Little Maple River IA 06-LSR-1596

mouth (SW 1/4 S34 T90N R39W Ida Co.) to confluence with unnamed tributary in NE 1/4 S20 T90N R38W Buena Vista 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 2012 - 2014
Stream/River Water Quality Data	CY 2012 - 2014
Lake Water Quality Data	CY 2010 - 2014
Biological Sampling Data	CY 2010 - 2014*
Fish Kill Data	CY 2010 - 2014
Fish Tissue Sampling Data	CY 2010 - 2014
Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Sampling Data	CY 2010 - 2014
*Biological sites sampled in both 2009 and 2013 were also assessed.

Open Segment Map
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Cycle: 2016
Release Status: Final
Overall IR: 3 - Insufficient data exist to determine whether any designated uses are met.
Trend: Unknown
Created: 9/22/2016 7:45:12 AM
Updated: 10/11/2016 11:51:14 AM

Use Support

Class A1

Presumptive Use

Recreation - Primary contact

Not Assessed

Class BWW2

Aquatic Life - Warm Water Type 2

Not Assessed

General Use

General Use water -

Not Assessed

Impairment Delistings

No delistings for this assessment cycle.

Documentation

Assessment Summary

The presumptive Class A1 (primary contact recreation) uses remain "not assessed" due to the lack of information upon which to base an assessment. Due to the age of the biological data upon which the assessment is based, the assessment of the Class B(WW2) aquatic life uses is changed from "fully supported" (evaluated) to "not assessed". The previous assessments were based on results of IDNR/SHL biological (biocriteria) sampling in 1997.

Assessment Explanation

For previous assessment/listing cycles, the assessment of the Class B(WW2) aquatic life uses (fully supporting/evaluated) was based on data collected in 1997 as part of the IDNR/SHL stream biocriteria project. The FIBI score was 38 (fair), and the BMIBI score was 70 (good). The aquatic life use support was assessed as fully supported (=FS), based on a comparison of the FIBI and BMIBI scores with biological impairment criteria (BIC) established for previous Section 305(b) reports. The biological impairment criteria were determined from a statistical analysis of data collected at stream ecoregion reference sites from 1994-2008. The FIBI BIC for this ecoregion is 43 and the BMIBI BIC for this ecoregion is 54. This site passes the FIBI BIC with the aid of the FIBI UAV of 7 points.

Due to the age of the data used for this assessment (greater than 10 years), the previous (2010) assessment of the Class B(WW2) aquatic life uses is changed from “fully supporting” to “not assessed” due to age of the data upon which the assessment was based. As water quality data age, they are less able to represent current water quality conditions. As data age beyond ten years, their ability to represent current water quality conditions is increasing suspect. Additional monitoring is needed in this assessment segment to update status of its aquatic communities.

Monitoring and Methods

Assessment Key Dates

None listed

Methods

150

Monitoring data more than 5 years old