Little Cedar River IA 02-CED-575

Assessment Comments

1995 SUA: habscr/fshscr=31/14 (shock); 1995 biocriteria: 29/12 (shock), Fish IBI= 85(excellent), BM-IBI= 79(very good).

Basis for Assessment

[Note:  For the 2002 report, the previous waterbody segment for the Little Cedar River (IA 02-CED-0470-0), which extended 40 miles from its mouth to the confluence with Burr Oak Creek near Brownville (Mitchell Co.), was split into four subsegments:  (1) mouth to the Floyd/Chickasaw county line (IA 02-CED-0470-1), (2) Floyd/Chickasaw county line to unnamed tributary approximately 4 miles NE of Charles City (IA 02-CED-0470-2), (3) unnamed tributary NE of Charles City to the Floyd/Mitchell county line (IA 02-CED-0470-3), and (4) Floyd/Mitchell county line to Burr Oak Creek (IA 02-CED-0470-4).   See assessment documentation for segment IA 02-CED-0470-1 for the assessments of the original 40-mile river reach.]

SUMMARY:  The Class B(WW) aquatic life uses remain assessed as "fully supported."  The assessment category, however, is changed from "monitored" to "evaluated."  Fish consumption uses remain "not assessed."  EXPLANATION:  Continue to use the assessment developed for the 1998 and 2000 reports (see above) that was based primarily on results of the 1995 IDNR biocriteria assessment and, secondarily, on the 1995 IDNR stream use assessment.   However, because these data are now considered too old (greater than five years) to accurately characterize current water quality conditions, the assessment category is changed from "monitored" (indicating an assessment with relatively high confidence) to "evaluated" (indicating an assessment with relatively low confidence).   Fish consumption uses remain "not assessed" due to the lack of fish contaminant monitoring in this stream segment.