Yellow River IA 01-YEL-434

mouth (S34 T96N R3W Allamakee Co.) to County Road X-26 bridge in S24 T96N R5W Allamakee Co.

Assessment Cycle

2024

Release Status

Pending

Data Collection Period

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.

Overall IR Category: 4 - Water is impaired or threatened and a TMDL has been completed or is not needed.
Trend: Unknown

Created: 11/1/2023 8:12:51 AM
Updated: 1/16/2024 6:42:35 AM

Assessment conducted in accordance with Iowa's 2024 IR methodology.

Use Support

Class A1

Recreation

Primary contact

Not Supported

Impairments

Support Level

Not Supported

Impairment Code

4a - Pollutant-caused impairment. TMDL has been completed.

Cause Magnitude

Slight

Status

Continuing

Source

Unknown: Source Unknown

Source Confidence

N/A

Cycle Added

2002

Impairment Rationale

Geometric mean criterion exceeded

Data Source

Ambient monitoring: Iowa DNR-rivers

Class BWW1

Aquatic Life

Warm Water Type 1

Fully Supported

Class HH

Human Health

Fully Supported

Impairment Delistings

No delistings for this assessment cycle.

Documentation

Assessment Summary

The Class A1 use was assessed as "not supported" due to levels of indicator bacteria (E. coli) that exceeded state water quality criteria. The Class BWW1 use was assessed as "fully supported" based on biological sampling data, water quality monitoring data, and on the trout reproduction in Iowa streams summary prepared by the DNR Fisheries Bureau. The Class HH use was assessed as "fully supported" based on water quality monitoring data. Note: A TMDL for the bacterial impairment for Yellow River basin streams was prepared by Iowa DNR in 2012 and approved by U.S. EPA in 2013. Due to the TMDL completion, the Integrated Report category for the Class A1 primary contact recreation use was changed from 5a to 4a.

Assessment Explanation

Data Sources:

Data Source	Data Source ID	Data Type	Data Age	Site ID	Site Name	Site Description
Iowa DNR	6	WQ	CY 2020-2022	10030002	Yellow River near Volney
Iowa DNR	6	BIO	See Below	141	Yellow River	Yellow River State Forest – Yellow River Unit - Ion
Iowa DNR	6	BIO	See Below	1149	Yellow River	County Road X36 bridge – 3 miles S of Hwy 76 - Ion

Class A1 - Indicator Bacteria:

Site ID

Data Source ID

# Samples per Year (2020/ 2021/2022)

2020 Geometric Mean

2021 Geometric Mean

2022 Geometric Mean

Violates Annual Geometric Mean?

# 2020 SSM violations / SSM Violations needed for impairment

# 2021 SSM violations / SSM Violations needed for impairment

# 2022 SSM violations / SSM Violations needed for impairment

Violates Annual SSM Significantly >10% Rule?

Assessment Type

Support Level

10030002

8/8/8

358

153

317

YES

3 / 3

2 / 3

4 / 3

YES

Mon

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
10030002	6	36 / 3	7.6	8.4	8.2	0	7	NO	Mon	Full

Class BWW1 - 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
10030002	6	Chloride	36 / 3	13	26	20	NA	0 / 0	7	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Dissolved Oxygen	36 / 3	8.7	15.2	11.8	0	NA / NA	7	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	pH	36 / 3	7.6	8.4	8.2	0	NA / NA	7	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Sulfate	36 / 3	11	19	15	0	NA / NA	7	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Temperature	36 / 3	0.1	20.5	10.3	0	NA / NA	7	NO	Mon	Full

Class BWW1 - Toxic Parameters:

Site ID	Data Source ID	Parameter Name	# Samples / # Years	Maximum Value	Mean Value	Median Value	# Acute / Chronic Violations	>1 Acute / Chronic Violation	Assessment Type	Support Level
10030002	6	Ammonia	36 / 3	0.55	0.04	0.02	0 / 0	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Cadmium	20 / 3	0.5	0.5	0.5	0 / 0	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Chromium	20 / 3	4	0.94	0.9	0 / 0	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Lead	20 / 3	1	0.91	1	0 / 0	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Nickel	20 / 3	3.7	1.1	0.8	0 / 0	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Selenium	18 / 2	1	0.5	0.5	0 / 0	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Silver	20 / 3	1	0.902	1	0 / 0	NO	Mon	Full
10030002	6	Zinc	20 / 3	2.2	0.8	0.5	0 / 0	NO	Mon	Full

Class BWW1 - Biological Sampling:

Benthic Macroinvertebrates:

Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage	BM Sample Gear	BMIBI score	BMIBI Class	52b BMIBI BIT	BMIBI Pass/Fail
1149	7/15/21	221.0	52b	MS	Hess	61	Good	61	Pass
141	8/20/20	224.4	52b	MS	Hess	57	Good	61	Fail
1149	8/28/17	221	52b	MS	Hess	63	Good	61	Pass

Fish:

Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage	Riffle Stream?	FIBI score	FIBI Class	52b FIBI BIT	FIBI Pass/Fail
141	8/20/20	224.4	52b	MS	NA	50	Fair	52	Fail
141	8/19/15	224.4	52b	MS	NA	59	Good	52	Pass
141	9/6/12	224.4	52b	MS	NA	68	Good	52	Pass

Overall:

Community	Assessment Type	Assessment Result	Support Level	IR Category	Reason
Benthic Macroinvertebrates	Monitored	Pass (2/3)	Full
Fish	Evaluated	Pass (2/3)	Full	1	Assessment was evaluated because two of the FIBI samples used
Overall	Evaluated	Pass	Full		to complete the assessment were greater than five years old.

Class BWW1 - Trout Natural Reproduction:

Even though Yellow River is classified as a BWW1 stream, based on the January 2024 trout reproduction in Iowa streams summary prepared by the DNR Fisheries Bureau, the Class BWW1 use of Yellow River was assessed as "fully supported." According to the updated summary, this stream was placed in Category I: streams that exhibit consistent natural reproduction and maintain a wild population of one or more trout species without any stocking.

Class HH-F - Toxic Parameters:

Site ID	Data Source ID	Parameter Name	# Samples / # Years	Maximum Value	Mean Value	Median Value	Number of Non - Detects	Mean Value > Criterion or MCL	Assessment Type	Support Level
10030002	6	Selenium	18 / 2	1	0.5	0.5	17	NO	Mon	Full

Monitoring and Methods

Assessment Key Dates

1/7/2020

Monitoring Start

12/1/2022

Monitoring End

8/19/2015

Biological Monitoring

8/20/2020

Biological Monitoring

8/28/2017

Biological Monitoring

2/1/2013

TMDL Completed

1/1/2024

Biological Monitoring

9/6/2012

Biological Monitoring

7/15/2021

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