Assessment Comments
Assessment is based on: (1) the results of monthly monitoring from January 2004 through December 2006 at the IDNR ambient city monitoring station located downstream from Waterloo at County Road D38 bridge at Gilbertville (STORET station 10070006), (2) IDNR/UHL stream REMAP biological sampling near Waterloo in 2006, and (3) the results of U.S. EPA/IDNR fish contaminant (RAFT) monitoring in 2006.
Basis for Assessment
[Note: Prior to the current (2008) Section 305(b) cycle, this river segment was designated only for Class B(WW) aquatic life uses, including fish consumption uses. Due to changes in Iowa’s surface water classification that were approved by U.S. EPA in February 2008 (see http://www.iowadnr.com/water/standards/files/06mar_swc.pdf) and the completion of a Use Attainability Analysis in 2007, this segment is also now designated for Class A1 (primary contact recreation) uses. This segment remains designated for warmwater aquatic life use (now termed Class B(WW1) uses), and for fish consumption uses (now termed Class HH (human health/fish consumption uses).]
SUMMARY: The Class A1 (primary contact recreation) uses are assessed (monitored) as "not supported" due to levels of indicator bacteria that violate state water quality criteria. The Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses are assessed (monitored) as "fully supported" based on results of IDNR/UHL ambient water quality monitoring from 2004-2006 and assessed (evaluated) as "partially supporting" based on IDNR/UHL stream REMAP biological monitoring in 2006. Fish consumption uses are assessed (monitored) as "fully supported" based on results of fish contaminant monitoring in 2006. The sources of data for this assessment are (1) the results of monthly monitoring from January 2004 through December 2006 at the IDNR ambient city monitoring station located downstream from Waterloo at County Road D38 bridge at Gilbertville (STORET station 10070006), (2) IDNR/UHL stream REMAP biological sampling near Waterloo in 2006, and (3) the results of U.S. EPA/IDNR fish contaminant (RAFT) monitoring in 2006.
EXPLANATION: The Class A1 (primary contact recreation) uses are assessed as "not supported" based on results of ambient monitoring for indicator bacteria (E. coli). Due to recent changes in Iowa’s Water Quality Standards, Iowa’s assessment methodology for indicator bacteria has changed. Prior to 2003, the Iowa WQ Standards contained a high-flow exemption for the Class A criterion for indicator bacteria (fecal coliforms) designed to protect primary contact recreation uses: the water quality criterion for fecal coliform bacteria (200 orgs/100 ml) did not apply "when the waters [were] materially affected by surface runoff." Due to a change in the Standards in July 2003, E. coli is now the indicator bacterium, and the high flow exemption was eliminated and replaced with language stating that the Class A criteria for E. coli apply when Class A1, A2, or A3 uses “can reasonably be expected to occur.” Because the IDNR Technical Advisory Committee on WQ Standards could not agree on what flow conditions would define periods when uses would not be reasonably expected to occur, all monitoring data generated for E. coli during the assessment period, regardless of flow conditions during sample collection, will be considered for determining support of Class A uses for purposes of Section 305(b) assessments and Section 303(d) listings.
The geometric mean level of indicator bacteria (E. coli) in the 24 samples collected (163 orgs/100ml) exceeds the Iowa Class A1 water quality criterion of 126 orgs/100ml. Seven of the 24 samples (29%) exceeded Iowa’s single-sample maximum criterion of 235 orgs/100 ml. According to U.S. EPA guidelines for Section 305(b) reporting and according to IDNR’s assessment/listing methodology, if the geometric mean level of E. coli is greater than the state criterion of 126 orgs/100 ml., the primary contact recreation uses should be assessed as "not supported" (see pgs 3-33 to 3-35of U.S. EPA 1997b).
The Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses are assessed (evaluated) as "partially supported" based on results of IDNR/UHL biological (REMAP) monitoring in 2006. Results of chemical/physical water quality monitoring from the IDNR/UHL ambient station at Gilbertville from 2004 through 2006, however, suggest "full support" of these uses. Monitoring at this station showed no violations of Class B(WW1) water quality criteria for dissolved oxygen, pH, or ammonia-nitrogen in the 36 samples analyzed or of Class B(WW1) criteria for toxic metals in the 14 samples analyzed during this assessment period; none of the nine samples analyzed for pesticides exceeded their respective Class B(WW1) criteria.
However, the results from IDNR/UHL stream REMAP biological monitoring in 2006 suggests the Class B(WW1) aquatic life uses are "partially supporting." This evaluated biological assessment was based on data collected in 2006 as part of the DNR/UHL stream REMAP project. A series of biological metrics that reflect stream water quality and habitat integrity were calculated from the biocriteria 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 2006 FIBI score was 58 (good) and the BMIBI score was 33 (fair). The aquatic life use support was assessed (evaluated) as partially supporting (=PS), based on a comparison of the FIBI and BMIBI scores with biological impairment criteria (BIC) established from a statistical analysis of data collected at stream ecoregion reference sites from 1994-2004. The non-riffle habitat FIBI BIC for this ecoregion is 44 and the natural substrate BMIBI BIC for this ecoregion is 70. This assessment is considered evaluated because the drainage area (4767 mi2) above this sampling site was greater than the maximum limit (500 mi2) that was used to calibrate the Iowa wadeable stream impairment criteria. Even though this site passed the FIBI BIC and and failed to meet the BMIBI BIC, it is uncertain as to whether or not this segment is meeting the aquatic life criteria because it doesn’t fall in the calibrated watershed size. In addition, the artificial substrates at the sampling site were vandalized (thrown on the bank) and the Hess samples were collected from a non-optimal location.
Fish consumption uses are assessed (monitored) as "fully supported" based on the 2006 EPA/IDNR fish tissue (RAFT) sampling on the Cedar River near Gilbertville. The composite sample of common carp fillets had low levels of the primary contaminants (mercury, total PCBs, and technical chlordane) that were all below levels of concern. The existence of, or potential for, a fish consumption advisory is the basis for Section 305(b) assessments of support of fish consumption uses in Iowa’s rivers and lakes. Prior to 2006, IDNR used action levels published by the U.S Food and Drug Administration to determine whether consumption advisories should be issued for fish caught as part of recreational fishing in Iowa. In an effort to make Iowa’s consumption more compatible with the various protocols used by adjacent states, the Iowa Department of Public Health, in cooperation with Iowa DNR, developed a risk-based advisory protocol. This protocol went into effect in January 2006 (see http://www.iowadnr.gov/fish/news/consump.html for more information on Iowa’s revised fish consumption advisory protocol).). Because the revised (2006) protocol is more restrictive than the previous protocol based on FDA action levels; fish contaminant data that previously suggested “full support” may now suggest either a threat to, or impairment of, fish consumption uses. This scenario does not apply to the fish contaminant data generated from the 2006 RAFT sampling conducted in this assessment segment.
The results from the 2006 sampling show low levels of the primary contaminants (chlordane, PCBs and mercury) in the composite sample of common carp fillets: mercury: 0.166 ppm; total PCBs: 0.09 ppm; and technical chlordane: <0.03 ppm. Thus, results from the 2006 sampling show that the level of total PCBs in the composite sample of common carp fillets (0.09 ppm) is considerably lower than the elevated level of PCBs (0.38 ppm) found in the composite sample of whole-fish common carp collected for the 1997 RAFT. The level of PCBs in the 2006 sample is also well below the IDNR/IDPH trigger level of 0.2 ppm for a one meal/week advisory. This result was not unexpected: levels of PCBs in Iowa fish and fish nationwide have declined over the last 30 years following the banning of PCB production in the United States in the 1970s. Also, levels of PCBs tend to be higher in whole-fish samples than in fillet samples. Because levels of all these contaminants from the 2006 RAFT monitoring are below advisory trigger levels, the fish consumption uses in this segment of the Cedar River are assessed as “fully supported.”
