CITIZEN ACTION PLAN (CAP)

 

Watershed __________Clark's Run______________________

11 Digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) ___05100205190_____________

 

 

PART 1: ENVIRONMENTAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY

Part 1 of this CAP was prepared by Erman Caudill, Greg Epp, and Lindell Ormsbee of the Kentucky Water Research Institute (University of Kentucky) under contract to the Kentucky River Authority, as a product of the statewide Kentucky Watershed Management process.

 

OVERVIEW

Geography. The Clarks Run watershed is in southeastern Boyle County. The land is in the inner subregion of the Bluegrass physiographic region, characterized by undulating terrain and moderate rates of both surface runoff and groundwater drainage. The watershed lies partly above fractured shales through which groundwater can easily move but which stores very little water. Other parts lie over interbedded clay shales and siltstones. There are also areas of interbedded shales and limestones (these are 20% limestone; water conduction is poor because of the clay content of the shale) and areas of interbedded limestones and shales (>20% limestone, allowing groundwater flow where the clay content is low enough).

Waterways. Clarks Run empties into the Dix River east of Danville, near Little Needmore. Among the creeks that feed it is Balls Branch.

Land and water use. Land in the watershed is more than 80% agricultural. It includes the southern half of Danville, and therefore is about 8% residential, and about 8% commercial or industrial. Five businesses and organizations hold permits for discharges into the creeks. See tables for details.

Agency data assessment. Three assessed segments of Clarks Run include one that does not support its designated uses, based on biological and/or water-quality data. One fully supports its uses, and one only partially supports its uses. Organic enrichment from municipal point sources, urban runoff, and storm sewers contribute to the impairment of these streams. Pesticides from urban runoff also contribute in the nonsupporting segment. See tables for details.

Watershed rankings. The ranking formula provides a preliminary ranking by synthesizing a broad spectrum of watershed characteristics, current conditions, and threats. This watershed ranks in the group with the lowest need for protection and/or restoration. This rating is for the watershed on average: particular sites and particular waters within the watershed may vary widely. See tables for details.

Volunteer data. Data show high levels of bacteria indicative of fecal contamination in Clarks Run (above 200 colonies/ml). A significant amount of the triazine herbicide atrazine was detected (>1 microgram per liter); however, the concentration of atrazine was well below the EPA’s maximum contaminant level of 3 micrograms per liter. See tables for details.

WATERSHED DESCRIPTION TABLES




 

 

 

 

 

 

MAPS


PART 2: CITIZEN / SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATION

 

            Analysis of data collected between 1997 and 2003 for three sites on Clarks Run (Table1) suggested potential problems and highlighted the need for higher resolution monitoring. Water samples for fecal coliform analysis were taken from Clarks Run yearly at one or more sites each year between 1998 and 2003 (Table 2).  Estimated numbers of colony forming units varied dramatically between years and between sites.  However, the majority of samples were greater than 200 colonies/100ml, above the maximum concentration for recreational contact.  In particular site K14, downstream of the city and the wastewater treatment plant consistently showed high levels of fecal coliform bacteria. 

            In 2003 the KRWW funded focused sampling for fecal coliform bacteria along the length of Clark's Run.  In August 2003 seven sites were sampled (Figure 1) and in October 2003 one upstream site was added for a total of eight sites.  In August fecal coliform concentrations were uniformly high across all sites ( > 2000 colonies/100ml).  We observed a pattern of increased fecal concentration around site 3 (upstream of the wastewater treatment plant) with decreasing concentrations both upstream and downstream of this site.  Sampling in October 2003 revealed the same pattern with two exceptions.  Overall fecal counts were much lower in October (< 400 colonies/100ml) and the additional upstream site (site 8) showed dramatically higher fecal counts compared to nearby sites.  In the October sampling the analysis laboratory at the University of Kentucky conducted a colony morphology study to determine possible sources of fecal contamination.  This process utilizes the fact that, as fecal material ages, the number of "atypical" colonies declines at a fairly consistent rate.  By assaying the number of atypical compared to typical colonies we can estimate the age of fecal bacteria populations.  Very old populations may come from urban or agricultural runoff, while extremely fresh material may come from animals grazing in the creek or untreated human effluent.  This analysis showed that the spikes in fecal colony counts at site 3 and site 8 were both associated with a low ratio of atypical bacteria. A low ratio was also measured at site 5, directly downstream of a major storm water drain.

            In order to determine parameters that may be important for future study we have provided a preliminary analysis of chemical parameters sampled from this watershed.  For each year we collated data from all sites sampled in the Kentucky River watershed.  We calculated the values delineating quartiles of the distribution for each chemical parameter (i.e. 25%, 50%, 75%) and compared the values of parameters from Clarks Run samples to the values for the 3rd quartile of the combined data set.  In this way we could identify parameters that showed values higher than 75% of all sites sampled in the Kentucky River Basin in each year (Table 3).  Our analysis shows that site K14 had high concentrations of nutrients such as nitrate, phosphate, and ammonia and also had high concentrations of organic carbon.  Although we have far fewer data for K125 and K180, it appears that these sites do not show particularly high nutrient concentrations.  However, organic carbon and suspended solids are a potential problem at these sites. 

