East Fork Des Moines River IA 04-EDM-1793

from confluence with Prairie Cr. (west line S18 T98N R29W Kossuth Co.) to confluence unnamed tributary SSW of Armstrong in S22 T98N R31W Emmet 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: 2 - Some of the designated uses are met but there is insufficient data to determine if remaining designated uses are met.
Trend: Unknown
Created: 9/22/2016 12:06:00 PM
Updated: 10/5/2016 3:17:58 PM

Use Support

Class A1

Recreation - Primary contact

Not Assessed

Class BWW1

Aquatic Life - Warm Water Type 1

Fully Supported

Class HH

Human Health -

Not Assessed

General Use

General Use water -

Not Assessed

Impairment Delistings

No delistings for this assessment cycle.

Documentation

Assessment Summary

The Class A1 (primary contact recreation) and Class HH (fish consumption) uses remain "not assessed" (IR 3a) due to the lack of information upon which to base an assessment. The Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses are assessed (evaluated) as “fully supporting” (IR 2a) based on biological data collected in 2003 and 2011 as part of the IDNR/SHL stream biocriteria project.

Assessment Explanation

The Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses are assessed (evaluated) as “fully supporting” (IR 2a) based on biological data collected in 2003 and 2011 as part of the IDNR/SHL stream biocriteria project. A series of biological metrics which reflect stream water quality and habitat integrity were calculated from the biological sampling data. The biological metrics are based on the numbers and types of benthic macroinvertebrate taxa and fish species collected in the stream sampling reach. The biological metrics were combined to make a fish community index of biotic integrity (FIBI) and a benthic macroinvertebrate index (BMIBI). The indexes rank the biological integrity of a stream sampling reach on a rising scale from 0 (minimum) to 100 (maximum). The 2003 FIBI score was 45 (fair) and the BMIBI score was 71 (good). The 2011 FIBI score was 54 (good) and the BMIBI score was 72 (good). The aquatic life use support was assessed as fully supporting (=FS), based on a comparison of the FIBI and BMIBI scores with biological impairment criteria (BIC) established for previous Section 305(b) reports. The non-riffle habitat FIBI BIC for this ecoregion is 32 and the BMIBI BIC for this ecoregion is 62. This segment passed the FIBI and BMIBI BICs 2/2 times in the last 12 years. The biological impairment criteria were determined from a statistical analysis of data collected at stream ecoregion reference sites from 1994-2008.

This aquatic life assessment is considered "evaluated" based on a change in the 2010 IDNR assessment methodology. IDNR now requires a segment have two or more biological samples collected from the segment in multiple years over a five-year period to be considered “monitored”. This segment had multiple samples collected in the previous 12 years (2003-2014); however, the multiple samples were not collected during a five-year period.

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

Monitoring and Methods

Assessment Key Dates

8/21/2003

Biological Monitoring

8/29/2011

Biological Monitoring

Methods

150

Monitoring data more than 5 years old

315

Regional reference site approach

320

Benthic macroinvertebrate surveys

330

Fish surveys

380

Quantitative physical habitat assessment