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Work Program 208 Plan Maintenance and Targeted Water Quality Planning Final Report FFY16 Allotment June 2018

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Work Program 208 Plan Maintenance and Targeted Water Quality Planning Final Report FFY16 Allotment June 2018 Water Quality §604(b) Work Program 208 Plan Maintenance and Targeted Water Quality Planning Final Report FFY16 Allotment June 2018 Table of Contents Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Goal ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Objectives ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Methods ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 Study Area ............................................................................................................................................. 7 Inventory of Municipal Sanitary Sewers ............................................................................................... 8 Inventory of Package Plants .................................................................................................................. 8 Creation of Sanitary Sewer Maps ......................................................................................................... 8 Populations and Housing Units ............................................................................................................. 9 HSTS Nutrient Loads ............................................................................................................................. 9 Package Plant Phosphorus Loads ........................................................................................................ 10 Critical Sewage Areas .......................................................................................................................... 11 Results ....................................................................................................................................................... 12 Objective 1 – Sanitary Sewer Service Areas ................................................................................. 12 Objective 2 – Population in Unsewered Areas ............................................................................. 13 Objective 3 - Nutrient Loads from Household Sewage Treatment Systems ............................ 14 Objective 4 – Package Plants Inventory and Phosphorus Loads ............................................... 19 Objective 5 – Critical Sewage Areas ............................................................................................... 23 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 25 References ................................................................................................................................................ 26 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................ 28 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................................ 44 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................................ 49 Appendix D ............................................................................................................................................... 62 Appendix E ................................................................................................................................................ 64 Appendix F ................................................................................................................................................ 84 1 | P a g e Summary Household sewage treatment systems (HSTS) and small semi-public systems (referred to as package plants) are used in areas where municipal sanitary sewers are not available or accessible. These small treatment systems represent a potential source of nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus) to Lake Erie, and promote growth of harmful algal blooms. The goal of this project was to identify areas in the Ohio portion of the western Lake Erie basin (WLEB) where sanitary sewage infrastructure improvements should be made to support the phosphorus load reduction of 40% set by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The objectives were to (1) map known sanitary sewer service areas, (2) estimate nitrogen and phosphorus loads from HSTS within the unsewered areas, (3) update the inventory of package plants and estimate their phosphorus loads, and (4) identify critical sewage areas (CSAs) where there are dense housing units in unsewered areas. Sanitary sewer areas were delineated using Geographical Information System (GIS) based on information provided by municipalities and county engineers. Total phosphorus and nitrogen loads from HSTS were estimated using data from literature, U.S. census data, and GIS analysis. Phosphorus loads from package plants were quantified using information obtained from National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and existing data for package plants without a permit. Critical sewage areas were delineated based on information provided by county health departments and sanitary engineers, and review of county parcel maps. HSTS accounted for 80.49 metric tons annum (mta) of total phosphorus and 784.45 mta of total nitrogen. Nutrient loads from HSTS were derived from population, so it was typical the loads increased in areas with higher population. The highest loads were observed in Lucas, Wood, and Allen counties: total phosphorus – 9.78, 9.55, and 7.25 mta; total nitrogen – 95.34, 93.06, and 70.68 mta, respectively. Ten sub-watersheds (12-digit hydrological unit code) were highlighted because the total phosphorus loads from HSTS exceeded 1.0 mta, these included Cedar Creek, Wolf Creek, Crane Creek, Heldman Ditch, Preston Run, Ai Creek, Portage River, Sugar Creek, Dog Creek, and Rocky Ford. Package plants accounted for 8.97 mta of total phosphorus. A total of 196 package plants were identified, with 145 (74%) having NPDES permits. Most (n=104) of the plants had a capacity less than 10,000 gallons per day (gpd); these smaller plants have no total phosphorus limit for effluent. Ottawa County had the most package plants (n=48) and greatest cumulative phosphorus load (2.66 mta). CSAs were identified in 17 of the 19 counties, with 31 located in Lucas County. Areas that included more than 50 housing units are of concern due to the potential to contribute elevated loadings of nutrients and bacteria. A total of 60 CSAs with at least 50 housing units were identified, with 12 located in Lucas County and 11 in Ottawa County. 2 | P a g e Based on the results from this project, TMACOG supports the following actions: • Identify and map all existing home sewage treatment systems, with efforts focused on the 10 HUC-12 watersheds with elevated total phosphorus loads. • Connect housing units and package plants to available and accessible sanitary sewers. • Establish total phosphorus limits for all package plants, especially plants with a capacity less than 10,000 gpd. • Prioritize CSAs, with focus on those with documented unsanitary conditions, such as elevated levels of nutrients and bacteria. 3 | P a g e 1. Introduction Water quality in western Lake Erie has increasingly become degraded, as demonstrated by excessive nutrients (Jarvie et al. 2017), recurring harmful and nuisance algal blooms (Ho and Michalak 2017), and public beach closings (ODH 2017). Elevated levels of phosphorus facilitate the growth of algal blooms (Michalak et al. 2013), and recently nitrogen was identified as another growth limiting nutrient (Gobler, et al. 2016; Levy 2017). Algal blooms in western Lake Erie are dominated by Microcystis that produces microcystins, which are toxins that affect the liver. In August 2014, elevated levels of microcystins at the Toledo water treatment plant resulted in a temporary ban of the drinking water to approximately 500,000 regional residents. To address these growing challenges of Lake Erie, governments of Canada and the United States adopted targets under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) Nutrients Annex Subcommittee to reduce phosphorus entering western Lake Erie by 40 percent (USEPA 2015). Impairments to Lake Erie are a direct result of terrestrial activities that occur within the watersheds that empty into the lake. The western Lake Erie basin (WLEB) (Figure 1) is approximately 9,300 square miles and is dominated by agricultural activities that account for almost 70% of the total land area (USDA, NRCS 2016a). Studies indicate that agricultural practices are the primary sources of nutrients. For example, Scavia et al. (2016) estimated that 85% of the total phosphorus load from the Maumee River is derived from farm fertilizers and manures, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) estimated that non-point sources (comprised mainly of agriculture sources) account for 88% of the total phosphorus load (Ohio EPA 2016). The remaining phosphorus load is generated by point sources, which are discharging facilities
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