2016 West Virginia Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report Prepared to fulfill the requirements of Section 303(d) and 305(b) of the federal Clean Water Act and Chapter 22, Article 11, Section 28 of the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act for the period of July 2014 through June 2016. Prepared by the Division of Water and Waste Management Jim Justice Governor Austin Caperton Cabinet Secretary Department of Environmental Protection Scott G. Mandirola Director Division of Water and Waste Management 2016 WV Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 1 2.0 Water Quality Standards ............................................................................................ 2 3.0 Surface Water Monitoring and Assessment ................................................................. 4 3.1 Streams and Rivers ......................................................................................................... 5 3.2 Probabilistic (Random) Sampling ...................................................................................... 5 3.3 Ambient Water Quality Monitoring Network ....................................................................... 5 3.4 Targeted Monitoring ........................................................................................................ 7 3.5 Pre-Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Development Monitoring ......................................... 7 3.6 Lakes and Reservoirs ....................................................................................................... 7 3.7 Wetlands ........................................................................................................................ 8 3.8 Citizen Monitoring ........................................................................................................... 9 4.0 Assessed Data ........................................................................................................ 10 5.0 Use Assessment Procedures .................................................................................... 11 5.1 Numeric Water Quality Criteria ....................................................................................... 11 5.2 Segmentation of Streams ............................................................................................... 12 5.3 Evaluation of Continuous Monitoring Data ....................................................................... 13 5.4 Evaluation of Fecal Coliform Numeric Criteria ................................................................... 13 5.5 Evaluation of Ohio River – Total Iron Aquatic Life Standards ............................................. 15 5.6 Narrative Water Quality Criteria – Biological Impairment Data ........................................... 15 5.7 Narrative Water Quality Criteria - Fish Tissue and Consumption Advisories ......................... 16 5.8 Narrative Water Quality Criteria - Algal Blooms ................................................................ 18 6.0 Assessment Results ................................................................................................. 19 6.1 Streams ....................................................................................................................... 19 6.2 Lakes ........................................................................................................................... 20 6.3 Causes for Impairment .................................................................................................. 23 7.0 Probabilistic Data Summary ..................................................................................... 23 7.1 Indicators of Stream Condition ....................................................................................... 25 7.1.1 Biological Community ................................................................................................................ 25 7.1.2 Water Quality Indicators of Aquatic Integrity .............................................................................. 28 7.1.3 Habitat Indicators of Aquatic Integrity ........................................................................................ 34 8.0 Interstate Water Coordination .................................................................................. 39 8.1 Virginia DEQ on Bluestone River PCB monitoring and TMDL development .......................... 39 8.2 Virginia DEQ on New River PCB TMDL development ......................................................... 40 8.3 Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission – ORSANCO ............................................. 40 8.4 Chesapeake Bay ............................................................................................................ 40 8.5 Interstate Commission on Potomac River Basin ................................................................ 41 9.0 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Development Process .......................................... 41 10.0 Water Pollution Control Programs............................................................................. 43 10.1 Division of Water and Waste Management ...................................................................... 43 i 2016 WV Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report 10.2 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program .................................... 43 10.3 Nonpoint Source Control Program ................................................................................... 44 10.4 Groundwater Program ................................................................................................... 45 10.5 Division of Mining and Reclamation ................................................................................. 46 11.0 Cost Benefit Analysis ............................................................................................... 47 11.1 Funding for Water Quality Improvements ........................................................................ 47 11.2 Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program ..................................................................... 47 11.3 Low Interest Loan Program ............................................................................................ 47 11.4 Agriculture Water Quality Loan Program .......................................................................... 48 11.5 Onsite Systems Loan Program ........................................................................................ 48 12.0 Public Participation and Responsiveness Summary .................................................... 48 13.0 List Supplements Overview ...................................................................................... 53 WV 2014 Section 303(d) List Key ....................................................................................... 55 List Format .............................................................................................................................. 55 Designated Uses ...................................................................................................................... 56 Abbreviations and Acronyms ..................................................................................................... 57 List of Tables Table 1: Integrated Report Categories for West Virginia Waters ....................................................1 Table 2: West Virginia Water Use Designations ............................................................................3 Table 3: Current and Future Monitoring Activities .........................................................................9 Table 4: Data contributors for the 2016 303(d) List and Integrated Report ................................... 10 Table 5: Numeric water quality decision rationale for listing of impaired waters. ........................... 12 Table 6: 2016 Category Summary for West Virginia Streams ....................................................... 19 Table 7: 2016 Category Summary for West Virginia Lakes ........................................................... 21 Table 8: Designated use support summary for West Virginia streams. .......................................... 22 Table 9: Designated use support summary for West Virginia lakes. .............................................. 22 Table 10: Summary of impairment causes for West Virginia streams. ........................................... 23 Table 11: Summary of impairment causes for West Virginia lakes ................................................ 23 Table 12: DEP TMDL Development............................................................................................ 42 Table 13. Participants in WV River Action Network Campaign ...................................................... 49 ii 2016 WV Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report List of Figures Figure 1: West Virginia Watershed Framework Groupings .............................................................2 Figure 2: West Virginia Ambient Monitoring Sites .........................................................................6 Figure 3: West Virginia Ecoregions ............................................................................................ 24 Figure 4: West Virginia Basins .................................................................................................. 25 Figure 5: Biological