Total Maximum Daily Loads for Selected Streams in the Middle Ohio River South and Middle Ohio River North Watersheds, West Virginia December 2012 CONTENTS Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Definitions ............................................................................... vii Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................x 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....................................................................5 3.1 Watershed Description .............................................................................................5 3.2 Data Inventory .........................................................................................................9 3.3 Impaired Waterbodies ............................................................................................11 4.0 Biological Impairment and Stressor Identification .....................................................23 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................23 4.2 Data Review ...........................................................................................................24 4.3 Candidate Causes/Pathways...................................................................................24 4.4 Stressor Identification Results ...............................................................................26 5.0 Metals Source Assessment ...............................................................................................30 5.1 Metals Point Sources..............................................................................................31 5.1.1 Mining Point Sources .................................................................................34 5.1.2 Non-mining Point Sources .........................................................................35 5.1.3 Construction Stormwater Permits ..............................................................35 5.1.4 Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) .....................................38 5.2 Metals Nonpoint Sources .......................................................................................40 5.2.1 Abandoned Mine Lands .............................................................................40 5.2.2 SMCRA Bond Forfeiture Sites ..................................................................40 5.2.3 Sediment Sources .......................................................................................43 6.0 Fecal Coliform Source Assessment .................................................................................45 6.1 Fecal Coliform Point Sources ................................................................................45 6.1.1 Individual NPDES Permits ........................................................................45 6.1.2 Overflows ...................................................................................................45 6.1.3 Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) .....................................45 6.1.4 General Sewage Permits ............................................................................46 6.2 Fecal Coliform Nonpoint Sources .........................................................................46 ii Middle Ohio River South and North Watersheds TMDL Report 6.2.1 On-site Treatment Systems ........................................................................46 6.2.2 Urban/Residential Runoff ..........................................................................50 6.2.3 Agriculture .................................................................................................50 6.2.4 Natural Background (Wildlife) ..................................................................50 7.0 Sediment Source Assessment ..........................................................................................51 8.0 Modeling Process .............................................................................................................51 8.1 Model Selection .....................................................................................................51 8.2 Model Setup ...........................................................................................................52 8.2.1 General MDAS Configuration ...................................................................52 8.2.2 Iron and Sediment Configuration ...............................................................56 8.2.3 Fecal Coliform Configuration ....................................................................57 8.3 Hydrology Calibration ...........................................................................................58 8.4 Water Quality Calibration ......................................................................................58 8.5 Modeling Technique for Biological Impairments with Sedimentation Stressors ..59 8.6 Allocation Strategy ................................................................................................62 8.6.1 TMDL Endpoints .......................................................................................62 8.6.2 Baseline Conditions and Source Loading Alternatives .............................63 8.7 TMDLs and Source Allocations ............................................................................66 8.7.1 Total Iron TMDLs ......................................................................................66 8.7.2 Fecal Coliform Bacteria TMDLs ...............................................................71 8.7.3 Seasonal Variation .....................................................................................73 8.7.4 Critical Conditions .....................................................................................73 8.7.5 TMDL Presentation ...................................................................................73 9.0 TMDL Results ..................................................................................................................76 10.0 Future Growth .................................................................................................................96 10.1 Iron .........................................................................................................................96 10.2 Fecal Coliform Bacteria .........................................................................................97 11.0 Public Participation .........................................................................................................98 11.1 Public Meetings .....................................................................................................98 11.2 Public Notice and Public Comment Period ...........................................................98 12.0 Reasonable Assurance .....................................................................................................98 12.1 NPDES Permitting .................................................................................................98 12.2 Watershed Management Framework Process ......................................................100 12.3 Public Sewer Projects ..........................................................................................100 12.4 AML Projects .......................................................................................................101 iii Middle Ohio River South and North Watersheds TMDL Report 13.0 Monitoring Plan .............................................................................................................102 13.1 NPDES Compliance.............................................................................................102 13.2 Nonpoint Source Project Monitoring ...................................................................102 13.3 TMDL Effectiveness Monitoring ........................................................................102 14.0 References .......................................................................................................................103 FIGURES Figure I-1. Examples of a watershed, TMDL watershed, and subwatersheds .............................. ix Figure 2-1. Hydrologic groupings of West Virginia’s watersheds ................................................ 3 Figure 3-1. Extent of the Middle Ohio River South TMDL Watersheds in West Virginia ........... 7 Figure 3-2. Extent of the Middle Ohio River North TMDLWatersheds in West Virginia ............ 8 Figure 3-3. 21 Middle Ohio River South TMDL watersheds ...................................................... 12 Figure 3-4. 9 Middle Ohio River North TMDL watersheds ........................................................ 13 Figure 4-1. Conceptual model of candidate causes and potential biological effects ................... 25 Figure 4-2. Location of the sediment reference stream, Big Run (WVOMN-13-CG-2) ............. 27 Figure 5-1. Metals point sources in the Middle Ohio River South .............................................