JEFFERSON RIVER METALS TMDL PROJECT. Public Meeting October 14, 2014 Whitehall, MT

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1 JEFFERSON RIVER METALS TMDL PROJECT Public Meeting October 14, 2014 Whitehall, MT

2 Presentation Outline Jefferson River Metals Project Area TMDL Basics Metals TMDL Development Next Steps Public Comment Period Information

3 Jefferson River Metals TMDL Project Area

4 Background The Clean Water Act requires states to assess the quality of their waters Numeric or Narrative Water Quality Standards Protect Water Quality Designated Uses Recreation Drinking Water Aquatic Life

5 Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment DEQ uses monitoring data to assess water quality and compare to applicable water quality standards If the data show a water quality problem, the waterbody is put on a list of impaired waters Waterbodies impaired by a pollutant will require a TMDL to be developed for that particular waterbodypollutant combination

6 What is a TMDL? Total Maximum Daily Load is the amount of pollutant a waterbody can receive from all sources and still meet water quality standards. It may be expressed as a load per unit time (e.g., lbs/day) or as a percent load reduction (e.g., 36% reduction) Current Load TMDL

7 Major Pollutant Groups Temperature Nutrients Sediment Metals

8 What is a TMDL? TMDLs are specific to a waterbody segment and a pollutant, so a single waterbody may have multiple TMDLs The Jefferson River has 2 segments, each with 2 metals TMDLs: Upper Segment: Iron, Lead Lower Segment: Copper, Lead

9 Steps for Developing a TMDL Characterize the impaired waterbody s existing water quality conditions and compare those conditions to Montana s water quality standards. Quantify the magnitude of the pollutant contribution from each significant source Determine the total allowable load of the pollutant to the waterbody Allocate the total allowable load into individual loads for each significant source or source type

10 What Makes up a TMDL or the Allowable Load? TMDL = Load Allocations (LA) + Wasteload Allocations (WLA) The TMDL must be allocated to sources Allocations usually based on existing loading and opportunity for reductions via best management practices WWTP Roads Bank Erosion Abandoned Forest Harvest Mines Agriculture Stormwater Natural Background

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12 Water Quality Goals For all waterbodies to support their designated water quality beneficial uses Developing TMDLs for waterbodies impaired by a pollutant is an important step to address water quality problems TMDL documents can be used as a water quality planning tool

13 Montana s TMDL History More than 1,200 approved TMDLs (1998 present) More than 60 TMDL documents completed as of October 2014 Completed documents can be found at:

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15 Existing TMDLs Upper Jefferson River Tributaries Sediment, September 2009 Lower Beaverhead and Upper Jefferson Temperature, Pending EPA approval Beaverhead Sediment, July 2012 Ruby River Metals, Nutrients, Sediment, & Temperature, December 2006 Upper and North Fork of the Big Hole Sediment and Temperature, September 2009 Middle and Lower Big Hole Metals, Nutrients, Sediment, & Temperature, September 2009 Boulder-Elkhorn Metals, December 2012 Boulder-Elkhorn Nutrients, Sediment, & Temperature, September 2013

16 Jefferson Metals Document Outline 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Jefferson River TMDL Project Area Description 3.0 Water Quality Standards Overview 4.0 TMDL Process Overview 5.0 Metals TMDL Components - Impaired Waters, Targets, Source Assessment, TMDLs/Allocations 6.0 Non-Pollutants & Future TMDL Work 7.0 Water Quality Improvement Plan & Monitoring Strategy 8.0 Response to Comments

17 Metals TMDLs 2014 TMDL Development LITTLE WHITETAIL CREEK, Whitetail Reservoir to mouth (Whitetail Deer Creek) WHITETAIL DEER CREEK, Headwater to mouth (Jefferson Slough) BIG PIPESTONE CREEK, Headwaters to mouth (Jefferson Slough) JEFFERSON SLOUGH, Jefferson River to the mouth (Jefferson River) UPPER JEFFERSON RIVER, Headwaters to confluence of Jefferson Slough LOWER JEFFERSON RIVER, confluence of Jefferson Slough to mouth (Missouri River)

18 Data Collection & Impairment Determination Sampling conducted in 2003, 2004, 2006, Sampled and assessed for: Aluminum (Al), Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Lead (Pb), Selenium (Se), Silver (Ag) and Zinc (Zn) 37 sampling locations, at high and low flow conditions Beneficial uses impaired: Aquatic Life Support Drinking Water

19 Numeric Water Quality Standards Copper Example Fixed Numeric: Human Health: 1,300 µg/l Variable Numeric: Acute and Chronic Aquatic Life: (varies with hardness) At 25 mg/l hardness- Acute: 3.79 µg/l (1 hour mean) Chronic: 2.85 µg/l (96 hour mean) At 400 mg/l hardness- Acute: 51.7µg/l (1 hour mean) Chronic: 30.5 µg/l (96 hour mean)

20 Example Metals Standards Metals numeric water chemistry targets applicable to the Jefferson River TMDL Project Area Metal of Concern Aquatic Life Criteria (µg/l) at 25 mg/l Hardness Aquatic Life Criteria (µg/l) at 400 mg/l Hardness Human Health Criteria (µg/l) Acute Chronic Acute Chronic Aluminum, D* NA Arsenic, TR** Cadmium, TR Copper, TR ,300 Iron, TR --- 1, ,000 NA Lead, TR Zinc, TR ,000 * D = dissolved ** TR = total recoverable

21 Metals TMDL Development Triggers Greater than 10 % of recent analytical results exceed Chronic Aquatic Life (CAL) targets. At least one analytical result in a recent dataset is greater than twice the Acute Aquatic Life (AAL) target. At least one analytical result in a recent dataset exceeds the Human Health (HH) target.

