Fort Des Moines Park Pond IA 04-LDM-1099

Assessment Comments

Assessment remains based on results of U.S. EPA/IDNR fish tissue monitoring in 1995.

Basis for Assessment

SUMMARY:  The Class B(LW) aquatic life uses remain "not assessed."  Fish consumption uses remain assessed (evaluated) as "fully supported" based on results of U.S.  EPA/IDNR fish contaminant monitoring in 1995.  

EXPLANATION:  The Class B(LW) uses remain "not assessed" due to the lack of water quality data or information upon which to base an assessment (see assessment for the 2000 report).   This lake is not part of the ongoing statewide survey of 132 Iowa lakes conducted by Iowa State University.  

Fish consumption uses were assessed (evaluated) as “fully supported” based on results of U.S.EPA/IDNR fish contaminant (RAFT) monitoring at Fort Des Moines Park Pond in 1995.   Because these data are now considered too old (greater than five years) to accurately characterize current water quality conditions, the assessment category is considered “evaluated” (indicating an assessment with relatively lower confidence) as opposed to "monitored" (indicating an assessment with relatively higher confidence).  

The existence of, or potential for, a fish consumption advisory is the basis for Section 305(b) assessments of support of fish consumption uses in Iowa’s rivers and lakes.   Prior to 2006, IDNR used action levels published by the U.S Food and Drug Administration to determine whether consumption advisories should be issued for fish caught as part of recreational fishing in Iowa.   In an effort to make Iowa’s consumption more compatible with the various protocols used by adjacent states, the Iowa Department of Public Health, in cooperation with Iowa DNR, developed a risk-based advisory protocol.   This protocol went into effect in January 2006 (see http://www.iowadnr.gov/fish/news/consump.html for more information on Iowa’s revised fish consumption advisory protocol).   Because the revised (2006) protocol is more restrictive than the previous protocol based on FDA action levels; fish contaminant data that previously suggested “full support” may now suggest either a threat to, or impairment of, fish consumption uses.   This scenario, however, does not apply to the fish contaminant data generated from the 1995 RAFT sampling conducted at this lake:  levels of all contaminants from this monitoring were below advisory trigger levels, thus suggesting the continued “full support” of fish consumption uses.