Assessment Comments
Assessment is based on occurrence of a fish kill in July 1999. See attached document for details.
Basis for Assessment
SUMMARY: The Class B(LR) aquatic life uses were assessed as "partially supported." EXPLANATION: The assessment of support of the Class B(LR) uses developed for the previous (1998) report ("partially supported"; see above) was based primarily on results from a DNR stream use assessment conducted in 1991. The results from this assessment are now considered too old (greater than five years) to be useful for developing water quality assessments of current conditions. A fish kill occurred on Walnut Creek near Olin in Jones County on July 26, 1999. This kill was attributed to agricultural runoff of animal waste (manure was noticed in South Fork Walnut Creek a week prior to the kill). Approximately three miles of stream were affected; an estimated 120 fish were killed. According to DNR's assessment methodology for Section 305(b) reporting, occurrence of a single pollution-caused fish kill within the most recent three-year period (1997-1999) indicates that the aquatic life uses of a waterbody are only "partially supported." Thus, the support of the Class B(LR) aquatic life uses was assessed as "partially supported." The assessment of the Class B(LR) uses of this stream reach as "partially supported" for the 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000 Section 305(b) reports-with two different sources of water quality information (1991 stream assessment and 1998 fish kill)-suggests an ongoing impairment to the aquatic life uses of this stream.
