East Fork Wapsipinicon River IA 01-WPS-408
upper end of Sweet Marsh Segment C (S26 T93N R12W Bremer Co.) to the Bremer/Chickasaw county line (N line S3 T93N R12W Bremer Co.)
- Assessment Cycle
- 2016
- Release Status
- Final
- Data Collection Period
- Overall IR Category
- 5 - Water is impaired or threatened and a TMDL is needed.
- Trend
- Unknown
- Created
- 9/15/2016 2:16:25 PM
- Updated
- 11/30/2016 8:26:39 AM
The presumptive Class A1 (primary contact recreation) uses remain "not assessed" (IR 3a) due to the lack of information upon which to base an assessment. The Class B(WW2) aquatic life uses are assessed (monitored) as “partially supporting” (IR 5b-v) based on results of IDNR/SHL biological sampling in 2011 and 2014.
The Class B(WW2) aquatic life uses are assessed (monitored) as “partially supporting” based on data collected in 2011 and 2014 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 2011 FIBI score was 36 (fair) and the BMIBI score was 43 (fair). The 2014 FIBI score was 52 (good) and the BMIBI score was 47 (fair). The aquatic life use support was assessed as partially supporting (=PS), 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 44 and the artificial substrate BMIBI BIC for this ecoregion is 52. This segment passed the FIBI BIC 1/2 times and passed the BMIBI BIC 0/2 times in the last five years (2010-2014). 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 now considered "monitored" 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 recent five-year period to be considered “monitored”. This segment had multiple samples collected in the previous five years (2010-2014).