Total Maximum Daily Loads for Selected Streams in the Upper Kanawha Watershed, West Virginia FINAL REPORT January 2005 Final Upper Kanawha Watershed TMDL Report CONTENTS Executive summary...................................................................................................................... ix 1. Report Format....................................................................................................................1 2. Introduction........................................................................................................................1 2.1 Total Maximum Daily Loads...................................................................................1 2.2 Water Quality Standards..........................................................................................4 3. Watershed Description and Data Inventory....................................................................5 3.1 Watershed Description.............................................................................................5 3.2 Data Inventory.........................................................................................................7 3.3 Impaired Waterbodies..............................................................................................7 4. Metals and pH Source Assessment.................................................................................13 4.1 Metals and pH Point Sources.................................................................................14 4.1.1 Mining Point Sources.................................................................................14 4.1.2 Non-mining Point Sources.........................................................................15 4.1.3 Construction Stormwater Permits..............................................................17 4.2 Metals and pH Nonpoint Sources ..........................................................................17 4.2.1 Abandoned Mine Lands.............................................................................17 4.2.2 Bond Forfeiture..........................................................................................18 4.2.3 Sediment Sources.......................................................................................18 5. Fecal Coliform Source Assessment.................................................................................19 5.1 Fecal Coliform Point Sources ................................................................................19 5.1.1 Individual NPDES Permits ........................................................................19 5.1.2 Overflows...................................................................................................20 5.1.3 Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems ................................................20 5.1.4 General Sewage Permits ............................................................................20 5.2 Fecal Coliform Nonpoint Sources .........................................................................20 5.2.1 On-site Treatment Systems........................................................................20 5.2.2 Stormwater Runoff.....................................................................................21 5.2.3 Agriculture .................................................................................................21 5.2.4 Natural Background (Wildlife)..................................................................21 6. Biological Impairment and Stressor Identification ......................................................22 6.1 Introduction............................................................................................................22 6.2 Data Review...........................................................................................................22 6.3 Candidate Causes/Pathways...................................................................................23 Final – January 2005 iii Final Upper Kanawha Watershed TMDL Report 6.4 Stressor Identification Results ...............................................................................23 7. Modeling Process .............................................................................................................27 7.1 Modeling Technique for Metals, pH, and Fecal Coliform Bacteria ......................27 7.1.1 MDAS Setup..............................................................................................28 7.1.2 Hydrology Calibration...............................................................................30 7.1.3 Water Quality Calibration..........................................................................30 7.2 Modeling Technique for Sediment ........................................................................31 7.2.1 GWLF/Stream Module Setup ....................................................................32 7.2.2 Hydrology Calibration...............................................................................33 7.2.3 Water Quality Calibration..........................................................................33 7.3 Allocation Analysis................................................................................................33 7.3.1 TMDL Endpoints.......................................................................................34 7.3.2 Baseline Conditions and Source Loading Alternatives .............................35 7.4 TMDLs and Source Allocations ............................................................................38 7.4.1 Dissolved Aluminum, Total Iron, Total Manganese, and pH TMDLs......38 7.4.2 Fecal Coliform Bacteria TMDLs...............................................................41 7.4.3 Sediment TMDLs.......................................................................................42 7.4.4 Seasonal Variation.....................................................................................44 7.4.5 Critical Conditions.....................................................................................44 8. Future Growth and Water Quality Trading .................................................................45 8.1 Metals and pH........................................................................................................45 8.2 Fecal Coliform Bacteria.........................................................................................45 8.3 Sediment ................................................................................................................46 8.4 Water Quality Trading ...........................................................................................47 9. Public Participation .........................................................................................................47 9.1 Public Meetings.....................................................................................................47 9.2 Public Notice and Public Comment Period ...........................................................47 9.3 Response Summary................................................................................................47 10. Reasonable Assurance .....................................................................................................54 10.1 Permit Reissuance..................................................................................................54 10.2 Watershed Management Framework Process........................................................55 10.3 Public Sewer Projects ............................................................................................56 10.4 AML Projects.........................................................................................................57 10.5 Special Reclamation Projects.................................................................................57 11. Monitoring Plan ...............................................................................................................58 iv Final – January 2005 Final Upper Kanawha Watershed TMDL Report 11.1 NPDES Compliance...............................................................................................58 11.2 Nonpoint Source Project Monitoring.....................................................................58 11.3 TMDL Effectiveness Monitoring ..........................................................................58 12. Acronyms and Abbreviations .........................................................................................59 13. References.........................................................................................................................61 FIGURES Figure 2-1. Hydrologic groupings of West Virginia’s watersheds................................................. 3 Figure 3-1. Location of the Upper Kanawha watershed................................................................. 6 Figure 3-2. Impaired waterbodies in the 17 subwatersheds of the Upper Kanawha watershed ..... 9 Figure 4-1. Mining NPDES outlets in the 17 selected subwatersheds of the Upper Kanawha watershed .............................................................................................................................. 16 Figure 6-1. Conceptual model of candidate causes and potential biological effects.................... 24 Figure 7-1. Upper Kanawha subwatershed delineation ................................................................ 29 Figure 7-2. Location of the Beards Fork watershed ....................................................................