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Judith Mountains TMDL Project

This version was saved 11 years, 1 month ago View current version     Page history
Saved by Lisa Kusnierz
on February 11, 2013 at 11:20:55 am
 

Status updated.

Judith Mountains TMDL Project Documents 

 

Judith Mountains Project Page Contents:


 


 

Project Purpose

 

The state of Montana monitors its waters and conducts water quality assessments to determine if waterbodies are supporting their designated uses. Waterbodies in the state of Montana have been classified to designate what beneficial uses they must support. All waterbodies in the Judith Mountains TMDL Project area must be maintained suitable to support the uses of: agricultural, industrial, recreational, and drinking water uses, as well as support of fish and aquatic life. Waters that are determined not to be supporting their designated uses are called impaired and are placed on Montana’s list of impaired waters. Impaired waterbodies and their associated probable causes and sources of impairment are published within Montana’s biennial Water Quality Integrated Report. Impaired waterbodies for this project are discussed below, in the next section. 

 Montana’s state law, and the federal Clean Water Act that was established by Congress in 1972, require development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for all waterbodies impaired by a pollutant (e.g., metals, nutrients, sediment, temperature). A TMDL is the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards (think of a TMDL as a loading rate). TMDL development includes four main steps:

 

  • Further characterizing the impaired waterbody’s existing water quality conditions and comparing those conditions to Montana’s water quality standards. During this step, measurable target values are set to help evaluate the stream’s condition in relation to the applicable water quality standards.
  • Quantifying the magnitude of the pollutant contribution from each significant source
  • Determining the total allowable load of the pollutant to the waterbody (i.e., the TMDL)
  • Allocating the total allowable pollutant load into individual loads for each significant source (referred to as load allocations for nonpoint sources and wasteload allocations for point sources)

 

A TMDL document will be published for this project that will include information and results from each of these four steps. The document will also include recommended land management activities for improving water quality in this project area, and a monitoring strategy to evaluate progress toward attainment of water quality standards.

For more information about the development of TMDLs, please see the What is a TMDL? page on this site or download our pamphlet: Understanding the TMDL Process (580 kb).


 

Project Overview

 

The Judith Mountains TMDL Project Area is located in central Montana approximately 9 miles northeast of Lewistown (Figure 1 below), and it spans portions of Fergus, Blaine and Phillips counties. The total extent is 920,561 acres, or approximately 1,438 square miles. The project area is bounded by Fort Belknap Reservation to the northeast and drainage divides to the east and west; it includes three impaired streams that originate in the Judith Mountains and drain east into the Mussellshell River (Chicago Gulch, Chippewa Creek and Collar Gulch) and three other impaired streams that are within the Missouri River watershed (Armells Creek, Fargo Coulee, and Cow Creek) (Figure 2).

 

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has identified six streams for impairment by a combination of sediment, nutrient, and metals (Figure 2). For more information on each stream’s probable impairment causes and sources, see DEQ’s Clean Water Act Information Center. For the most current information, click on "Begin Search" and then select either "Flatwillow-Box Elder" (for Musselshell Watershed streams) or “Fort Peck Area Tributaries” (for Missouri Watershed streams) in the TMDL Planning Area drop down list under Step 2. You do not need to select anything else in Step 1 or Step 2.

 

 The U.S. Environmental Project Agency is working with DEQ to complete the necessary TMDLs in the project area. To assist with TMDL development, EPA collected water quality data on the impaired streams in 2010 and 2011. That data, along with other water quality data from the past 10 years were used to evaluate the level of impairment for each stream, to identify probable sources of impairment, and for TMDL development.

 

Figure 1: Location of the Judith Mountains TMDL Project Area

[click on map to enlarge]

 

Figure 2: Impaired Waterbodies in the Judith Mountains TMDL Project Area

[click on map to enlarge


 

Project Status

 

The final draft is currently available for stakeholder review and has been posted to the Judith Mountains TMDL Documents page. The Judith Mountains TMDL Documents page is only available to the Judith Mountains TMDL Advisory Group and requires an account and password to view. The document will be available for stakeholder review until February 25 and the public comment period will start shortly after that. The public comment version will be posted on DEQ's website and will be available for 30 days. During the public comment period, there will be a public meeting in Lewistown where EPA will discuss the document.

  

Project Contacts

 

Project Member

Role

Email

Phone

Lisa Kusnierz

Project Manager

kusnierz.lisa@epa.gov

(406) 457-5001

Peter Brumm

Project Assistance

brumm.peter@epa.gov

(406) 457-5029

 


Page Released: May 17, 2012

Last Updated: February 11, 2013