vvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
The North Fork Potomac
Watershed Story
Background
Water in the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac
River had high levels of fecal bacteria primarily from rain or
snow-melt running off of beef and poultry farms. As a result,
landowners, environmental organizations, universities, and
government agencies worked together to improve water
quality. Because of this partnership, the stream no longer
exceeds listing criteria for the list of impaired or polluted
surface waters in West Virginia (WV).
North Fork, of the
South Branch of the Potomac River:
- Is located in Pendleton and Grant Counties, WV
and Hishland County, Virginia.
- Is a scenic trout stream.
- The area is mountainous with mainly forests and
beef and poultry farms.
Participating Fore
SeedingDemonstration Sil
Natural Stream Restoratioi
Demonstration Sites
Participating Farm Sites
Water Sampling Locations
North Fork Tributaries
Project Watersheds
Surrounding Watersheds
County Boundaries
EPA Clean Water Act Section 319 project sites
• Many of the animal feeding areas and poultry
operations are in the narrow valley bottoms and
floodplains next to the streams.
• More poultry litter and animal manure is generated
than can be applied to fields at acceptable
agronomic rates.
Problem
The headwaters of the Potomac
River, including the North Fork
watershed, are a valuable
environmental and economic
resource of eastern WV. The waters
of the region are generally of good
quality, however, the visible effects
of pollution began to be noticed in
the 1980's. Large algal blooms in
the streams were observed and
high bacterial counts became more
common. It was also evident that
more and more poultry farms were
coming into the area. While the
Potomac watershed historically
produced beef cattle, food for
livestock, timber, and some corn
and apples, a significant increase
in the poultry industry began in
the early 1990's. Between 1993
and 1996 alone, the number of
poultry farms doubled. With less
and less land available to manage
them, biosolids (litter from chicken
houses containing manure and
manure from other animals) were
being improperly handled. A U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) study found that
farmers were improperly storing
and over-applying biosolids to
fertilize their soils. This led to an
excess of nutrients, particularly
phosphorus, which the crops
could not absorb. Rainwater
carried the excess wastes into
the streams, polluting them.
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Solution
In 1993, this area became part of the USDA Water
Quality Initiatives federally sponsored program to
address water pollution from farms.The WV legislature
appropriated $250,000 to support the initiative.
Federal and state agencies, the WV Poultry Water
Quality Advisory Committee, and the Potomac Valley
Conservation District participated.The goal was to
protect and improve water quality in the Potomac
River through voluntary changes made by farmers.
Technical and financial assistance were provided. In
the summer of 1994, a Potomac Interagency Water
Quality Office was established in Moorefield,WVto
look at agricultural water quality issues within the
headwaters area.This office included staff from the
WV Conservation Agency, NRCS, and the WV University
Cooperative Extension. Funding to support the
Conservation Agency staff was provided through an
EPA Nonpoint Source Program Clean Water Act Section
319 grant. Initially, the emphasis was on nutrient
and animal waste management. Later, improved
pesticide management and reduction of bacterial
contamination were added.
A surface-water testing program conducted in 1994
and 1995 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and
funded by the NRCS showed that several streams in
the South Branch watershed were being polluted by
fecal bacteria. It was also found that the highest levels
of pollution were in areas having the highest number
of feedlots and poultry houses. In 1996, the North Fork,
South Fork,South Branch, Lunice Creek,Mill Creek,and
Anderson Run were put on the federal Clean Water
Act-Section 303(d) list of state"impaired"waters.
Much needed funding for animal waste management
became available in 1997 to help reduce pollutant
runoff in the Upper Potomac River Basin. In January, the
NRCS land-treatment watershed cost-share program
(originally a flood and sediment control program)
became available. Also in 1997,farmers and producers in
the Potomac headwaters area began to use Clean Water
Act State Revolving Funds as a source of low interest
(2%) loans to finance Best Management Practices (BMPs)
to reduce nonpoint source impacts on water quality.
