Biological Investigation of Crab Orchard Creek Basin
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BIOLOGICAL INVESTIQAtlON OF T UC CRAB ORCHARD CR«=EK BASIN SUMMER 1975 EPA Region 5 Records Ctr. ,-"\-.'^*^<w.-<'~-s!^^ > I 7^. rti^ fMVfilONMiNTAi PROTECTION AGiNCT -#4 ivicmfi Of WATER POllUTION CONTROl 3 STATE OF ILiiNOtS 1 r/-- ^-77 >!. BIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE CRAB ORCHARD CREEK BASIN SUMMER 1975 BY ROBERT L. HITE AND MARVIN KING AQUATIC BIOLOGISTS ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY DIVISION OF WATER POLLUTION CONTROL STATE OF ILLINOIS APRIL 1977 - - CONTENTS ; •- SECTION PAGE ; I SUMMARY 1 II INTRODUCTION , 5 ' Topography and Geology 9 Soils and Land Use 9 J Climate and Hydrology 10 j Sedimentation 10 ' Local Governments and Populations 12 Industrial Development I3 '\ Point Source Dischargers I3 i Basin Impoundments I7 Stream Quality I9 I The Aquatic Environment 19 i ' III BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATE STUDIES 21 ( METHODS (1 Qualitative Macroinvertebrate Collections 21 I Quantitative Macroinvertebrate Collections 21 I Indicator Organisms 23 Stream Classifications 23 RESULTS Crab Orchard Creek to Crab Orchard Lake (Segment A-05) ,,, 25 i Crab Orchard Lake Tributaries (Segment A-06) 33 '; Crab Orchard Creek - Carbondale Area (Segment A-07) 39 Benthic Studies - Crab Orchard Lake 53 I IV SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY 59 Heavy Metals 63 f Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Insecticides and PCB's 67 I V WATER QUALITY (1972 - 1976) 73 VI LITERATURE CITED 77 VII APPENDIX 79 A. Location and Classification of Biological Sampling Stations in the Crab Orchard Creek Basin, Summer 1975 .. 80 B. Summary of Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Data 85 C. Summary of Crab Orchard Creek Water Quality Data 95 D. Crab Orchard Lake Bacteriological Study, Summer 1976 ... 117 E. Toxic Substances in Fish - Crab Orchard Lake Summer 1976 125 ii LIST OF TABLES TABLE TITLE PAGE 1 Major streams of Crab Orchard Creek Basin, I.E.P.A. basin codes, and known drainage areas 7 2 Communities of the Crab Orchard Creek Basin 12 3 Locations and stream codes of wastewater dischargers in the Crab Orchard Creek Basin 14 4 Private sewage treatment systems in Carbondale and Makanda Townships, Illinois, in June, 1975 16 5 Impoundments of Crab Orchard Creek Basin, basin codes, approximate sizes of impoundments and watersheds, and spillway locations 18 6 Benthic macroinvertebrate organisms taken from Crab Orchard Lake bottom samples, July 26, 1975 55 7 Classification of sediment collection stations 61 8 Analyses of selected heavy metal constituents, Kjeldahl nitrogen, phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand, and volatile matter in bottom sediments from Crab Orchard Creek and tributaries, summer, 1975 ... 64 9 Analyses of selected heavy metal constituents, Kjeldahl nitrogen, phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand, and volatile matter in bottom sediments from Crab Orchard Lake, summer, 1975 65 10 Analyses of pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in bottom sediments from selected locations in Crab Orchard Creek and tributaries, summer, 1975 59 11 Analyses of selected pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) in bottom sediments from Crab 70 Or chard Lake, summer, 1975 12 Range of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) found in bottom sediments of Illinois waters and nature of contamination 7I 13 Summary of selected water quality constituents displaying notable changes in Crab Orchard Creek (Station ND-04) , 1972 - 1976 74 111 TABLE TITLE PAGE 14 Summary of selected water quality constituents from Station ND-03, Crab Orchard Creel;, \Zil - 1976 75 15 Summary of mean annual dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen concentrations and fecal coliform counts at Station ITO-Ol, 1972-1976 76 -APPENDIX- A-1 Location and classification of biological sampling stations on Crab Orchard Creek and tributaries from Pittsburg to the Big Muddy River, July - August, 1975 80 B-1 Aquatic macroinvertebrate organisms found in qualitative samples of Crab Orchard Creek from the headwaters to confluence with the Big Muddy River, July 10 - August 26, 1975 86 B-2 Aquatic macroinvertebrate organisms found in qualitative samples of Crab Orchard Creek tributaries, July 11 - August 22, 1975 88 B-3 Aquatic macroinvertebrates found in qualitative samples of Crab Orchard Creek tributaries, July 18 - August 8, 1975 90 B-4 Aquatic macroinvertebrates found in qualitative samples of Piles Fork and Little Crab Orchard Creek 1, near Carbondale, Illinois, July 16 - 29, 1975 92 C-1 Key to headings and water quality parameter abbreviations 95 C-2 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-04, 1972 97 C-3 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-04, 1973 98 C-4 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-04, 1974 99 C-5 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-04, 1975 100 LV TABLE -APPENDIX- PAGE C-6 Crab Orchard Creek water quality summary statistics. Station ND-04, 1976 101 