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By Evan Smith, project coordinator, Head of Three Rivers Project Nov. 17, 2006

Kentucky River Watershed Watch 2006 Year End Results Letcher, Knott, & Perry Counties (North Fork Headwaters). By Evan Smith, project coordinator, Head of Three Rivers Project Nov. 17, 2006. Outline. East Kentucky Overview Spring: Nutrients/Pesticides Summer: Fecal Coliform

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By Evan Smith, project coordinator, Head of Three Rivers Project Nov. 17, 2006

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  1. Kentucky River Watershed Watch 2006 Year End ResultsLetcher, Knott, & Perry Counties(North Fork Headwaters) By Evan Smith, project coordinator, Head of Three Rivers Project Nov. 17, 2006

  2. Outline • East Kentucky Overview • Spring: Nutrients/Pesticides • Summer: Fecal Coliform • Letcher County Fecal Focus Study • Fall: Metals/Nutrients • Round Up of Worst Sites/Best Sites

  3. E. KY Sites Sampled in 2006 • 61 Letcher/Knott/Perry sites sampled in 2006 Sites by county 45 Letcher 11 Perry 5 Knott

  4. Spring Nutrient/Pesticide Results • 42 Sites Sampled in Letcher/Knott/Perry • No Detections of Herbicides/Pesticides (Triazines or Metolachlor) in E. KY • Low Nitrates • Low Chlorides but • High Sulfates at many sites in East Kentucky (31% in Spring, 32% in Fall)

  5. Sulfates High sulfate levels are generally a sign of coal impacted water. DOW Criteria <250 for Drinking Water Source Average in Kentucky = 63.3 mg/L E. KY Spring Average = 196.33 (31% above 250) E. KY Fall Average = 285.37 (32% above 250) The North Fork, a major public water source, is close to the limit i.e. K112, N. Fork below Crafts Colley Spring 242, Fall 217 This is the WW site closest to the City of Whitesburg’s water intake

  6. 10 Worst Sulfate Sites Table * Highest Result for Sampling Round

  7. Worst Sulfate Sites Map

  8. Chlorides DOW Criteria: 250 mg/L for drinking water, 600 mg/L for aquatic life Average in Kentucky: 13.2 mg/L Comparatively High Sites in E. KY • Perkins Branch 97.2 mg/L • Cowan (by Comm Center) 14.9/54.8 mg/L • Little Cowan (upper) 30.8/52.7 mg/L • Little Cowan (mouth) 38.1/32.6 mg/L

  9. Summer Pathogen Sampling • 48 Sites in Letcher/Knott/Perry participated • 24 failed Primary Contact Recreation (swimming/wading) >400 • 17 also failed Secondary Contact Recreation (fishing/boating) >2,000

  10. 17 Sites failing fishing/boating Other interesting sites: K115, Allen Branch on Crafts Colley Cr. only site whose result was zero. Probably due to Acid Mine Drainage… K450 Fish Pond Lake. 8 at inflow. 24 at outflow, 940 in lake. Probably due to water fowl. Only 1 Knott Co. site, K290 Litt Carr, passed either Fecal test • K445, Kingdom Come Creek (720/90,000) • K446, N. Fork below Kingdom Come (580/60,000) • K105, Blair Branch (11,000/12,000) • K527, Balls Fork, (9,300/5,700) • K484, Cram Creek, R. Fork (750/12,000) • K485, Cram Creek, L. Fork (1,000/8,000) • K490, Perkins Branch (1,000/6,000) • K480, Big Cowan, at Elementary (500/4,100) • K447, Big Cowan, at Comm. Center (830/3,600) • K477, N. Fork below Millstone Creek (550/3,400) • K017, Sandlick Creek (850/3,000) • K479, Rockhouse Creek (520/3,300) • K482, Bo Fork, Kingdom Come Cr. (730/3,000) • K082, N. Fork at Perry Co. Park (370/2,900) • K478, Millstone Creek (670/2,600) • K452, N. Fork at Appalshop (720/2,400) • K489, Big Willard (630/2,300)

  11. Failing Fecal Sites Map

  12. Letcher Co. Fecal Focus Study 5 Rounds at 6 sites during from 8/18 - 8/28, totalling 30 samples Makes it possible to generate and average number that the Division of Water can use for regulatory decisions.

