South Skunk River IA 03-SSK-931

from confluence with Indian Creek (S32 T80N R20W Jasper Co.) to outfall of Ames wastewater treatment plant in SW 1/4 S32 T83N R23W Story Co.

This is a DRAFT assessment

Draft assessments may change without notice

Open Data Collection Period Modal

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 2022 - 2024
Stream/River Water Quality Data	CY 2022 - 2024
Lake Water Quality Data	CY 2020 - 2024
Biological Sampling Data	CY 2020 - 2024*
Fish Kill Data	CY 2020 - 2024
Fish Tissue Sampling Data	CY 2020 - 2024
Continuous Dissolved Oxygen Sampling Data	CY 2020 - 2024
*Biological sites sampled in both 2019 and 2023 were also assessed.

Open Segment Map
View 2026 assessment summary page

Cycle: 2026
Current Phase: Public Comment
Overall IR: 5 - Water is impaired or threatened and a TMDL is needed.
Trend: Stable
Created: 10/27/2025 3:09:40 PM
Updated: 2/11/2026 10:38:25 AM

Use Support

Class A1

Recreation - Primary contact

Not Supported

Bacteria: Indicator Bacteria- E. coli

Support Level

Not Supported

Impairment Code

5a - Pollutant-caused impairment. TMDL needed.

Cause Magnitude

High

Status

Continuing

Source

Unknown: Source Unknown

Source Confidence

N/A

Cycle Added

2008

Impairment Rationale

Geometric mean criterion exceeded

Data Source

Ambient monitoring: Iowa DNR-rivers

TMDL Priority

Tier III

Class BWW2

Aquatic Life - Warm Water Type 2

WINOFI

Biological: low aquatic macroinvertebrate IBI

Support Level

Further Investigation Needed

Impairment Code

3b-u - Use potentially biologically impaired based on uncalibrated IBI metrics.

Cause Magnitude

Slight

Status

New

Source

Unknown: Source Unknown

Source Confidence

Low

Cycle Added

2026

Impairment Rationale

Potential Impairment

Data Source

Biological monitoring: Iowa DNR WQMA

Impairment Delistings

No delistings for this assessment cycle.

Documentation

Assessment Summary

The Class A1 use remains assessed as "not supported" due to levels of indicator bacteria (E. coli) that violated state water quality criteria. The Class BWW2 use was assessed as "WINOFI" based on biological sampling data.

Assessment Explanation

Data Sources:

Data Source	Data Source ID	Data Type	Data Age	Site ID	Site Name	Site Description
Iowa DNR	6	WQ	CY 2022-2024	10850002	South Skunk River near Cambridge
Iowa DNR	6	BIO	See Below	286	South Skunk River	Cambridge

Class A1 - Indicator Bacteria:

Site ID

Data Source ID

# Samples per Year (2022/ 2023/2024)

2022 Geometric Mean

2023 Geometric Mean

2024 Geometric Mean

Violates Annual Geometric Mean?

# 2022 SSM violations / SSM Violations needed for impairment

# 2023 SSM violations / SSM Violations needed for impairment

# 2024 SSM violations / SSM Violations needed for impairment

Violates Annual SSM Significantly >10% Rule?

Assessment Type

Support Level

10850002

9/8/8

228

149

328

YES

5 / 3

0 / 3

4 / 3

YES

MONITORED

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
10850002	6	36 / 3	7.3	8.5	8	0	7	NO	MONITORED	FULL

Class BWW2 - Conventional 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
10850002	6	Chloride	36 / 3	28	98	52	NA	0 / 0	7	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Dissolved Oxygen	36 / 3	6.6	13.1	9.9	0	NA / NA	7	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	pH	36 / 3	7.3	8.5	8	0	NA / NA	7	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Sulfate	36 / 3	18	100	54	0	NA / NA	7	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Temperature	36 / 3	0.5	28.2	12.9	0	NA / NA	7	NO	MONITORED	FULL

Class BWW2 - 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
10850002	6	Ammonia	36 / 3	0.45	0.07	0.02	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Cadmium	18 / 2	0.5	0.5	0.5	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Chromium	18 / 2	4	1.1	0.7	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Copper	18 / 2	12	3.3	2.6	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Lead	18 / 2	1	1	1	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Nickel	18 / 2	2.5	1.8	1.8	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Selenium	36 / 3	4	1.4	1.2	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Silver	18 / 2	1	1	1	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL
10850002	6	Zinc	18 / 2	16	3.2	2.2	0 / 0	NO	MONITORED	FULL

Class BWW2 - Biological Sampling:

Benthic Macroinvertebrates:

Site ID	Date	Drainage Area (mi2)	Ecoregion	Major Drainage	BM Sample Gear	BMIBI score	BMIBI Class	47b BMIBI BIT	BMIBI Pass/Fail
286	9/17/24	605	47b	MS	Floating Art Sub	38	Fair	62	Fail
286	7/23/20	605	47b	MS	Floating Art Sub	66	Good	62	Pass

Overall:

Community	Assessment Type	Assessment Result	Support Level	IR Category	Reason
Benthic Macroinvertebrates	Evaluated	Fail (1/2)	WINOFI		Assessment was evaluated because the drainage area
Overall	Evaluated	Fail	WINOFI	WINOFI	of the site was greater than the calibrated range.

Monitoring and Methods

Assessment Key Dates

7/23/2020

Biological Monitoring

1/6/2022

Monitoring Start

12/3/2024

Monitoring End

9/17/2024

Biological Monitoring

Methods

200

Physical/Chemical Monitoring

315

Regional reference site approach

320

Benthic macroinvertebrate surveys

420

Indicator bacteria monitoring