Brookville Lake Project, East Fort White Water River, Indiana
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FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT BROOKVILLE LAKE PROJECT EASTFORK WHITEWATER RIVER INDIANA PREPARED BY! U.S. ARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT/ LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE/ KENTUCKY SUMMARY BHOOKVILLS LAKE PROJECT EAST FORK V/HI IE WATER r i v e r INDIANA ( ) Draft (*'•) Final Environmental Statement Responsible Office; U. S. Army Engineer District, Louisville, Kentucky 1. Name of Action: (X) Administrative ( ) Legislative 2. Description of Action: Completion of construction of the Brookville Dam and related project works on the East Fork of V/hitewater River immediately north of Brookville, Indiana and the creation of a lake located in Franklin and Union Counties for the purposes of flood control, general recreation, water supply, and fish and wildlife enhancement. 3 a. Environmental Impacts. The project will provide flood reduction for downstream floodplains, water storage for the State of Indiana, increase the recreational opportunity and place 17,025 acres in public ownership. b. Adverse Environmental Effects. The following effects are considered adverse: loss of free flowing stream (24 miles at flood control pool) and attendant ecology, loss of land and associated ecology (7,780 acres will be inundated at flood control pool), social disruption within the project area, temporary erosion, stream sedimentation and air pollution during construction, the eventual grading of streams above and below the lake, and the influx of visitors which would affect the pre-project tranquility. 4. Alternatives. Alternatives considered v/ero non-structural measures including flood forecasting, zoning, and evacuation. Structural alter natives included two alternate sites for the dam. A third alternative is project cancellation which would mean foregoing the tangible benefits and loss of the resources previously committed. 5. Comments Re ceived . Federal Office of Environmental Project Review, U. S. Department of Interior Environmental Protection Agency, Regional Administrator U.3. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Regional 5 Administrator U.S. Department of Commerce, Secretary of Environmental Affairs U.S. Department of Agriculture, Eastern Region Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Indiana National Marine Fisheries Service, USDC, Great Lakes Fishery Laboratory U.S. Department of Transportation, Region 5, Federal Highway Administration State Historical Hoosier Hills, Chairman Executive Council Local and Citizens Groups Brookville Chamber of Commerce The Palladiem-Item (Newspaper) Y/hitewater V-lley Conservancy District 6. Draft Statement to CEQ 7 November 1973_______ Final Statement to CEQ ? .!'f* - FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR BROOKVILIE LAKE PROJECT EAST FORK WHITEWATER RIVER, INDIANA TABLE OF CONTENTS Paragraph________________ liil§----------------------------------- £te. 1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION 1 a. General 1 b. Project Elements 1 c. Project Status 2 d. Interrelationship With Other Projects and Basin Plans 4 2. ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING WITHOUT THE PROJECT 7 a. General 7 b. Geographic Setting 7 c. Natural Environmental Units 7 d. Physical Environment 7 (1) Topography and Physiography 7 (2) Climate 8 (3) Air Quality and Noise Levels 8 (4) Geology 9 (5) Natural Resources and Hazards 10 (6) Soils 11 e. Hydrological Environment 12 (1) Surface Water 12 (2) Ground Water 12 (3) Water Quality 12 f. Biological Environment 13 (1) General 13 (2) Vegetation 14 (3) Wildlife 16 (4) Stream Fauna 16 (5) Rare and Endangered Species 16 (6) Natural Areas 17 (7) Effect on Rare and Endangered Species 17 Paragraph Title----------------------------------- ... ■ .P& I S g. Socio-Economic Elements 17 (1) Archaeological Investigations and Interpretations 17 (2) Historic Background 18 (3) Land Use, Recreation, Transportation and Agriculture 20 (4) Social Characteristics 22 (5) Economic Development and Relocation 22 h. Future Environmental Setting Without Completion of the Project 23 3. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED ACTION 24 a. General 2 4 b. Construction 24 c. Losses due to Conversion of Site to a Lake 26 d. Environmental Characteristics 29 e. Changes Upstream and Dormstrearn 34 f. Impact of Recreation Activities 35 4. UNAVOIDABLE ADVERSE EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT 36 5. ALTERNATIVES TO THE PROPOSED ACTION 37 6. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL SHORT TERM USES OF MAN"S ENVIRONMENT AND THE MAINTENANCE AND ENHANCEMENT OF LONG TERM PRODUCTIVITY 39 7. IRREVERSIBLE AND IRRETRIEVABLE COMMITMENTS OF RESOURCES WHICH WOULD BE INVOLVED IN THE PROPOSED ACTION SHOULD IT BE IMPIEMENTED 39 8. COORDINATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES 40 a. Public Participation 40 b. Government Agencies 41 c. Contacts with Other Agencies 42 d. Comments Received and Requested 42 e. Discussion of Comments Received 44 BIBLIOGRAPHY 64 TECHNICAL APPENDIX after 65 FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL BIPACT STATEMENT BROOKVTLLE LAKE PROJECT EAST FORK WHITEWATER RIVER, INDIANA 1. Project Description. a. Bie Brookville Lake Project is located in southeastern Indiana, about*60 miles southeast of Indianapolis and 35 miles northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio. The damsite is located on the East Fork of Whitewater River, about 2 miles above its junction with the West Fork, immediately north of Brookville, Indiana. Die damsite is located approximately at 39b 26» 23" N, 85° 00* 19" W. The lake area is in Franklin and Union Counties, with the upper extremity of the flood pool extending about 2 miles north of Brownsville, and the upper ex tremity of the seasonal pool extending about to the crossing of State Highway 44, 2 miles south of Brownsville. Exhibit 1 illustrates the project location. — Brookville Reservoir was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1938, approved on 28 June 1938 (Public Law, 761 75th Congress), in order to provide flood, protect ion in the lower Whitewater and Miami River valleysTpand-to— " ' reduce,flood stages at all points downstream along the Ohio River. The project is a unit in the general comprehensive plan for flood control^and allied purposes in the Ohio River basin. Other purposes of the project are to provide a lake for general recreation, fishing, wildlife activities and water supply storage for the State of Indiana. b. Project Elements. Exhibit 2 summarizes principal characteristics of the project and Exhibit 3 illustrates the location of the specific project elements. The structure consists of an earth-filled dam with outlet works and concrete spillway which will control the drainage of a 379 square mile area. A 16.2 mile long lake will be formed behind the dam at an elevation of 748 feet msl for recreational purposes during the period from May to September. This pool level will be drawn down to an elevation of 740 feet in the fall to provide storage for winter and spring runoff. During flood periods, storage to an elevation of 775 feet will be possible before spillway elevation is reached. This flood pool will be 24 miles long and will extend to a dam along Silver Creek tributary. Drawdown to an elevation of 713 feet will be possible to provide water supply. Reservoir storage below the 713 foot elevation is provided as a conservation pool and for sediment. Specifi cally, storage below an elevation of 692 feet is allocated for sediment reserve. This storage provides for 20,100 acre-feet of sediment, or the amount expected to accumulate over one hundred years or longer. Project regulation calls for minimum controlled releases of fifty cubic- fee t/second to the East Fork Whitewater River. This will increase to 100 cfs when the pool elevation exceeds 748 feet. Controlled releases will have a maximum value of 6,300 cfs. For the design flood, the maximum discharge would be 66,000 cfs from a lake at elevation 802.0 feet. A series of relief wells have been installed along the front of the dam in order to catch groundwater seeping beneath the dam from the reservoir. It is expected that the water from these wells will make up about 16 percent of the minimum release. An impervious clay- blanket extends 2,000 feet upstream from the dam. The control tower has three gates, at elevations of 704, 725 and 739 feet msl. This will permit control of tenrperature, dissolved oxygen and other aspects of water quality in a managed release program. Exhibit 4 summarizes projects costs and benefits. Of the benefits, approximately 40 percent are for flood control; 43 percent are for recreation; 15 percent are for water supply and 2 percent are for fish and wildlife. Flood control benefits are primarily for populated areas in the V/hitewater drainage basin and for developed lands in the floodplain of the Ohio River. Additional flood control benefits will accrue to agricultural and other undeveloped lands in the V/hitewater basin and other downstream areas. Recreation benefits are based on an initial vise of 600,000 visitors per year, ultimately reaching 1,270,000 visitors per year. Water supply benefits are related to sale of storage volume to the State of Indiana for future use. Project costs include development of recreational facilities as listed in Exhibit 5. Ifost facilities will be operated on a lease arrangement by the Indiana State Department of Natural Resources. Negotiations regarding the lease of Federal land to Indiana for recreational purposes are in progress. Two leases of small tracts of land, for a historical museum and an environmental research center, are discussed in section Id of this statement. c. Project Status. Based on funds spent, the overall project was 64 percent complete as of 30 -Tune 1973. Exhibit 6 indicates the status of the Brookville Lake Project as of 1 December 1973. Construction at Brookville began in November 1965 with the award of the outlet works contract. This work included the construction of the conduit, control tower and outlet channel for the dam. The first of several utility relocation projects was also started at this time. Real estate purchase was started in the summer of 1965, was 75 percent complete as of 31 December 1969, and was essentially complete as of December 1973. In August 1967, the first of several road relocation contracts was awarded. Approximately 31 miles of highway have since been relocated outside the pool area.