This Agricultural Water Quality Loan Program provides
funds to supplement other cost-share programs, or
to finance stand-alone BMPs or equipment.This pilot
program was set up as a cooperative effort among the
WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP),
WV Conservation Agency, NRCS, the Potomac Valley
Conservation District,and local banks.
In 1998, the NRCS began working with the North Fork
Watershed Associations local citizen's group concerned
about recurring flooding. A watershed management
plan was developed that identified various practices to
lessen damage from flooding and improve water quality.
The group also developed an Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP) proposal to implement
sections of the plan, which was not funded.This EQIP
proposal was enhanced to be more comprehensive and
later submitted and implemented as a 319 nonpoint
source watershed project.
AFTER
Figure 1. An animal feed lot that allowed run-off
of contaminants into the nearby stream
Figure 2. A new animal feed lot (same location) that is covered
and has a concrete pad and adequate buffer
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Total Maximum Daily Loads Developed
Several streams of the South Branch watershed,
including the North Fork, were listed in 1996 by the WV
DEP as being impaired.This required establishment
of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) allocations for
fecal coliform, which was done in 1998.TMDLsare a
calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that
a water body can receive and still meet water quality
standards for the designated uses.
Computer models were used to determine the sources
of pollution in the area, including leaking septic systems.
The models found that agriculture was the major source
of fecal coliform in the North Fork watershed and that a
36.1% reduction from agricultural land was necessary for
the stream to achieve state water quality standards.
Grants Foster Broader Partnerships
An EPA Clean Water Act Section 319 Nonpoint Source
Pollution grant was awarded in 2000 to the WV
Conservation Agency (WVCA) through the WV DEP on
behalf of the North Fork Watershed Association.This
grant funded the work to
address problems from
agricultural activities, past
timbering operations,
stream bank erosion, and
road maintenance.
BEFORE
Figure 3. Cows grazing by a stream
A project coordinator,
employed by the
WVCA and originally
hired with 319 funds in
1993, does outreach by
educating the public,
networking,sending information to the news media,
and coordinating meetings between landowners and
the North Fork Watershed Association and its many
partners. Partners in the effort include the Potomac
Valley Conservation District, WVCA, WV University
Cooperative Extension, WV DEP, WV Division of Forestry,
WV Division of Highways, USDA NRCS, and Trout
Unlimited. Additional Clean Water Act Section 319
Nonpoint Source Grants have followed for a total of
$992,OOO.The USDA has contributed almost $550,000
to improve management practices, with the state of WV
providing additional funds.
The NRCS provides technical assistance for planning,
design, and implementation of projects under these
grants.
Best Management Practices
A range of BMPs has been established to control
runoff from feedlots and eliminate or reduce cattle
access to the streams (see Figures 3 and 4).They
include:
• Fencing along stream banks
• Relocating feedlots away from streams
• Constructing roofs over feeding areas
• Stabilizing feeding areas and cattle access
areas
• Constructing animal waste storage
facilities
• Planting vegetation along stream banks
• Establishing riparian buffers
• Developing alternative livestock watering
facilities and drilling livestock water wells
• Stabilizing critically eroding areas
• Rotational grazing systems with intra-
pasture fencing systems and alternative
watering facilities
• Constructing poultry litter storage
sheds, waste composting facilities and
composters for dead chickens
AFTER
Figure 4. Fencing to keep cows away from the stream
and a vegetative strip to filter and slow runoff
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Water Quality
Initiatives
and Other
Activities
Nutrient
Management
Laboratory
Dead Bird
Composting
Poultry
Litter Sales
Poultry Litter
Transfer
Prior to 1993, very few agricultural producers within the Potomac headwaters region
developed or used nutrient management plans to prevent over application of manure
and commercial fertilizers to crop and pasture land. Several nutrient management
initiatives were funded by special USDA appropriations between 1993 and 2001 .The
focus was on collecting data and developing monitoring techniques for nitrogen and
phosphorus to assess and reduce the risk of nutrients finding their way to surface waters.
