Biological and Water Quality Study of the Middle Scioto River and Select Tributaries, 2010 Delaware, Franklin, Pickaway, and Union Counties
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Biological and Water Quality Study of the Middle Scioto River and Select Tributaries, 2010 Delaware, Franklin, Pickaway, and Union Counties Ohio EPA Technical Report EAS/2012-12-12 Division of Surface Water Ecological Assessment Section November 21, 2012 DSW/EAS 2012-12-12 Middle Scioto River and Select Tributaries TSD November 21, 2012 Biological and Water Quality Survey of the Middle Scioto River and Select Tributaries 2010 Delaware, Franklin, Pickaway, and Union Counties November 21, 2012 Ohio EPA Technical Report/EAS 2012-12-12 Prepared by: State of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Surface Water Central District Office Lazarus Government Center 50 West Town Street, Suite 700 P.O. Box 1049 Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049 State of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Ecological Assessment Section 4675 Homer Ohio Lane Groveport, OH 43125 Mail to: P.O. Box 1049 Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049 i DSW/EAS 2012-12-12 Middle Scioto River and Select Tributaries TSD November 21, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 12 STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION .............................................................................................. 13 RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................................... 14 RESULTS .............................................................................................................................. 18 MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITY....................................................................................................... 18 Trends 20 PHYSICAL HABITAT ............................................................................................................................... 27 FISH COMMUNITY ................................................................................................................................. 30 Trends 31 CHEMICAL WATER QUALITY .................................................................................................................. 53 RECREATION USE ................................................................................................................................. 64 SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY .......................................................................................................................... 70 LAKE SAMPLING .................................................................................................................................... 76 FISH TISSUE CONTAMINATION ............................................................................................................... 89 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 95 ii DSW/EAS 2012-12-12 Middle Scioto River and Select Tributaries TSD November 21, 2012 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1. Middle Scioto River study area sampling locations and biological community performance, 2009-2010. Site numbers correspond to Table 1. .................................................. 4 Figure 2. Middle Scioto River watershed location. ..................................................................... 12 Figure 3. Aggregated EPT and sensitive taxa for the middle Scioto River tributaries, categorized by their location within urban or rural areas of the watershed. ................................................... 19 Figure 4. Longitudinal trend of the Invertebrate Community Index (ICI) in the middle Scioto River, 1996-2010. The ICI is estimated where quantitative data are not available. .................... 21 Figure 5. Macroinvertebrate narrative evaluations for the middle Scioto River tributaries, mapped against land cover. ........................................................................................................ 22 Figure 6. Proximity of sampling location Hayden Run RM 0.83 to Hayden Run Falls. Hayden Run Falls and Indian Run Falls act as barriers to upstream fish migration from the Scioto River. .................................................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 7. IBI and MIwb boxplots for the Scioto River main stem from river miles 99 to 175, 1979 - 2010. ......................................................................................................................................... 37 Figure 8. IBI and MIwb scores for the Scioto River main stem, 1979, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2009, and 2010. .................................................................................................................................... 38 Figure 9. Fish community IBI scores over time for Scioto Big Run and Powderlick Run. ........... 39 Figure 10. Fish community IBI and MIwb plots over time for Bokes Creek. ................................ 40 Figure 11. Bokes Creek fish community IBI and MIwb boxplots over time, 1981 – 2010. ......... 41 Figure 12. Annual loadings for select parameters from Jackson Pike WWTP, 2000-2010. ....... 45 Figure 13. Bypass events for Jackson Pike WWTP and CSO discharge statistics upstream from Jackson Pike WWTP’s discharge, 2005-2010. ........................................................................... 46 Figure 14. Annual loadings for select parameters, 2000-2010, and bypass events, 2005-2010, for Columbus Southerly WWTP. ................................................................................................. 49 Figure 15. Flow conditions in the middle Scioto River watershed (upper) and Bokes Creek watershed (lower) during the 2010 sampling season. ................................................................ 53 Figure 16. Longitudinal plots of dissolved oxygen, total phosphorus, inorganic nitrogen, copper and zinc for the middle Scioto River, 1996 and 2010. ................................................................ 55 Figure 17. Longitudinal plots of dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, total nitrate, total phosphorus, chloride, and sulfate for Bokes Creek. 1999 and 2010. ......................................... 58 Figure 18. Recreation use attainment by location in the middle Scioto River watershed, 2010. 69 Figure 19. Temperature, dissolved oxygen, and dissolved oxygen % in O’Shaughnessy Reservoir, 2010. .......................................................................................................................... 78 Figure 20. Chlorophyll-a response to nutrients in O’Shaughnessy Reservoir, 2009 and 2010.. 80 Figure 21. Hypolimnion phosphorus and nitrogen in O’Shaughnessy Reservoir, 2009 and 2010. .................................................................................................................................................... 81 Figure 22. Temperature and dissolved oxygen in Griggs Reservoir, 2009. ............................... 83 Figure 23. Temperature, dissolved oxygen and dissolved oxygen saturation in Griggs Reservoir, 2010. .......................................................................................................................... 84 Figure 24. Chlorophyll-a response to nutrients in Griggs Reservoir, 2009 and 2010. ............... 86 Figure 25. Hypolimnion nutrients in Griggs Reservoir, 2009 and 2010. .................................... 87 Table 1. Middle Scioto River and tributaries sampling locations, 2009-2010. Site number corresponds to sampling location in Figure 1. .............................................................................. 2 iii DSW/EAS 2012-12-12 Middle Scioto River and Select Tributaries TSD November 21, 2012 Table 2. Aquatic life use attainment status for stations sampled in the middle Scioto River and select tributaries based on data collected June-October 2009 and June–October 2010. The Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), Modified Index of well-being (MIwb), and Invertebrate Community Index (ICI) are scores based on the performance of the biotic community. The Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) is a measure of the ability of the physical habitat of the stream to support a biotic community. The Scioto River is located in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains (ECBP) ecoregion. If biological impairment has occurred, the cause(s) and source(s) of the impairment are noted. NA = not applicable. ................................................................................. 5 Table 3. Water body use designation recommendations for the middle Scioto River and select tributaries study area. Designations based on the 1978 and 1985 water quality standards appear as asterisks (*). A plus sign (+) indicates a new recommendation or confirmation of an existing use based on the findings of this report. A delta(∆) indicates a change in a previously verified use, while a ‘o’ indicates a public water supply intake. .................................................. 16 Table 4. Summary of macroinvertebrate data collected from natural substrates (qualitative sampling) and quantitative samples in the middle Scioto River watershed study area, June- September 2009 and 2010. ........................................................................................................ 23 Table 5. Stream physical habitat (QHEI) summarized results for the middle Scioto River and select tributaries, 2009-2010. .....................................................................................................