• If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Kootenai - Fisher TMDL Project

This version was saved 9 years, 10 months ago View current version     Page history
Saved by Christina Staten
on May 5, 2014 at 10:14:00 am
 

Added notice that document has been submitted to EPA for approval

Project Contacts     Outreach     Documents


This page provides a general overview of the Kootenai – Fisher TMDL project. Here you will find a brief explanation on the purpose of the project and what it entails, a description of the project area and the included streams, as well as project contacts. You can find project updates and meeting announcements on the Kootenai – Fisher Project Outreach page. The links above will appear on each project page and can be used to navigate between the pages.

 

Page Contents


Other Kootenai - Fisher TMDL Project Pages:

Project Contacts

Project Outreach

Project Documents

 


 

Project Area

 

The Kootenai – Fisher TMDL project area encompasses the entire Fisher River watershed and a portion of the Kootenai River watershed. Majority of the project area is contained in Lincoln County, and includes the Town of Troy and the City of Libby. A very small portion of the project area lies in Flathead County. 

 

Note that the Kootenai River is not included in this project. It is on Montana’s list of impaired waters as impaired for temperature; however this impairment will not be addressed until after 2014.

 

     Kootenai - Fisher TMDL Project Area [Click on map to enlarge


 

Project Purpose

 

This project is not part of, or a result of, the superfund clean-up operations for the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine and asbestos contamination in Libby. For information regarding the superfund project, please see EPA’s Libby Asbestos webpage. This project is also not related to the permitting or development of an environmental impact statement for the Montanore Mine.

 

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 Kootenai-Fisher 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.

 

The TMDL planning process for this project incorporates a combination of water quality sampling and hydrologic modeling to further identify and quantify metals, nutrient, sediment, and temperature contributions from all significant sources to the streams identified in the table below. 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

 

Streams Included in this Project

There are seven streams with metals, nutrients, sediment, and/or temperature water quality impairments that will have TMDLs written for this project (Table 1). Table 1 reflects updated impairment determinations completed by DEQ in 2013. Bristow and Quartz creeks have sediment impairments on the 2012 Water Quality Integrated Report, however after a review of data collected in 2011, these two streams are being delisted for sediment impairment and will not recieve sediment TMDLs. Specific details about metals and nutrients impairments are given in Tables 2 and 3 below.

 

The Kootenai River is on Montana’s list of impaired waters as impaired for temperature; however this impairment will not be addressed until after 2014.

 

Table 1: TMDLs Written for the Kootenai-Fisher TMDL Project

WATERSHED

STREAM &

LOCATION DESCRIPTION

METAL TMDLS 1

NUTRIENT TMDLS 2

SEDIMENT TMDLS 3

TEMPERATURE TMDLS 4 

Fisher River

Raven Creek

Headwaters to mouth (Pleasant Valley Fisher River)

 

TP

X

 

Wolf Creek

Headwaters to mouth (Fisher River)

 

 

X

X

Kootenai River

Big Cherry Creek

Snowshoe Creek to mouth (Libby Creek)

Cd, Pb, Zn

 

 

 

Bristow Creek

Headwaters to the mouth at Lake Koocanusa

 

 

 

 

Lake Creek

Bull Lake outlet to mouth (Kootenai River)

Cu, Pb

NO2+3

X

 

Libby Creek

Just above Howard Creek to the Hwy 2 bridge

 

 

 

 

Libby Creek

Hwy 2 bridge to mouth (Kootenai River)

 

 

X

 

Quartz Creek

Headwaters to confluence with Kootenai River

 

 

 

 

Snowshoe Creek

Cabinet Wilderness boundary to mouth (Big Cherry Creek)

As, Cd, Pb, Zn

 

 

 

Stanley Creek

Headwaters to mouth (Lake Creek)

Cu, Pb, Zn

NO2+3

 

 

1. Specific metals TMDLs are identified (As = arsenic, Cd = cadmium, Cu = copper, Pb = lead, Zn = zinc)

2. Specific nutrient TMDLs are identified (TP = total phosphorus, NO2+3 = nitrite + nitrate as N)

3. X indicates a sediment TMDL was written

4. X indicates a temperature was written

 

 

Specific Metals & Nutrients Impairments

 

 For complete information on each stream’s probable impairments, causes, and sources in both the 2012 and 2014 Water Quality Integrated Reports, and for full water quality assessment records, see DEQ's Clean Water Act Information Center,. Click on "Search" and search by either the waterbody name or the applicable TMDL Planning Area (TPA) name. If searching by planning area, click on the "By Location" tab and select the applicable TPA from the drop-down box. Use Table 1 above to determine which planning area to choose.

