Biological and Water Quality Study of the Mahoning River Basin Ashtabula, Columbiana, Portage, Mahoning, Stark, and Trumbull Counties (Ohio) Lawrence and Mercer Counties (Pennsylvania) OEPA Technical Report MAS/1995-12-14 May 1, 1996 Volume I State of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Surface Water Monitoring and Assessment Section 1685 Westbelt Drive Columbus, Ohio 43228-3809 and Nonpoint Source Program 1800 WaterMark Drive Columbus, Ohio 43266-0149 and Northeast District Office 2110 East Aurora Road Twinsburg, Ohio 44087 MAS/1994-12-14 Mahoning River Basin TSD May 1, 1996 TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume I: Notice to Users..........................................................................................iii Foreword.................................................................................................v Acknowledgements.....................................................................................ix Introduction.............................................................................................. 1 Summary................................................................................................. 2 Conclusions.............................................................................................43 Recommendations......................................................................................48 Study Area.............................................................................................. 50 Methods................................................................................................. 73 Results and Discussion Pollutant Loadings: 1979 - 1994............................................................... 78 Spills, Overflows, and Unauthorized Releases................................................117 Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs)........................................................... 117 Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs)..........................................................117 Wild Animal Kills................................................................................118 Chemical Water Quality......................................................................... 119 Chemical Sediment Quality......................................................................145 Fish Tissue........................................................................................161 Biomarker Assessment............................................................................161 Physical Habitat for Aquatic Life...............................................................165 Macroinvertebrate Assemblages................................................................177 Fish Assemblages................................................................................193 Trend Assessment: 1983-1994 Chemical Water Quality Trends.............................................................. 211 Sediment Quality Trends...................................................................... 222 Biological and Aquatic Life Use Attainment Trends....................................... 226 References ............................................................................................ 236 APPENDIX FIGURES and TABLES are located in a separate volume: Appendices to Biological and Water Quality Study of the Mahoning River Basin Ashtabula, Columbiana, Portage, Mahoning, Stark, and Trumbull Counties (Ohio) Lawrence and Mercer Counties (Pennsylvania) Volume 2 May 1, 1996 Volume 2 is available upon request. (See NOTICE TO USERS, page iv for mailing information) i MAS/1994-12-14 Mahoning River Basin TSD May 1, 1996 List of Tables Table 1. Aquatic life use attainment status for streams sampled in the Mahoning River study area during 1994. Table 2. Dischargers in the Mahoning River study area during 1994. Table 3. Major Reservoirs in the Mahoning River study area. Table 4. Lower Mahoning River Dam locations. Table 5. Stream characteristics and significant pollution sources in the Mahoning River study area. Table 6. List of sampling locations in the Mahoning River study area during 1994. Table 7. Mean annual loading trends of major industrial sources in Mahoning River, 1980 to 1994. Table 8. Mean annual loading trends of major municipal sources in Mahoning River, 1980 to 1994. Table 9. Chemical/physical exceedences of Ohio EPA WWH criteria and guidelines. Table 10. Concentrations of heavy metals in stream sediments of the Mahoning River study area during 1994. Table 11. Concentrations of pesticides and PCBs in stream sediments of the Mahoning River study area during 1994. Table 12. Concentrations of PAHs in stream sediments of the Mahoning River study area during 1994. Table 13. Mean Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) scores for homogenous segments of the Mahoning River. Table 14. QHEI matrix showing modified and warmwater habitat characteristics for fish sites in the 1994 Mahoning River study area Table 15. Summary of macroinvertebrate data collected from artificial and natural substrates in the 1994 Mahoning River study area. Table 16. Summary of the fish community data collected from 84 locations in the 1994 Mahoning River study area. Table 17. Trends of PAH concentrations in stream sediments of the Mahoning River studyfrom 1986 and 1994. Table 18. Comparison of the Area of Degradation (ADV) statistics for streams sampled in the Mahoning River study area between 1982 and 1994. ii MAS/1995-12-14 1994 Mahoning River TSD May 1, 1996DSW NOTICE TO USERS Ohio EPA incorporated biological criteria into the Ohio Water Quality Standards (WQS; Ohio Administrative Code 3745-1) regulations in February 1990 (effective May 1990). These criteria consist of numeric values for the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) and Modified Index of Well-Being (MIwb), both of which are based on fish assemblage data, and the Invertebrate Community Index (ICI), which is based on macroinvertebrate assemblage data. Criteria for each index are specified for each of Ohio's five ecoregions (as described by Omernik 1987), and are further organized by organism group, index, site type, and aquatic life use designation. These criteria, along with the existing chemical and whole effluent toxicity evaluation methods and criteria, figure prominently in the monitoring and assessment of Ohio’s surface water resources. The following documents support the use of biological criteria by outlining the rationale for using biological information, the methods by which the biocriteria were derived and calculated, the field methods by which sampling must be conducted, and the process for evaluating results: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 1987a. Biological criteria for the protection of aquatic life: Volume I. The role of biological data in water quality assessment. Div. Water Qual. Monit. & Assess., Surface Water Section, Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 1987b. Biological criteria for the protection of aquatic life: Volume II. Users manual for biological field assessment of Ohio surface waters. Div. Water Qual. Monit. & Assess., Surface Water Section, Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 1989b. Addendum to Biological criteria for the protection of aquatic life: Volume II. Users manual for biological field assessment of Ohio surface waters. Div. Water Qual. Plan. & Assess., Ecol. Assess. Section, Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 1989c. Biological criteria for the protection of aquatic life: Volume III. Standardized biological field sampling and laboratory methods for assessing fish and macroinvertebrate communities. Div. Water Quality Plan. & Assess., Ecol. Assess. Sect., Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 1990. The use of biological criteria in the Ohio EPA surface water monitoring and assessment program. Div. Water Qual. Plan. & Assess., Ecol. Assess. Sect., Columbus, Ohio. Rankin, E.T. 1989. The qualitative habitat evaluation index (QHEI): rationale,methods, and application. Div. Water Qual. Plan. & Assess., Ecol. Assess. Sect., Columbus, Ohio. Since the publication of the preceding guidance documents new publications by Ohio EPA have become available. The following publications should also be consulted as they represent the latest information and analyses used by Ohio EPA to implement the biological criteria. DeShon, J.D. 1995. Development and application of the invertebrate community index (ICI), pp. 217-243. in W.S. Davis and T. Simon (eds.). Biological Assessment and Criteria: Tools for Risk-based Planning and Decision Making. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. Rankin, E. T. 1995. The use of habitat assessments in water resource management programs, pp. 181-208. in W. Davis and T. Simon (eds.). Biological Assessment and Criteria: Tools for Water Resource Planning and Decision Making. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. iii MAS/1995-12-14 1994 Mahoning River TSD May 1, 1996DSW Yoder, C.O. and E.T. Rankin. 1995. Biological criteria program development and implementation in Ohio, pp. 109-144. in W. Davis and T. Simon (eds.). Biological Assessment and Criteria: Tools for Water Resource Planning and Decision Making. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. Yoder, C.O. and E.T. Rankin. 1995. Biological response signatures and the area of degradation value: new tools for interpreting multimetric data, pp. 263-286. in W. Davis and T. Simon (eds.). Biological Assessment and Criteria: Tools for Water Resource Planning and Decision Making. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. Yoder, C.O. 1995. Policy issues and management applications for biological