22 Metals TMDLs 2014 TMDLs Developed Little Whitetail Creek Aluminum, Copper, Lead Whitetail Deer Creek Aluminum, Lead Big Pipestone Creek Arsenic Upper Jefferson River Iron, Lead Lower Jefferson River Copper, Lead Jefferson Slough Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Zinc

23 Metal Sources Abandoned and inactive hard rock mining operations, placer operations MPDES permitted discharges Sediment sources Natural background

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25 Example TMDLs and Reductions Stream LITTLE WHITETAIL CREEK WHITETAIL DEER CREEK BIG PIPESTONE CREEK Parameter TMDL (lbs/day) % Load Reduction To Meet TMDL High Flow Low Flow High Flow Low Flow Aluminum Copper Lead Aluminum Lead Arsenic No Arsenic Data 9.1 Arsenic JEFFERSON SLOUGH Cadmium Copper Zinc UPPER JEFFERSON RIVER LOWER JEFFERSON RIVER Iron 61, , Lead Copper Lead

26 Where Are the Elevated Metals Loads Coming From? Upper Jefferson River (high flow problem) Lead: elevated levels from Big Hole watershed and associated abandoned mines in upper Big Hole watershed areas (e.g., Wise River watershed) Iron: elevated levels from Ruby watershed and from smaller tributaries directly to upper Jefferson River; sources are a possible combination of abandoned mines and elevated sediment loading with attached iron Lower Jefferson River (high flow problem) Lead: elevated levels from Boulder River (abandoned mines) via Jefferson Slough; as well as elevated levels from upper Jefferson River segment (see above) Copper: elevated levels from Boulder River (abandoned mines) via Jefferson Slough Possible elevated loads from other tributaries to lower Jefferson River (e.g., Willow Creek), more data needed

27 Where Are the Elevated Metals Loads Coming From? Jefferson Slough (high flow problem) Arsenic, cadmium, copper, zinc: elevated levels from the Boulder River (abandoned mines) Whitetail Deer & Little Whitetail Creeks (high flow problem) Aluminum, copper, lead: elevated levels from abandoned mines; possible linkages to elevated sediment loading Big Pipestone Creek (low flow problem identified) Arsenic: elevated low flow loading possibly via ground water in Whitehall area; potential linkages to natural background sources and human sources

28 Allocations Wasteload allocations (point sources) Will be specific to MPDES permitted point sources Load Allocations (loads from contributing tributaries) Big Pipestone Creek, Whitetail Deer Creek and Boulder River to the Jefferson Slough Big Hole, Beaverhead and Ruby Rivers to the upper Jefferson Jefferson Slough and upper Jefferson River to the lower Jefferson River Wasteload allocations (nonpoint sources) Composite of natural background and all other human sources not listed above

29 TMDL Requirements of Permitted Sources Town of Twin Bridges WWTP* Meet current performance standards Additional metals water quality monitoring Golden Sunlight Mine storm water* Meet the requirements of the current permit and maintain all BMPs Suction Dredge* Meet the requirements of the current permit Town of Whitehall WWTP Meet the arsenic standard prior to discharge to Big Pipestone Creek Consistent with drinking water supply arsenic requirement since arsenic would likely come from drinking water sources Additional metals water quality monitoring *NOTE: Discharges from these permitted sources are considered relatively minor when compared with other contributing sources within the project area.

30 Adaptive Management & Restoration Planning

31 What to Expect from a Completed TMDL A completed TMDL provides information on water quality problems and strategies to reduce pollutants by changing land and water management activities The TMDL document provides a basis for action, but it is up to local stakeholders, organizations, and government agencies to determine how best to use the information and implement a restoration strategy A Watershed Restoration Plan (WRP) may be developed by stakeholders to implement the goals of the TMDL

32 Adaptive Management Approach An adaptive management approach works in cooperation with monitoring, and as new information is collected, it allows for adjustments to restoration goals or pollutant targets, TMDLs, and/or allocations

33 Adaptive Management Approach Continual feedback from stakeholders Additional monitoring & refinement of loading analysis Further refinement of monitoring strategies Allows for better understanding of impairment conditions and the processes that affect impairment

34 DEQ s Watershed Protection Program Helps With or Provides: Technical Assistance Monitoring Assistance TMDL Implementation Evaluations Robert Ray, Section Supervisor: rray@mt.gov,

35 Future Work & Potential TMDLs Upper Jefferson: Nutrients, Sediment, Temperature Lower Jefferson: Metals, Nutrients, Sediment, & Temperature

36 How To Submit Comments Comment period ends Friday, October 31 (5:00 p.m.) Document available at: Butte, Twin Bridges, Whitehall, Three Forks Libraries Submit comments in writing via mail or electronically Project Website (Jefferson Metals): Final document will be available early 2015

37 Questions? Lou Volpe Senior TMDL Planner