Little Maquoketa River IA 01-TRK-131

mouth (Dubuque Co.) to confluence with Hogans Br. in S36 T89N R1W Dubuque Co.

Open Data Collection Period Modal

For purposes of developing stream/river water quality assessments for integrated reporting, three years of water quality data are typically used for both conventional pollutant parameters (e.g., indicator bacteria) and the less frequently monitored toxic parameters (e.g., toxic metals). Since the 2004 IR cycle, DNR has used a three-year data gathering period for streams, rivers, and beaches. For most assessments, the use of three years of data increases the number of samples upon which the decision on use support is based and helps address the problem of weather-related year-to-year fluctuations in water quality.

Due to the lower sampling frequency in Iowa’s ambient lake, biological, fish kill, and fish tissue monitoring programs, five years of data are used for developing IR assessments and for identifying Section 303(d) listings.

Data Type	Data Timeframe
Beach Sampling Data	CY 2020 - 2022
Stream/River Water Quality Data	CY 2020 - 2022
Lake Water Quality Data	CY 2018 - 2022
Biological Sampling Data	CY 2018 - 2022*
Fish Kill Data	CY 2018 - 2022
Fish Tissue Sampling Data	CY 2018 - 2022
Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Sampling Data	CY 2018 - 2022
*Biological sites sampled in both 2017 and 2021 were also assessed.

Open Segment Map
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Cycle: 2024
Release Status: Final
Overall IR: 5 - Water is impaired or threatened and a TMDL is needed.
Trend: Unknown
Created: 11/1/2023 8:12:46 AM
Updated: 1/25/2024 1:45:44 PM

Use Support

Class A1

Presumptive Use

Recreation - Primary contact

Not Assessed

Class BWW1

Aquatic Life - Warm Water Type 1

Not Supported

Biological: low aquatic macroinvertebrate IBI

Support Level

Not Supported

Impairment Code

5b-v - Biological - verified

Cause Magnitude

Slight

Status

Continuing

Source

Unknown: Source Unknown

Source Confidence

N/A

Cycle Added

2022

Impairment Rationale

Low Biotic Index

Data Source

Biological monitoring: Iowa DNR WQMA

TMDL Priority

Tier IV

Class HH

Human Health -

Not Assessed

Impairment Delistings

No delistings for this assessment cycle.

Documentation

Assessment Summary

The Class BWW1 use was assessed as "not supported" based on biological sampling data. All other designated uses were "not assessed."

Assessment Explanation

Data Sources:

Data Source	Data Source ID	Data Type	Data Age	Site ID	Site Name	Site Description
Iowa DNR	6	BIO	See Below	40	Little Maquoketa River	Twin Springs Road - Dubuque

Presumptive Class A1 – No Data

Class BWW1 - Biological Sampling:

Benthic Macroinvertebrates:

Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage	BM Sample Gear	BMIBI score	BMIBI Class	52b BMIBI BIT	BMIBI Pass/Fail
40	7/22/20	46	52b	MS	Hess	58	Good	61	Fail
40	9/13/16	46	52b	MS	Hess	52	Fair	61	Fail

Fish:

Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage	Riffle Stream?	FIBI score	FIBI Class	52b FIBI BIT	FIBI Pass/Fail
40	7/22/20	46	52b	MS	NA	62	Good	52	Pass
40	9/13/16	46	52b	MS	NA	58	Good	52	Pass

Overall:

Community	Assessment Type	Assessment Result	Support Level	IR Category	Reason
Benthic Macroinvertebrates	Evaluated	Fail (0/2)	Not
Fish	Evaluated	Pass (2/2)	Full		Assessment was evaluated because one or more of the samples used
Overall	Evaluated	Fail	Not	5bv	to complete the assessment have now aged beyond five years.

Class BWW1 - Fish kill Assessment:

BioNet Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage/ Thermal	Fish per mile	52b REMAP 25 % fish per mile	>52b REMAP 25 % fish per mile?	2024 IR 52b expected fish taxa	Fish Taxa Present % (>50% to pass)
40	07/22/2020	46	52b	MS/WW	6959	1502	Yes (Pass)	12/12	100% (Pass)
The Class BWW1 use previously resided in Category 3b based on a fish kill that occurred in 2019. Data from 2020 biological sampling and comparison to ecoregion averages suggest that the fish community of this segment is similar to non-fish kill impacted streams. Based on the biological sampling results, the Category for the fish kill assessment was changed from 3b to 3a (not assessed).

Details about the 2019 fish kill can be found here:https://programs.iowadnr.gov/fishkill/Events/980

Class HH – No Data

Monitoring and Methods

Assessment Key Dates

7/22/2020

Biological Monitoring

9/13/2016

Biological Monitoring

8/9/2019

Fish Kill

Methods

140

Incidence of spills and/or fish kills

150

Monitoring data more than 5 years old

315

Regional reference site approach

320

Benthic macroinvertebrate surveys

330

Fish surveys