Root River Watershed Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy Report February 2016 wq-ws4-18a 1 Authors Shaina Keseley, MPCA Fillmore Soil and Water Conservation District Contributors / acknowledgements Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District Olmsted County Soil and Water Conservation District Root River (Houston County) Soil and Water Conservation District Winona County Soil and Water Conservation District Winona County Ashley Ignatius, MPCA Joe Magee, MPCA Ben Roush, MPCA Tiffany Schauls, MPCA Justin Watkins, MPCA Pat Bailey, MDH (wrote portions of the Groundwater section) Jason Carlson, MN DNR (wrote portions of the Groundwater section) Editing and Graphic Design Administrative staff: Cindy Penny Cover Photo Shaina Keseley, MPCA Note Regarding Legislative Charge The science, analysis and strategy development described in this report began before accountability provisions were added to the Clean Water Legacy Act in 2013 (MS114D); thus, this report does not address all of those provisions. When this watershed is revisited (according to the 10-year cycle), the information will be updated according to the statutorily required elements of a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy Report. 2 The MPCA is reducing printing and mailing costs by using the Internet to distribute reports and information to wider audience. Visit our website for more information. The MPCA reports are printed on 100 percent post-consumer recycled content paper manufactured without chlorine or chlorine derivatives. 3 Table of Contents Authors .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Contributors / acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 2 Editing and Graphic Design ................................................................................................................... 2 Cover Photo .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Note Regarding Legislative Charge ....................................................................................................... 2 Key Terms/Acronyms: ......................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 12 1. Watershed Background & Description ........................................................................... 13 1.2 Land Use .................................................................................................................................. 14 1.3 Groundwater ........................................................................................................................... 15 1.4 Additional Activities and Resources in the Root River Watershed ............................................. 19 2. Watershed Conditions .................................................................................................. 20 Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) ................................................................ 22 2.1 Condition Status .......................................................................................................................... 23 2.2 Water Quality Trends .................................................................................................................. 27 Major Watershed Outlet Data ............................................................................................................ 27 Nitrate ................................................................................................................................................. 27 2.3 Pollutant/Stressors and Sources and Reductions ........................................................................ 30 Point Sources ........................................................................................................................................... 30 Non-point Sources ................................................................................................................................... 31 Sediment ............................................................................................................................................. 31 Nitrate ................................................................................................................................................. 32 Fecal Bacteria (Fecal coliform and E. coli) ........................................................................................... 36 4 Fecal bacteria are indicators of animal or human fecal matter in waters. Fecal matter impacts the safety of aquatic recreation because contact with fecal material can lead to potentially severe illnesses. .............................................................................................................................................. 36 2.4 TMDL Summary ........................................................................................................................... 41 2.5 Protection Considerations ........................................................................................................... 43 Protection information from the Root River Biotic Stressor Identification report ............................. 43 Root River Landscape Stewardship Plan and Conservation Opportunity Areas (COAs): .................... 43 3. Prioritizing and Implementing Restoration and Protection ............................................... 45 3.1 Targeting of Geographic Areas ................................................................................................... 45 HSPF/SWAT Model Efforts ...................................................................................................................... 46 HSPF .................................................................................................................................................... 46 SWAT ................................................................................................................................................... 46 Model Scenarios .................................................................................................................................. 47 Completed Watershed Approach related reports .............................................................................. 48 Professional Judgment ........................................................................................................................ 48 Prioritization and Critical Areas .......................................................................................................... 49 3.2 Civic Engagement ........................................................................................................................ 56 Development of Citizen Advisory Group (CAG) in Root River:............................................................ 56 Citizen Conversations .......................................................................................................................... 57 Development of a Farmer-led Council in the Rush-Pine subwatershed ............................................. 58 Future Plans ........................................................................................................................................ 59 Friends of the Root River (FORR) ........................................................................................................ 59 Public Notice for Comments .................................................................................................................... 59 5. Restoration & Protection Strategies ........................................................................................... 60 NBMP Tool .......................................................................................................................................... 60 Implementation Tables ........................................................................................................................... 63 4. Monitoring Plan .......................................................................................................... 114 5 5. References and Further Information ........................................................................... 115 Appendices ....................................................................................................................... 118 Additional Root River Watershed Resources .................................................................................... 124 Table of Figures Figure 1. Root River watershed geomorphic regions and 10-HUC watershed delineations. ..................... 14 Figure 2. Land use in the Root River watershed based on National Land Cover Dataset, 2011. ............... 15 Figure 3. Highly generalized characterization of the materials that make up the lithostratigraphic units across the Root River watershed, from central Mower County east to the Mississippi River. (Runkel et al., 2013) ........................................................................................................................................................... 16 Figure 4. Minnesota DNR water appropriation reported use data by aquifer group for users of 10,000gal/day or one million gal/year. ......................................................................................................