2006 Kentucky River Watershed Watch Results

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2006 Kentucky River Watershed Watch Results

• (Or, how your sites measured up)

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What and when?

• Herbicides in the Spring
• 32 samples in May
• Pathogens in the Summer
• 158 Synoptic samples in July
• 115 Follow-Up samples in Late July / Early August
• Chemicals Nutrients in the Fall
• 200 samples in September
• Metals in the Fall
• 58 samples in September

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Where?

• 240 sites throughout Kentucky River Basin
• 3 ? Lower Kentucky River Basin
• 6 ? Eagle Creek
• 21 ? Elkhorn Creek Watershed)
• 32 ? Palisades
• 4 ? Dix River Watershed
• 5 ? Middle Kentucky / Red River Basins
• 0 ? South Fork Kentucky River Basin
• 0.4 ? Middle Fork Kentucky River Basin (1 site)
• 27 ? North Fork Kentucky River Basin

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2006 KRWW Sampling Sites
2006 KRWW Sampling Sites
2006 KRWW Sampling Sites
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HERBICIDES
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HERBICIDES

• Why monitored?
• Potentially harmful to aquatic life and humans
  through drinking water
• Where are they coming from?
• Runoff from agricultural and residential
  application
• How can we minimize their presence in our
  waterways?
• Apply only as absolutely necessary, follow
  application instructions.
• Maintain vegetation around and along
  waterbodies.
• Use recommended agricultural erosion control
  practices.
• Properly dispose of herbicide containers
  (collection programs)
• Do not dump leftover herbicide on ground, down
  sink, or down stormwater drains.

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2006 Herbicide Parameters

• Sampled for 2 herbicides in Spring 2006
• most likely time of year for herbicide
  application
• Triazines
• highly persistent in soil
• EPA standard of 3.0 micrograms /L for drinking
  water
• 350 micrograms/L for acute aquatic life criteria
• 12 micrograms/L for chronic aquatic life criteria
• Metolachlor
• highly persistent in water
• unregulated by EPA

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Herbicide Results

• Triazines ONLY detected at
• K501 (Eagle Creek) 8.6 micrograms/liter
• Greater than drinking water supply standard of 3
  ug/L
• Less than chronic aquatic life criteria of 12
  ug/L
• Metolachlor found at 4 sites, the greatest being
• K501 (Eagle Creek) 3.38 micrograms/liter

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2006 Herbicide Detections
K501 Eagle Creek
Herbicides detected Herbicide
sampling site
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PATHOGENS
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FECAL COLIFORM / E. COLI

• Why monitored?
• Can indicate presence of other pathogens that may
  cause illness or infections in people.
• Where are they coming from?
• Failing septic systems, straightpipes, leaking
  sewage lines
• Inadequately treated discharge from municipal
  sewage plants
• Livestock (runoff from pasture or direct access
  to waterbody)
• How can we minimize their presence in our
  waterways?
• Properly maintain septic systems
• Increase access to sewer systems
• Install fencing to keep livestock out of
  waterways
• Maintain vegetated buffers around waterbodies

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Pathogen Parameters

• Fecal Coliform
• Swimming Standard of 400 cfu/100 ml
  (instantaneous)
• E. Coli
• Swimming Standard of 240 cfu/100 ml
  (instantaneous)
• Atypical/Typical Coliform Ratio
• Ratio between 0 and 2 ? raw, human sewage
• Ratio between 2 and 4 ? fresh, human/ag
• Ratio between 5 and 10 ? indirect, ag
• Ratio between 10 and 20 ? indirect, urban
• Ratio greater than 20 ? aged, human/ag

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Synoptic Pathogen Results (E. coli)62 gt
Swimming Standard

• 10 Worst Sites
• K282 Cane Run (9,804 cfu)
• K264 UT in Madison County (7,701 cfu)
• K096 Graddy Spring (6,488 cfu)
• K235 Knoblick Creek (4,569 cfu)
• K033 UT of South Elkhorn (4,352 cfu)
• K300 Hickman Creek (3,255 cfu)
• K241 Viney Fork South (2,909 cfu)
• K084 South Elkhorn, trib A (2,909 cfu)
• K055 Town Branch (2,447 cfu)
• K525 Phillips Creek (2,098 cfu)

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Synoptic Pathogen Results (Fecal coliform)52 gt
Swimming Std.