C-7 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-03, 1972 102 C-8 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-03, 1973 103 C-9 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-03, 1974 104 C-10 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics, Station ND-03, 1975 ' 105 C-11 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-03, 1976 106 C-12 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-02, 1972 107 C-13 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-02, 1973 108 C-14 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-02, 1974 109 C-15 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-02, 1975 110 C-16 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-02, 1976 Ill C-17 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-Ol, 1972 112 C-18 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics, Station ND-Ol, 1973 113 C-19 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-Ol, 1974 114 C-20 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-Ol, 1975 115 C-21 Crab Orchard Creek water quality data summary statistics. Station ND-Ol, 1976 116 TABLE -APPENDIX- PAGE D-1 Results of bacteriological analyses v. "^ open water samples from Crab Orchard Lake, June - September, 1976 122 D-2 Results of bacteriological analyses of beach water samples from Crab Orchard Lake, June - September, 1976 123 E-1 Summary of total mercury concentrations in fishes collected from two locations in Crab Orchard Lake, August 16-18, 1976 131 E-2 Total mercury concentrations found in fish collected from two locations in Crab Orchard Lake, August 16-18, 1976 137 E-3 Concentrations of pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls found in six fish species collected from Crab Orchard Lake in the vicinity of Route 148 (Station IE), August 16-18, 1976 138 E-4 Concentrations of pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls found in five fish species collected from Crab Orchard Lake (Station 2M), August 17, 1976 139 vi LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE TITLE PAGE 1 Schematic representation of Crab Orchard Creek Basin depicting general water quality conditions from the headwaters to confluence with the Big Muddy River, summer, 1975 3 Location of Crab Orchard Creek Basin in Southern Illinois 6 Crab Orchard Creek Basin 8 Biological sampling locations in Crab Orchard Creek Basin, Segment A-05, summer, 1975 26 Municipal discharge and acid mine drainage locations in Crab Orchard Creek Basin, upstream from Crab Orchard Lake, summer, 19 75 (Segment A-05) 27 Total macroinvertebrate taxa and percent intolerant - tolerant individuals found at nine locations in upper Crab Orchard Creek (Segment A-05), summer, 1975 31 Biological sampling locations in Crab Orchard Lake tributaries. Segment A-06, July - August, 1975 34 Location of municipal and other discharges to Crab Orchard Lake tributaries. Segment A-06 35 Location of municipal and other discharges to Crab Orchard Creek and tributaries in the vicinity of Carbondale, Illinois, Segment A-07 40 10 Location of wastewater dischargers in the vicinity of Carbondale, Illinois, summer, 1975 41 11 Location and size of storm sewers and surface pipes to Piles Fork and Little Crab Orchard Creek 1, Carbondale, Illinois 43 12 Biological sampling locations in Crab Orchard Creek and tributaries in the vicinity of Carbondale, Illinois, Segment A-07, July - August, 1975 45 13 Biological sampling locations in Piles Fork and tributaries in the vicinity of Carbondale, Illinois, July 22-29, 1975 47 V13 FIGURE TITLE PAGE i . ) 14 Total macroinvertebrate taxa and percent intolerant - tolerant individuals found at i eight locations in lower Crab Orchara Cteek . j (Segment A-07), Summer, 1975 51 15 Benthic macroinvertebrate - sediment sampling i' locations and zones of pollution in Crab ' Orchard Lake, July, 1975 57 I -APPENDIX- D-1 Bacteriological sampling locations in Crab ( Orchard Lake, Summer, 1976 121 E-1 Relationship of total mercury to total body j weight of largemouth bass collected from two - ' locations in Crab Orchard Lake, August 16-18, 1976 129 1 E-2 Relationship of total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB'S) to body weight of channel catfish from two locations in Crab Orchard Lake, August 16-18, 1976 133 Vll 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank Buz Imboden for the long hours spent i picking samples and identifying macroinvertebrates when employed at this Agency's Marion Regional Office in 1975. The authors also thank Wayne Adams and Chuck Surprenant of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the cooperation provided during various phases of this study. Many of the figures used in this report were prepared by Glen Berry of Graphic Services. Typing was accomplished by Carolyn Bonnell and Mary Grace Given of the Marion Office. IX SECTION I SUMMARY 1, A biological investigation of the Crab Orchard Creek w^'ershed in Williamson and Jackson Counties was conducted in summer, 1975, at 70 stream locations. Fifteen locations in Crab Orchard Lake were sampled for benthic macroinvertebrate organisms and toxic materials in bottom sediments.