Metals and pH TMDLs for the West Fork River Watershed, West Virginia U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 3 1650 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA September 2002 Metals and pH TMDLs for the West Fork River Watershed Acknowledgments This study was developed and prepared by Tetra Tech, Inc. in Fairfax, Virginia under EPA Contract Number 68-C-99-249, Work Assignment 2-93. The EPA Regional Coordinator was Mr. Thomas Henry of EPA Region 3. The EPA Work Assignment Manager was Mr. Francis Mulhern of EPA Region 3. EPA Region 3 support was provided by Ms. Mary Beck, Ms. Carol Ann Davis, Ms. Jennifer Sincock, and Ms. Cheryl Atkinson. Completion of this study depended upon the generous informational and data support from various groups. Special acknowledgment is made to the following people: Mary Beck United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3 Pat Campbell West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection-Division of Water Resources Eric Dannaway West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection-Office of Mining and Reclamation Carol Ann Davis United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3 Angela Dorsey West Virginia Office of Mining and Reclamation Thomas Henry United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3 J.R. Hodel West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection-Office of Mining and Reclamation James Laine West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection-Division of Water Resources Ken Politan West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection-Office of Mining and Reclamation Steve Stutler West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection-Division of Water Resources David Vande Linde West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection-Office of Mining and Reclamation Dave Montali West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection-Division of Water Resources Gary Bryant United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3- Wheeling, WV Mark Phillips U.S. Army Corps of Engineers September 2002 i Metals and pH TMDLs for the West Fork River Watershed Table of Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................... i Table of Contents ...........................................................ii List of Figures ............................................................. iv List of Tables .............................................................. iv Executive Summary ........................................................ 1-1 1.0 Problem Understanding .................................................. 1-5 1.1 Watershed Description ............................................... 1-5 1.2 Economy ......................................................... 1-8 1.3 Section 303(d) Listed Waterbodies ..................................... 1-10 2.0 Water Quality Standards ................................................. 2-1 3.0 Source Assessment ..................................................... 3-1 3.1 Data Inventory and Review ............................................ 3-1 3.2 Stream Flow Data ................................................... 3-2 3.3 Water Quality ...................................................... 3-4 3.4 Point Sources ...................................................... 3-4 3.4.1 Permitted Non-mining Point Sources ............................... 3-4 3.4.2 Permitted Mining Point Sources ................................... 3-6 3.5 Nonpoint Sources ................................................... 3-9 3.5.1 Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) and Revoked Mines .................. 3-10 3.5.2 Sediment Sources ............................................. 3-11 3.5.3 Other Nonpoint Sources ........................................ 3-13 4.0 Technical Approach ..................................................... 4-1 4.1 Model Framework Selection ........................................... 4-1 4.2 Mining Data Analysis System (MDAS) Overview ........................... 4-2 4.3 Model Configuration ................................................ 4-3 4.3.1 Watershed Subdivision .......................................... 4-4 4.3.2 Meteorological Data ............................................ 4-4 4.3.3 Nonpoint Source Representation .................................. 4-6 4.3.4 Point Sources Representation ..................................... 4-8 4.3.5 Stream Representation ......................................... 4-12 4.3.6 Hydrologic Representation ...................................... 4-13 4.3.7 Pollutant Representation ........................................ 4-13 4.4 pH TMDL Methodology ............................................ 4-13 4.4.1 Overview ................................................... 4-13 4.4.2 MINTEQA2 Application ....................................... 4-15 4.4.3 Assumptions ................................................. 4-16 4.5 Model Calibration .................................................. 4-17 4.5.1 Hydrology Calibration ......................................... 4-17 4.5.2 Water Quality Calibration ....................................... 4-18 5.0 Allocation Analysis ..................................................... 5-1 5.1 TMDL Endpoints .................................................. 5-1 5.1.1 Aluminum, Iron, and Manganese .................................. 5-1 5.1.2 pH ......................................................... 5-2 5.1.3 Margin of Safety .............................................. 5-2 ii September 2002 Metals and pH TMDLs for the West Fork River Watershed 5.2 Baseline Conditions ................................................. 5-2 5.3 Source Loading Alternatives .......................................... 5-3 5.4 TMDLs and Source Allocations ........................................ 5-5 5.4.1 Wasteload Allocations (WLAs) ................................... 5-6 5.4.2 Load Allocations (LAs) ......................................... 5-7 5.4.3 pH Modeling Results ........................................... 5-7 5.4.4 Seasonal Variation ............................................. 5-8 5.4.5 Future Growth .............................................. 5-15 5.4.6 Remining and Water Quality Trading .............................. 5-15 6.0 Reasonable Assurance ................................................... 6-1 6.1 Reclamation ....................................................... 6-1 6.1.1 Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation .................... 6-1 6.1.2 Special Reclamation Group ...................................... 6-3 6.2 Permitting ........................................................ 6-4 7.0 Monitoring Plan ........................................................ 7-1 8.0 Public Participation ..................................................... 8-1 References ...............................................................R-1 Appendix A. West Fork River Watershed Data and TMDLs .........................A-1 Appendix A-1. Region 1 ................................................A-1 Appendix A-2. Region 2 ................................................A-2 Appendix A-3. Region 3 ................................................A-3 Appendix A-4. Region 4 ................................................A-4 Appendix A-5. Region 5 ................................................A-5 Appendix A-6. Region 6 ................................................A-6 Appendix A-7. Region 7 ................................................A-7 Appendix A-8. Region 8 ................................................A-8 Appendix A-9. Region 9 ................................................A-9 Appendix A-10. Region 10 .............................................A-10 Appendix A-11. Region 11 .............................................A-11 Appendix A-12. Region 12 .............................................A-12 Appendix A-13. Region 13 .............................................A-13 Appendix A-14. Region 14 .............................................A-14 Appendix A-15. Region 15 .............................................A-15 Appendix A-16. Region 16 .............................................A-16 Appendix A-17. Region 17 .............................................A-17 Appendix B. Mining Permits in the West Fork Watershed ...........................B-1 Appendix C. Hydrology & Water Quality Calibration Results ........................C-1 Appendix D. Modeling pH for TMDL Development ...............................D-1 September 2002 iii Metals and pH TMDLs for the West Fork River Watershed List of Figures Figure 1-1 West Fork Watershed Regions ....................................... 1-4 Figure 1-2 Location of the West Fork Watershed .................................. 1-6 Figure 1-3 Counties in and around the West Fork basin ............................. 1-7 Figure 1-4 West Fork River watershed and its 17 regions ........................... 1-14 Figure 3-1 Water Quality Stations, USGS Stream Gages, and Stonewall Jackson Dam Location ........................................................................ 3-3 Figure 3-2 Mining permits in the West Fork River watershed ......................... 3-8 Figure 3-3 Potential sources contributing to impairments in the West Fork River watershed ....................................................................... 3-14 Figure 3-4 Land use coverage for the West Fork watershed ......................... 3-15 Figure 4-1 Weather stations used in modeling of the West Fork Watershed .............. 4-5 Figure 4-2 Calibration locations used in modeling ................................ 4-19 Figure 5-1 Annual Precipitation totals and Percentile Ranks