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Floyds Fork Watershed Biological Assessments Update Floyds Fork TMDL Public Meeting, February 19, 2013. Kentucky Division of Water Department for Environmental Protection. To Protect and Enhance Kentucky’s Environment. Objectives.
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Floyds Fork Watershed Biological Assessments UpdateFloyds Fork TMDL Public Meeting, February 19, 2013 Kentucky Division of Water Department for Environmental Protection To Protect and Enhance Kentucky’s Environment
Objectives Assess the current biological health of selected streams in the watershed Identify likely causes of biological impairments Macro- invertebrates Fish Algae
2012 Sampling Sites • Floyds Fork mainstem - 4 sites • North and South Forks Currys Fork and un-named tributary of South Currys Fork • Ashers Run • “Upper” Chenoweth Run • Pope Lick – 2 Sites • South Long Run • Long Run • Pennsylvania Run • Cedar Creek • Cane Run • Brooks Run Little Kentucky River Harrods Creek Brashears Creek
2012 Site Visit Activities • General field observations • Biological sampling • Bugs, Fish, Algae • Habitat Assessment • Assessment of the quality of the habitat available to aquatic organisms • Visual algae surveys • Survey of the types and the thickness of algae growing in the stream • Chlorophyll-a sampling • Measurement of the amount of algae in the water column
Aquatic Life Use Assessment • “KIBI” – Kentucky Index of Biotic Integrity (fish) • “MBI” – Macroinvertebrate Bioassessment Index • pollution tolerant vs. pollution sensitive species • species diversity • species that require adequate habitat of certain types • Score results fall in a range from Excellent or Good (= Fully Supporting aquatic life use to Fair, Poor or Very Poor (= not Fully Supporting)
Indicators of Nutrients and Organic Enrichment • dominated by a few pollution tolerant species • diversity is low and sensitive species are rare • persistently high levels of algae • low oxygen or widely changing oxygen • nutrients high compared to most streams that fully support aquatic life use
Cane Run Fish EXCELLENT Macroinvertebrates GOOD
Floyds Fork lower sections Fish GOOD to EXCELLENT Macroinvertebrates EXCELLENT
North Fork Currys Fork Macroinvertebrates • FAIR
Brooks Run Macroinvertebrates • FAIR
2012 Biological Sampling Results Green = Full Support Red = Impaired, causes include Nutrients and/or Organic Enrichment Black = Impaired, other causes Purple = Undetermined impairment or causes Pennsylvania Run
Candidate Impairments Feb 2013 Green = Full Support Red = Impaired, causes include Nutrients and/or Organic Enrichment Black = Impaired, other causes Purple = Undetermined impairment or causes
2013-4 Activities • Additional sampling to resolve “Undetermined” impairments • Biological sampling in remaining streams previously listed for nutrient/organic enrichment impairments