Total Maximum Daily Loads for the Upper Guyandotte River Watershed, West Virginia EPA Approved March 2021 On the cover: Devils Fork in Raleigh County, Southeast of Madeline Photographer: Jason Morgan, WVDEP Division of Water and Waste Management Upper Guyandotte River Watershed: TMDL Report CONTENTS Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Definitions ..................................................................................v Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... viii 1.0 Report Format ....................................................................................................................1 2.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................1 2.1 Total Maximum Daily Loads ...................................................................................1 2.2 Water Quality Standards ..........................................................................................4 3.0 Watershed Description and Data Inventory....................................................................6 3.1 Watershed Description .............................................................................................6 3.2 Data Inventory .........................................................................................................8 3.3 Impaired Waterbodies ............................................................................................10 3.4 Total Iron Impairment in Buffalo Creek Watershed ..............................................20 4.0 Biological Impairment and Stressor Identification ......................................................21 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................22 4.2 Data Review ...........................................................................................................22 4.3 Candidate Causes/Pathways...................................................................................23 4.4 Stressor Identification Results ...............................................................................25 5.0 Metals and Selenium Source Assessment ......................................................................27 5.1 Metals and Selenium Point Sources .......................................................................28 5.1.1 Mining Point Sources .................................................................................30 5.1.2 Non-mining Point Sources .........................................................................31 5.1.3 Construction Stormwater Permits ..............................................................32 5.2 Metals Nonpoint Sources .......................................................................................34 5.2.1 Abandoned Mine Lands .............................................................................34 5.2.2 Sediment Sources .......................................................................................34 5.3 Selenium Source Assessment ................................................................................40 6.0 Fecal Coliform Source Assessment.................................................................................42 6.1 Fecal Coliform Point Sources ................................................................................42 6.1.1 Individual NPDES Permits ........................................................................42 6.1.2 Overflows ...................................................................................................42 6.1.3 General Sewage Permits ............................................................................43 6.2 Fecal Coliform Nonpoint Sources .........................................................................45 i Upper Guyandotte River Watershed: TMDL Report 6.2.1 On-site Treatment Systems ........................................................................45 6.2.2 Urban/Residential Runoff ..........................................................................47 6.2.3 Agriculture .................................................................................................47 6.2.4 Natural Background (Wildlife) ..................................................................47 7.0 Modeling Process .............................................................................................................48 7.1 Model Selection .....................................................................................................48 7.2 Model Setup ...........................................................................................................49 7.2.1 General MDAS Configuration ...................................................................49 7.2.2 Metals and Sediment Configuration ..........................................................50 7.2.3 Selenium Configuration .............................................................................52 7.2.4 Fecal Coliform Configuration ....................................................................52 7.3 Hydrology Calibration ...........................................................................................52 7.4 Water Quality Calibration ......................................................................................53 7.5 Modeling Technique for Biological Impacts with Sedimentation Stressors .........54 7.6 Allocation Strategy ................................................................................................55 7.6.1 TMDL Endpoints .......................................................................................55 7.6.2 Baseline Conditions and Source Loading Alternatives .............................56 7.7 TMDLs and Source Allocations ............................................................................59 7.7.1 Total Iron TMDLs......................................................................................59 7.7.2 Total Selenium TMDLs .............................................................................62 7.7.3 Fecal Coliform Bacteria TMDLs ...............................................................64 7.7.4 Seasonal Variation .....................................................................................65 7.7.5 Critical Conditions .....................................................................................66 7.7.6 TMDL Presentation ...................................................................................66 8.0 TMDL Results ..................................................................................................................68 9.0 Future Growth .................................................................................................................83 9.1 Iron .........................................................................................................................83 9.2 Fecal Coliform Bacteria .........................................................................................84 10.0 Public Participation .........................................................................................................84 10.1 Public Meetings .....................................................................................................84 10.2 Public Notice and Public Comment Period ...........................................................85 10.3 Response Summary ................................................................................................85 11.0 Reasonable Assurance ...................................................................................................101 11.1 NPDES Permitting ...............................................................................................101 11.2 Watershed Improvement Branch- Nonpoint Source Program ............................101 11.3 Public Sewer Projects ..........................................................................................102 ii Upper Guyandotte River Watershed: TMDL Report 12.0 Monitoring Plan .............................................................................................................102 12.1 NPDES Compliance.............................................................................................102 12.2 Nonpoint Source Project Monitoring ...................................................................103 12.3 TMDL Effectiveness Monitoring ........................................................................103 13.0 References .......................................................................................................................104 TABLES Table 2-1. Applicable West Virginia water quality criteria .......................................................... 5 Table 3-1. Modified landuse for the Upper Guyandotte TMDL watersheds ................................ 8 Table 3-2. Datasets used in TMDL development ......................................................................... 9 Table 3-3. Waterbodies and impairments for which TMDLs have been developed................... 12 Table 3-4: Total iron impairments for Buffalo Creek and tributaries. ......................................... 21 Table 4-1. Biological impacts resolved by implementation of pollutant-specific TMDLs ........ 26 Table 7-1. TMDL endpoints........................................................................................................ 56 Table 7-2. Legacy Mine sources ................................................................................................