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46229 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Project Purpose ....................................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.0 White River Watershed Natural Setting........................................................................................................................... 12 2.1 Basin Characteristics ......................................................................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Climate .................................................................................................................................................................................. 21 2.3 Natural Regions .................................................................................................................................................................. 21 2.4 Geology and Soils ............................................................................................................................................................... 23 2.5 Streamflow ........................................................................................................................................................................... 26 2.6 Flood Mitigation .................................................................................................................................................................. 27 2.7 Land Use Land Cover ........................................................................................................................................................ 27 2.7.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................................... 27 2.7.2 2000 Land Use ................................................................................................................................................................ 29 2.7.3 2008 Land Use ................................................................................................................................................................ 30 2.8 Watershed Management Areas ....................................................................................................................................... 33 2.8.1 Agricultural Till Plain Headwaters ............................................................................................................................. 33 2.8.2 Urban and Urbanizing Core ........................................................................................................................................ 34 2.8.3 Southern Forested Hills ............................................................................................................................................... 34 3.0 Degradation Assessement (Historic Water Quality Data Review) ............................................................................ 36 3.1 Background Research ........................................................................................................................................................ 36 3.2 Available Data Sets Inventoried & Utilized .................................................................................................................. 36 3.2.1 IDEM Fixed Station Data .............................................................................................................................................. 37 3.2.2 CIWRP-Veolia Water Indianapolis, LLC. Data ....................................................................................................... 42 3.3 Data Analysis Methods ...................................................................................................................................................... 43 3.4 Water Quality Parameters and Benchmarks ............................................................................................................... 44 3.4.1 Turbidity ........................................................................................................................................................................... 44 3.4.2 Total Suspended Sediment .......................................................................................................................................... 44 3.4.3 Escherichia coli (E. coli) ................................................................................................................................................ 44 3.4.4 Atrazine ............................................................................................................................................................................ 45 3.4.5 Nutrients .......................................................................................................................................................................... 45 3.4.6 Chemical Oxygen Demand .......................................................................................................................................... 47 3.4.7 Biochemical Oxygen Demand (5 Day) ..................................................................................................................... 47 3.5 Trends and Discussion ...................................................................................................................................................... 47 3.5.1 2D Statistical Measures ................................................................................................................................................ 48 3.5.2 Multivariate Statistical Analyses .................................................................................................................................. 64 3.5 Impaired Stream Classification ........................................................................................................................................ 66 4.0 Vulnerability Assessment (Analysis of Risk Factors) ...................................................................................................... 68 4.1 Land Use Land Cover ........................................................................................................................................................ 68 ii 4.1.1 Changes in Land Cover (2000 to 2008) ................................................................................................................... 69 4.1.2 Urbanization .................................................................................................................................................................... 69 4.1.3 Community Growth Rates .......................................................................................................................................... 69 4.2 Agricultural Practices ......................................................................................................................................................... 72 4.2.1 Row Crop Agriculture .................................................................................................................................................. 72 4.2.2 Confined Feeding Operations ..................................................................................................................................... 73 4.2.3 Forestry ............................................................................................................................................................................ 74 4.2.4 Tile Drainage ................................................................................................................................................................... 76 4.2.5 Conservation Tillage Adoption .................................................................................................................................. 77 4.3 Regulated Drains and Maintenance ................................................................................................................................ 81 4.4 Buffer Analysis – Streamside Land Use Land Cover .................................................................................................. 81 4.5 Construction in a Floodway Permitting ........................................................................................................................ 86 4.6 NPDES Dischargers ........................................................................................................................................................... 89 4.6.1 NPDES Permit Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 89 4.6.2 Non-compliance Water Quality Concerns ............................................................................................................. 89 4.7 Sewered and Unsewered Areas .....................................................................................................................................