Mud Creek IA 06-BSR-1546

mouth (S26 T98N R46W Lyon Co.) to the IA-MN state line

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
View assessment methodology in new window

Cycle: 2024
Release Status: Final
Overall IR: 5 - Water is impaired or threatened and a TMDL is needed.
Trend: Unknown
Created: 11/29/2023 3:08:35 PM
Updated: 2/2/2024 10:50:54 AM

Use Support

Class A1

Recreation - Primary contact

Not Supported

Bacteria: Indicator Bacteria- E. coli

Support Level

Not Supported

Impairment Code

5a - Pollutant-caused impairment. TMDL needed.

Cause Magnitude

Moderate

Status

Continuing

Source

Unknown: Source Unknown

Source Confidence

Low

Cycle Added

2008

Impairment Rationale

Geometric mean criterion exceeded

Data Source

TMDL monitoring: Iowa DNR

TMDL Priority

Tier III

Support Level

Not Supported

Impairment Code

5a - Pollutant-caused impairment. TMDL needed.

Cause Magnitude

Slight

Status

Continuing

Source

Unknown: Source Unknown

Source Confidence

N/A

Cycle Added

2022

Impairment Rationale

Significantly > 10% of samples fail to meet criterion

Data Source

Ambient monitoring: adjacent state

TMDL Priority

Tier IV

Class BWW2

Aquatic Life - Warm Water Type 2

Not Supported

Biological: low fish & invert IBIs- cause unknown

Support Level

Not Supported

Impairment Code

5b-t - Biological - tentative

Cause Magnitude

Moderate

Status

Continuing

Source

Unknown: Source Unknown

Source Confidence

Low

Cycle Added

2006

Impairment Rationale

Low Biotic Index

Data Source

Biological monitoring: Iowa DNR WQMA

TMDL Priority

Tier IV

Support Level

Not Supported

Impairment Code

5a - Pollutant-caused impairment. TMDL needed.

Cause Magnitude

Slight

Status

Continuing

Source

Unknown: Source Unknown

Source Confidence

N/A

Cycle Added

2022

Impairment Rationale

Significantly > 10% of samples fail to meet criterion

Data Source

Ambient monitoring: adjacent state

TMDL Priority

Tier IV

Impairment Delistings

Cycle Added	Class	Cause	Data Source	Rationale
2006	Class BWW2	Fish Kill: Caused By Animal Waste	Biological monitoring: Iowa DNR fish kill follow-up	New data: recovery of fish community from pollutant-caused fish kill

Documentation

Assessment Summary

The Class A1 use was assessed as "not supported" based on water quality monitoring data. The Class BWW2 use was assessed as “not supported” based on biological sampling data and water quality monitoring data. Biological sampling data collected in 2022 showed recovery of the fish community in this segment from the fish kills. Based on the 2022 fish sampling data, the 5b fish kill impairment was de-listed.

Assessment Explanation

Data Sources:

Data Source	Data Source ID	Data Type	Data Age	Site ID	Site Name	Site Description
MNPCA	15	WQ	CY 2018-2019	99990103	Mud Creek
Iowa DNR	6	BIO	See Below	399	Mud Creek	Lester – REMAP #136
Iowa DNR	6	BIO	See Below	504	Mud Creek	Alvord – REMAP #175
Iowa DNR	6	FKF	See Below	1390	Mud Creek	Doon (FKF)

Class A1 - Indicator Bacteria:

Site ID	Data Source ID	# Samples per Year (2018/ 2019)	2018 Geometric Mean	2019 Geometric Mean	Violates Annual Geometric Mean?	# 2018 SSM violations / SSM Violations needed for impairment	# 2019 SSM violations / SSM Violations needed for impairment	Violates Annual SSM Significantly >10% Rule?	Assessment Type	Support Level
99990103	15	6/5	748	1397	YES	5 / NA	4 / NA	NA	Evaluated	Not

Class A1 – pH:

Site ID	Data Source ID	# Samples / # Years	Minimum Value	Maximum Value	Mean Value	# Violations	Violations needed for impairment	Violates Significantly >10% Rule?	Assessment Type	Support Level
99990103	15	11 / 2	6.24	9.12	8.52	3	3	YES	Monitored	Not

Class BWW2 - Binomial Parameters:

Site ID	Data Source ID	Parameter Name	# Samples / # Years	Minimum Value	Maximum Value	Mean Value	# Violations	# Acute / Chronic Violations	Violations needed for impairment	Violates Significantly >10% Rule?	Assessment Type	Support Level
99990103	15	Dissolved Oxygen	11 / 2	6.92	12.25	9.65	0	NA / NA	3	NO	Monitored	Full
99990103	15	pH	11 / 2	6.24	9.12	8.52	3	NA / NA	3	YES	Monitored	Not
99990103	15	Temperature	11 / 2	5.2	17.4	14.1	0	NA / NA	3	NO	Monitored	Full

Class BWW2 - Biological Sampling:

Benthic Macroinvertebrates:

Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage	BM Sample Gear	BMIBI score	BMIBI Class	47a BMIBI BIT	BMIBI Pass/Fail
504	8/29/05	126	47a	MO	Hess	26	Poor	54	Fail
399	7/21/04	80	47a	MO	Art Sub	58	Good	54	Pass

Fish:

Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage	Riffle Stream?	FIBI score	FIBI Class	47a FIBI BIT	FIBI Pass/Fail
504	8/29/05	126	47a	MO	NA	13	Poor	43	Fail
399	7/21/04	80	47a	MO	NA	20	Poor	43	Fail

Overall:

Community	Assessment Type	Assessment Result	Support Level	IR Category	Reason
Benthic Macroinvertebrates	Evaluated	Fail (1/2)	Not
Fish	Evaluated	Fail (0/2)	Full		Assessment was evaluated because the samples used to complete the
Overall	Evaluated	Fail	Not	5bt	assessment were not collected in a recent five-year period.

Class BWW2 – Fish kill Assessment:

BioNet Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage/ Thermal	Fish per mile	47a REMAP 25 % fish per mile	>47a REMAP 25 % fish per mile?	2024 IR 47a expected fish taxa	Fish Taxa Present % (>50% to pass)
1390	9/27/22	130.0	47a	MO/WW	10972	496	Yes (Pass)	8/10	80% (Pass)
The Class BWW2 use previously resided in Category 5b based on 2003 and 2021 fish kills. This segment’s fish community was sampled in 2022 as part of the DNR fish kill follow-up sampling program. The results from this follow-up 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 fish kill follow-up sampling results, the Category for the fish kill assessment was changed from 5b to 3a (not assessed).

More details about the 2003 fish kill can be found here: https://programs.iowadnr.gov/fishkill/Events/574

More details about the 2021 fish kill can be found here: https://programs.iowadnr.gov/fishkill/Events/1021

Monitoring and Methods

Assessment Key Dates

4/25/2018

Monitoring Start

8/28/2019

Monitoring End

9/10/2003

Fish Kill

7/21/2004

Biological Monitoring

8/29/2005

Biological Monitoring

9/26/2022

Biological Monitoring

Methods

150

Monitoring data more than 5 years old

200

Physical/Chemical Monitoring

315

Regional reference site approach

320

Benthic macroinvertebrate surveys

330

Fish surveys

420

Indicator bacteria monitoring