• 10 Worst Sites
• K105 Blair Branch (11,000 cfu)
• K527 Balls Fork (9,300 cfu)
• K288 Troublesome Creek (1,700 cfu)
• K215 Lost Creek (1,600 cfu)
• K216 Troublesome Creek (1,400 cfu)
• K488 Troublesome Creek (1,100 cfu)
• K485 Cram Creek (1,000 cfu)
• K490 Perkins Branch (1,000 cfu)
• K404 Red River (980 cfu)
• K405 Red River (980 cfu)

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2006 Synoptic Pathogen Sampling Results gt 5,000
cfu/100 ml
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Follow-Up Pathogen Results (E. coli) 67 gt
Swimming Standard

• 10 Worst Sites
• K307 Wolf Run (24,192 cfu)
• K264 Unamed trib in Madison Co. (12,460 cfu)
• K414 Powells Branch (7,270 cfu)
• K180 Clarks Run (3,654 cfu)
• K517 Springs Branch (3,282 cfu)
• K055 Town Branch (3,255 cfu)
• K300 Hickman Creek (2,723 cfu)
• K408 Kentucky River (1,782 cfu)
• K085 Glenns Creek (1,119 cfu)
• K339 Otter Creek (1,046 cfu)

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Follow-Up Pathogen Results (Fecal coliform) 71
gt Swimming Std.

• 10 Worst Sites
• K445 Kingdom Come Creek (90,000 cfu)
• K446 North Fork Kentucky River (60,000 cfu)
• K484 Cram Creek (12,000 cfu)
• K105 Blair Branch (12,000 cfu)
• K090 Quicksand Creek (8,900 cfu)
• K485 Cram Creek (8,000 cfu)
• K490 Perkins Branch (6,000 cfu)
• K527 Balls Fork (5,700 cfu)
• K480 Cowan Creek (4,100 cfu)
• K447 Cowan Creek (3,600 cfu)

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2006 Follow-Up Pathogen Sampling Results gt 5,000
cfu/100 ml
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Eagle Creek Focused Pathogen Sampling

• 5 sites, Grant County
• 319 Septic Improvement Project
• Ten Mile Cr and Arnolds Cr Subwatersheds
• Narrow exceedances of recreational standard
• 2 Ten Mile Creek sites
• Eagle Creek site, downstream from Ten Mile

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Upper Eagle Creek Watershed
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K319 - 165 / 15,530
K327 329 / 9,090
K321 262 / 11,690
K328 306 / 16,160
K318 172 / 15,760
Eagle Creek Watershed 2006 E. coli
Findings Geometric Mean / High Value
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NUTRIENTS
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NUTRIENTS

• Why monitored?
• Lead to algal blooms, which consume oxygen as
  they decompose ? bad for aquatic life
• Cause taste and odor problems in drinking water
• Can cause Blue baby disease (or
  methemoglobinemia)
• Where are they coming from?
• agricultural and residential fertilizer
  application
• sewage and manure runoff
• How can we minimize their presence in our
  waterways?
• Only apply fertilizers as necessary
• Properly maintain septic systems
• Use recommended erosion control measures
• Keep livestock out of waterways, properly manage
  manure
• Maintain vegetated buffers around waterbodies

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Nutrient Parameters

• Nitrate (NO3-N)
• Drinking Water Supply Std. 10 mg/L
• Total Phosphorus
• Unofficial KRWW Aquatic Life Std. 0.5 mg/L
• Sulfate
• Drinking Water Supply Std. 250 mg/L

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Nitrogen Results gt 10 mg/LOnly One Site!

• K499 Town Branch (12.09 mg/L)

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2006 High Nitrate Site
K499 Town Branch
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Phosphorus Results gt 0.5 mg/L

• K283 Rocky Fork (7.44 mg/L)
• K338 Otter Creek (1.76 mg/L
• K209 Tates Creek (1.7 mg/L)
• K529 Elkhorn Creek (0.81 mg/L)
• K031 South Elkhorn Creek (0.75 mg/L)
• K341 Elkhorn Creek (0.7 mg/L)
• K085 Glenns Creek (0.69 mg/L)
• K499 Town Branch (0.69 mg/L)
• K026 South Elkhorn Creek (0.65 mg/L)
• K530 Tates Creek (0.57 mg/L)

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2006 High Phosphorus Sites
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Sulfate Results 20 sites gt 250 mg/L