 

Table 2: Metals Impairments & Updated Assessment Results 

Stream

Metals Impairments in the 2012 IR 1

Updated Impairment Status /

2014 IR Impairments 2

Big Cherry Creek

Zinc

Zinc

Cadmium

Lead

Fisher River

Lead

Not Impaired (Delist)

Lake Creek

Cadmium

Copper

Lead

Mercury

Zinc

 

Copper

Lead

Libby Creek

(just above Howard Creek to the Hwy 2 bridge)

Mercury

Not Impaired (Delist)

Snowshoe Creek

Cadmium

Zinc

Cadmium

Zinc

Arsenic

Lead

Stanley Creek

Copper

Copper

Lead

Zinc

1. Impairments included in the “2012 Water Quality Integrated Report.”

2. Water quality assessments for metals impairment were performed by DEQ in 2013. The 2014 Integrated Report (IR) reflects the updated impairment determinations. The Fisher River and the upper segment of Libby Creek are both on the 2012 IR; updated assessment results did not show impairment for the metals listed in this table and were therefore “delisted” and not included in the 2014 IR.

 

 

Table 3: Nutrient Impairments & Updated Assessment Results

Stream

Nutrient Impairments in the 2012 IR 1

Updated Impairment Status /

2014 IR Impairments 2

Bristow Creek

Total Nitrogen

Not Impaired (Delist)

Lake Creek

Nitrite + Nitrate as N (NO2 + NO3)

Nitrite + Nitrate as N (NO2 + NO3)

Raven Creek 3

Total Nitrogen

Total Phosphorus

Nitrite + Nitrate as N (NO2 + NO3)

Chlorophyll-a

 

Total Phosphorus

 

Chlorophyll-a

Stanley Creek

Nutrient / Eutrophication Biological Indicators

Nitrite + Nitrate as N (NO2 + NO3)

1. Impairments included in the “2012 Water Quality Integrated Report.”

2. Water quality assessments for nutrient impairment were performed by DEQ in 2013. The 2014 Integrated Report (IR) reflects the updated impairment determinations. Bristow Creek is on the 2012 IR as impaired for TN but was “delisted” and not included in the 2014 IR as impaired for TN.

3. TMDLs are only required for pollutants. Chlorophyll-a is not a pollutant and therefore this impairment does not appear in Table 1 above. Meeting water quality standards for nitrogen and phosphorus, however will also inherently address and the chlorophyll-a impairment.

 

Maps of Metals, Nutrient, Sediment, and Temperature Impaired Streams on the 2012 Integrated Report

 

 

     [Click on Map to Enlarge]

 

If you would like to see a larger version of each individual map, click on the links below.

* Note these maps show water quality impairments listed in the 2012 Water Quality Integrated Report and do not reflect updated impairment determinations from water quality assessments conducted in 2013.

 

Metals Impairments Map

Nutrient Impairments Map

Sediment & Temperature Impairments Map

 


 

Project Schedule & Documents

The public comment period for the draft "Kootenai-Fisher Project Area Metals, Nutrients, Sediment, and Temperature TMDLs and Water Quality Improvement Plan" document closed on March 4, 2014. Staff from DEQ and the Montana Office of EPA have made final edits to the document and prepared responses to the comments received during the public comment period. The document has been submitted to EPA Region 8 in Denver for approval. A notice will be posted on this page when the document has been approved and is available on DEQ's website. Copies of the final document will also be sent to the Libby and Troy public libraries and to the state library in Helena.

 

A public meeting was held on February 13, 2014 at the Central Administration Building in Libby to discuss and answer questions about the draft document. The handouts and presentation given at the meeting are available on the Kootenai-Fisher Project Outreach page. Additional meeting details are available in the public notice.

 

Project status updates are still being posted on the Kootenai-Fisher Project Outreach page.

Planning documents, data summary reports, and assessment and modeling reports are located on the Kootenai - Fisher TMDL Documents page. 


 

Project Contacts

Please see the Kootenai – Fisher TMDL Project Contacts page.

 


Page Released: March 19, 2012

Last Updated: May 5, 2014