           

Table1. Sampling sites

Site Code

Stream

Latitude (dec.deg.)

Longitude (dec.deg.)

Years sampled

K14

Clarks Run (downstream of Danville)

37.65786

-84.70554

1997-2003

K125

Clarks Run (upstream of Danville)

37.65000

-84.70800

2001-2003

K180

Clarks Run (downtown Danville)

37.633017

-84.762205

2001-2003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2. Fecal coliform data

Site code

Collection Date

Fecal Coliform Count (colonies per 100ml)

K14

07/08/1998

>60000

K14

07/16/1999

1100

K14

07/10/2000

190

K14

07/16/2001

460

K14

07/30/2001

2500

K180

07/16/2001

160

K125

07/16/2001

190

K14

07/2002

140

K14

07/27/02

896

K180

07/13/02

9000

K180

07/27/02

1140

K125

07/13/02

1900

K125

07/27/02

95

K14

07/12/03

3200

K14

08/09/03

4336

K14

08/09/03

4099

K180

07/12/03

1400

K125

07/12/03

800

 

Figure 1. Focused sampling sites and fecal coliform data from August 2003.

Figure 2. Fecal Coliform data for October 2003

 

Figure 3. Atypical colony analysis for October 2003

 

Table 3.  Potential parameters of concern for this watershed (1997-2002). Values for each sampling site are given along with the value demarcating the 3rd quartile of the distribution of values for all samples taken from the Kentucky River Basin that year.  Data are shown only for parameters with values higher that 75% of all sampled sites (greater than the 3rd quartile value).  Volunteers of the Kentucky River Watershed Watch collected all these data during yearly fall low-flow sampling events.

Year

parameter

site

value

3rd quartile for KY river basin

 

1997

Ammonia mg/L

K14

0.06

Below detection limits

 

1997

TK-Nitrogen mg/L

K14

0.57

0.41

 

1997

Organic carbon mg/L

K14

6.48

3.47

 

1998

Nitrate/Nitrite mg/L

K14

4.30

0.90

 

1998

Specific conductivity mmho/cm

K14

1100.00

695.00

 

1998

Organic carbon mg/L

K14

7.10

6.50

 

1998

Total Phosphorus mg/L

K14

1.30

0.27

 

2000

Ammonia mg/L

K14

0.05

0.03

 

2000

Nitrate mg/L

K14

13.60

1.27

 

2000

Orthophosphate mg/L

K14

1.51

0.30

 

2000

Total Phosphorus mg/L

K14

1.57

0.30

 

2001

Suspended solids mg/L

K125

36.00

7.50

 

2001

Chloride mg/L

K180

42.70

42.25

 

2001

Organic carbon mg/L

K125

3.82

3.38

 

2001

Organic carbon mg/L

K180

3.90

3.38

 

2002

Nitrate mg/L

K14

33.9

2.24

 

2002

Suspended Solids mg/L

K125

25

15

 

2002 

Conductivity mmho/cm

K14

1727

785

 

 

PART 3:  ASSESSMENT

 

Our preliminary assessment of the sampling data suggest that 1) there is a general decline in water quality as the stream passes through the city of Danville, 2) increased fecal counts may not be associated with the wastewater treatment plant, but increased nutrient concentrations may be, 3) there is evidence of fecal contamination that may be human related, upstream of the wastewater treatment plant, near a downtown storm water drain, and in the far upstream reaches of Clarks Run.   Our activities over the next year will involve verifying and pinpointing the sources of the fecal contamination and documenting the scale of the nutrient contamination downstream. 

 

PART 4:  ACTION ITEMS

 

1.      An ACORN committee for this watershed will be formed to implement the action items in this CAP. Interested individuals should contact the area coordinator, Robert Ziemba (Ziemba@centre.edu).

2.      The ACORN committee requests KRWW support for further fecal sampling in 2004 to verify the detected patterns.

3.      The ACORN committee will establish contact with the appropriate city officials and determine what information the city of Danville has regarding nutrient loading and fecal coliform contamination in Clarks Run.  We will work with these officials to determine potential causes and solutions to the contamination problems documented in this report.

4.      The ACORN committee will establish contacts with local universities and high schools in order to design and implement educational activities regarding water quality in this watershed.  Note: Rob Ziemba (Centre College) and Amy Farr (Boyle County High School) have already been in contact and will be developing joint sampling activities for students at both the college and high school level.  New ideas and involvement by others is welcome.

5.      The ACORN committee will organize a workshop held at Centre College to recruit new volunteers for the Kentucky River Watershed Watch.  We will concentrate on sampling understudied areas of this and surrounding watersheds.

 

This CAP was prepared by Robert Ziemba and was last revised on July 28, 2004.

    

 

Approved by the Kentucky River Watershed Watch (KRWW) Steering Committee:

 

 

_____________________________                               _____________________

Name                                                                                      Date