• Ten Greatest Sulfate Results
• K542 Sandlick Creek (1,910 mg/L)
• K481 Little Dry Fork (1,410 mg/L)
• K215 Lost Creek (906 mg/L)
• K536 Long Branch (904 mg/L)
• K483 Henry Ison Hollow (700 mg/L)
• K535 Sturgill Branch (652 mg/L)
• K488 Troublesome Creek (648 mg/L)
• K216 Troublesome Creek (647 mg/L)
• K083 Lotts Creek (623 mg/L)
• K479 Rockhouse Creek (528 mg/L)

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2006 High Sulfate Sites
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HEAVY METALS
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HEAVY METALS

• Why monitored?
• High levels can be toxic to aquatic life or
  humans through drinking water
• Can interfere with industrial water uses
• Where are they coming from?
• Mining
• Industrial discharges
• Stormwater runoff from roads and parking lots
• How can we minimize their presence in our
  waterways?
• Comply with discharge permit conditions
• Use erosion control measures at mining sites and
  other construction sites
• Install retention ponds, vegetated filter strips
  around parking lots and along roads (stormwater
  management practices)

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Metal Parameters (30)

• Aluminum
• Antimony
• Arsenic
• Barium
• Beryllium
• Boron
• Cadmium
• Calcium
• Chromium
• Cobalt
• Copper
• Gold
• Iron
• Lead
• Lithium

• Magnesium
• Manganese
• Nickel
• Phosphorus
• Potassium
• Selenium
• Silicon
• Silver
• Sodium
• Strontium
• Sulfur
• Thallium
• Tin
• Vanadium
• Zinc

Strikethrough no detections
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Metal Parameters with Standards (13)

• Antimony no detections
• Barium
• Beryllium
• Chromium
• Copper
• Iron
• Lead no detections
• Manganese
• Nickel
• Selenium no detections
• Silver no detections
• Thallium no detections
• Zinc

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Metals with Standards AND Detections (8)
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2006 High Metals Sites
K542 - Sandlick Creek
K536 Long Branch
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2006 Sites of Concern

• K085 - Glenns Creek, Woodford County
• pathogens, phosphorus
•  
• K215 K216 - Lost Creek, Breathitt County (
  also in 2005)
• pathogens, sulfate
•  
• K283 - Rocky Fork, Garrard County
• pathogens, phosphorus (greatest 2006 result)
•  
• K338 Otter Creek, Madison County ( also in
  2005)
• pathogens, phosphorus
•  
• K479 - Rockhouse Creek, Letcher County
• pathogens, sulfate
•  

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2006 Sites of Concern (continued)

• K488 - Troublesome Creek, Perry County
• pathogens, sulfate
•  
• K499 - Town Branch, Fayette County
• pathogens, nitrate, phosphorus
•  
• K536 - Long Branch, Letcher County
• sulfate, metals
•  
• K542 - Sandlick Creek, Letcher County
• sulfate, metals
•  

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2006 KRWW Sites of Concern
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Highest Pathogen Sites

• K105 Blair Branch, Letcher County
• K282 Cane Run, Mercer County
• K445 Kingdom Come Creek, Letcher County
• K307 Wolf Run, Fayette County

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2006 Sites with Greatest Pathogen Results
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KGS to the Rescue!

• Kentucky Geological Survey creates new online
  database for Kentucky River Watershed Watch.

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NEW KRWW ONLINE DATABASEhttp//kgsmap.uky.edu/web
site/krww/viewer.asp

• WHY THIS WILL MAKE EVERYONE HAPPIER
• Volunteers ? Fast, easy access to all data
• Data Manager ? Data updates made easier
• Common, shared database (less confusion / errors)
• Volunteer Coordinator ? Easy addition of new
  sites
• Automatically calculates lat/long info when
  entered

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WEBSITE FEATURES

• Zoom in past 1500,000 to see site ID labels
• ? Click on site or sites to see all historical
  data
• Use Area Tool to zoom to single site or group
  of sites
• Use Measure Tool to find distance between 2
• points
• ? Use Zoom to a Location to zoom to a selected
  location (county, road intersections, stream
  extents, etc.)

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Kentucky River Authority Watershed Grant Program

• Grant offerings of up to 3,000 for watershed
  education, sampling, assessment, restoration
  projects
• Applicants must be nonprofit organization,
  school, or local government
• Applications will be accepted again in Fall 07