  13. Focus Study Results Table

  14. Above 1,000 is a health risk Below 400 is considered OK

  15. Fall “Low-Flow” Sampling • 57 E. KY samples taken for metal sweep & nutrients • 26 (46%) sites had some worrisome result • Iron & Sulfates two most common problems

  16. Conductivity • Measure of how well water conducts electricity • Indicator of dissolved metals • Good Fisheries in Kentucky generally have a conductivity below 500 • Average in Kentucky = 335 • Only DOW Criteria is 800 for the main stem of the Ohio River • The North Fork in Letcher & Perry ranges from 710-928 • Troublesome Cr. 467-1328

  17. Conductivity Graph

  18. High Conductivity Map

  19. Iron DOW Aquatic Life Standard <1 mg/L Average in Kentucky = 1.34 mg/L (?) Average in E. KY this year = 1.18 mg/L (23% of sites tested above 1 mg/L) Low Levels of iron are generally detecting suspended iron from silts & clay runoff High levels (>5) are generally dissolved iron from Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) AMD entering K481 Little Dry Fork

  20. High Iron Table

  21. High Iron Map

  22. Aluminum • No Criteria exists in Kentucky • Average in Kentucky = .7 mg/L • EPA lists Aluminum as a nonpriority pollutant with a criteria between .75 (short-term) & .087 (long-term) when the pH is between 6.5 & 9.0 • Second most common element in the Earth’s crust. (behind Silicon) Photo of K115, Allen Branch, by Duane Beachey, acidic water with high aluminum and high sulfates but low iron.

  23. High Aluminum Table • *pH below 6.5 **unknown pH

  24. High Aluminum Map

  25. Chromium • Average in Kentucky = .0026 mg/L • Watershed Watch analyzed for “Total Chromium” Note: the Erin Brockovich case (the Julia Roberts movie was based on a real case) concerned Cr (VI)

  26. Chromium Table

  27. Chromium Map

  28. Detail of Cowan Chromium

  29. Copper & Zinc

  30. K542 Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) on Sandlick pH = 2.7 Cond. = 2361 4 EPA priority pollutants WAY above limits

  31. Overall Worst Sites K542 Sandlick Cr, AMD at Rainbow Dr. pH, aluminum, iron, manganese, beryllium, copper, nickel, zinc, & sulfates K105 Blair Branch fecal coliform 11,000/12,000 K527 Balls Fork fecal coliform 9,300/5,700 K536 Ran Day Hollow chromium, sulfates K481 Little Dry Fork conductivity, iron, sulfates K478 Millstone Creek fecal coliform, conductivity, chromium, sulfate Honorable mention to Kingdom Come Cr. For the highest fecal coliform in a single round Worst Perry Co. Site K442 Scuddy Branch conductivity, aluminum, chromium, sulfates

  32. Sites Worth Protecting K448, Upper Big Cowan (at Joey’s Drive) K520, Friday Branch K063, Pine Creek K449, Solomon Branch K474, Fishpond Lake, outflow inflow has sulfates & chromium, lake has bacteria, but outflow is good! Potentially high quality but lacking certain parameters K290, Litt Carr, low fecal but no chemistry K135, Maces Cr, low fecal but no chemistry K539, Kings Cr, good chemistry but no pathogen data K538, Judys Br, good chemistry but no pathogen data

  33. Map of Sites with High Quality Purple sites need more data

  34. THANKS! • Hard Copies of Year-End Data will be mailed out • Kentucky River Watershed Watch Annual Conference on January 27th, 2007 • www.letcherwater.com • Think about Kentucky River Authority Grants for $3,000! Due Nov. 30th.

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