Assessment Comments

Assessment is based on: (1) IDNR/UHL monthly ambient monitoring conducted during the 2004-2006 assessment period at the County Road F-58 bridge NE of Missouri Valley (STORET station 10430001 (formerly station 822304)) and (2) USGS chemical/physical water quality monitoring at Logan, IA, from March 2004 through December 2006.

Basis for Assessment

[Note:  Prior to the current (2008) Section 305(b) cycle, this river segment was designated only for Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses, including fish consumption uses.   Due to changes in Iowa’s surface water classification that were approved by U.S.  EPA in February 2008 (see http://www.iowadnr.com/water/standards/files/06mar_swc.pdf) and due to the results of an Use Attainability Analysis in 2006, this segment is also now designated for Class A1 (primary contact recreation) uses.   This segment remains designated for warmwater aquatic life use (now termed Class B(WW1) uses), and for fish consumption uses (now termed Class HH (human health/fish consumption uses).]

SUMMARY:  The Class A1 (primary contact recreation) uses are assessed (monitored) as "not supported" due to levels of indicator bacteria that violate state water quality criteria.   The Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses are assessed (monitored) as "fully supported" based on results of chemical/physical water quality monitoring conducted from 2004 through 2006.   Fish consumption uses remain "not assessed" due to the lack of fish contaminant monitoring in this river segment.   This assessment is based on results of (1) IDNR/UHL monthly ambient monitoring conducted during the 2004-2006 assessment period at the County Road F-58 bridge NE of Missouri Valley (STORET station 10430001 (formerly station 822304)) and (2) USGS chemical/physical water quality monitoring at Logan, IA, from March 2004 through December 2006.  

EXPLANATION:  The Class A1 uses are assessed (monitored) as "not supported" based on results of ambient monitoring for indicator bacteria (E.  coli).   Due to recent changes in Iowa’s Water Quality Standards, Iowa’s assessment methodology for indicator bacteria has changed.   Prior to 2003, the Iowa WQ Standards contained a high-flow exemption for the Class A criterion for indicator bacteria (fecal coliforms) designed to protect primary contact recreation uses:  the water quality criterion for fecal coliform bacteria (200 orgs/100 ml) did not apply "when the waters [were] materially affected by surface runoff."  Due to a change in the Standards in July 2003, E.  coli is now the indicator bacterium, and the high flow exemption was eliminated and replaced with language stating that the Class A criteria for E.  coli apply when Class A1, A2, or A3 uses “can reasonably be expected to occur.”  Because the IDNR Technical Advisory Committee on WQ Standards could not agree on what flow conditions would define periods when uses would not be reasonably expected to occur, all monitoring data generated for E.  coli during the assessment period, regardless of flow conditions during sample collection, will be considered for determining support of Class A uses for purposes of Section 305(b) assessments and Section 303(d) listings.  

The geometric mean level of indicator bacteria (E.  coli) in the 24 samples collected at the IDNR/UHL ambient monitoring station NE of Missouri Valley during summer recreational seasons of 2004-2006 (588 orgs/100ml) far exceeds the Iowa Class A1 water quality criterion of 126 orgs/100ml.   Fourteen of the 24 samples (58%) exceed Iowa’s single-sample maximum criterion of 235 orgs/100 ml.   According to U.S.  EPA guidelines for Section 305(b) reporting and according to IDNR’s assessment/listing methodology, if the geometric mean level of E.  coli is greater than the state criterion of 126 orgs/100 ml., the primary contact recreation uses should be assessed as "not supported" (see pgs 3-33 to 3-35of U.S.  EPA 1997b).   The USGS monitoring conducted near Logan, IA, did not include analysis for indicator bacteria.

Regarding support of the Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses, monitoring at the IDNR/UHL station NE of Missouri Valley showed no violations of Class B(WW1) water quality criteria for dissolved oxygen, pH, or ammonia in the 36 samples analyzed during the 2004-2006 period.   The maximum value of ammonia-nitrogen was 0.8 mg/l.   In addition, levels of pesticides in the eight samples analyzed, and levels of toxic metals in the ten samples analyzed, were all below the respective Class B(WW1) criteria.   The results of USGS monitoring near Logan, IA, showed no violations of Class B(WW1) criteria for ammonia or pH in the 36 samples collected or for the pesticides dieldrin and DDE in the one sample collected.   Three of the 36 samples contained levels of dissolved oxygen that violated the Class B(WW1) criterion of 5.0 mg/l; these violations were as follows:  4.8 mg/l on May 23, 2004; 4.7 mg/l on June 17, 2004, and 4.0 mg/l on May 9, 2005.   According to U.S.  EPA guidelines (U.S.  EPA 1997b, page 3-17), however, a violation frequency of less than 10 % for conventional parameters such as dissolved oxygen continues to suggest "full support" of aquatic life uses.   Thus, the percentage of violations of criteria for dissolved oxygen (8%) at this station do not suggest an impairment of the Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses.   Thus, the results from both the IDNR and USGS monitoring stations suggest "full support" of the Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses.  

Fish consumption uses remain "not assessed" due to the lack of fish contaminant monitoring in this river segment.