Technical support was provided for soil testing, litter/manure analyses, and manure
spreader calibration as part of developing a nutrient management plan. Now, nutrient
management plans have been developed for all poultry and most of the livestock farms.
Even though the emphasis of nutrient management plans has been to reduce the risk
of nitrogen and phosphorus delivery to surface waters, a subsequent effect has been a
significant reduction of fecal coliform, other pathogens,and organic loads to those same
waters.
In 1994, a nutrient management laboratory was opened to assist agricultural producers
with nutrient management planning.This lab provides free analyses of manure and
poultry litter.The results are used to prepare site-specific nutrient management plans and
to market the litter as fertilizer based on its nutritive value.
A nutrient management planner certification program was developed and implemented
in conjunction with WV Department of Agriculture, WV University Cooperative Extension,
WV Conservation Agency, NRCS, American Society of Agronomy, and the Soil and Water
Conservation Society.
At the start of this initiative, area producers buried dead birds in pits. However, an EPA-
funded demonstration of a dead bird composter in 1993 has resulted in composting
being used as the predominant management method.
Educational meetings have been held to promote the use of poultry litter for fertilizer
throughout the region.To improve the market link between litter producers and potential
users of litter, a toll-free Potomac poultry litter marketing hotline was started in 1996
with financial support from the Potomac Headwaters Resource Conservation and
Development Area, and the Potomac Valley Conservation District.The result has been the
export of significant amounts of litter out of the watershed.
A pilot poultry litter transfer
program was initiated in 2001
between the WV Department of
Agriculture,WVCA,and Pilgrim's
Pride (formerly Wampler Longacre
Foods). Poultry producers with
excess litter were put in touch
with farms in the region that
could utilize the litter as a fertilizer.
Wampler Foods provided a $30,000
grant and the WV Governor's office
provided $45,000 for cost share to
transport the litter.
•nun
BEFORE
Figure 5. Poultry litter on a floodplain
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AFTER
Figure 6. Composting litter in a paved and covered shed
In 1996, a poultry litter
composting demonstration
educated poultry producers
and other interested parties
about the production of high
quality, value-added compost
from poultry waste.The
composter uses poultry litter
combined with wood product
waste (such as sawdust,
shavings,and bark) to produce
a valuable soil amendment. A
local company that produces
landscape mulch adopted the
technology and is currently
buying poultry litter and
composting it with hardwood
waste products,and
selling the product to urban markets.This moves excess litter outside the watershed,
transforming it from a possible pollutant to an environmental and economical benefit. A
side benefit of this effort is the use of forest product waste that otherwise would not be
recycled.
A four-county pesticide roundup was sponsored in the initiative project area.The
orchardists in the area had accumulated a wide variety of outdated pesticides and could
not dispose of them legally. In a three-day sweep, more than 30 tons of chemicals were
picked up for proper disposal thus reducing the potential contamination of surface and
groundwater from improper disposal.
The WV Division of Forestry has worked with landowners in the watershed to install
forestry BMPs. One severely eroded,steep, hillside demonstration site has been planted
with trees and fenced for livestock exclusion as part of a reforestation project. Clean
Water Act Section 319 nonpoint source funds were used for this effort. Recently
obtained, USDA Enhanced Conservation Reserve Program funds are being used to
augment similar efforts in the watershed.
The WV Division of Highways (DOH) cooperated by implementing a variety of BMPs
including road-bank seeding using poultry litter as fertilizer, a sediment erosion control
workshop for Highway employees, and construction of a "roadkill"composting facility
on DOH property.This composting facility allows DOH to recycle nutrients as a fertilizer
and soil amendment for use on roadside seeding and wildflower plantings.
Using 319 funds through the WVDEP, the WV Conservation Agency worked with Trout
Unlimited, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Conservation District on a stream
channel restoration effort near Seneca Rocks Scenic Area on the main stem of the
North Fork River.The project was designed by Trout Unlimited and uses natural stream
channel design technologies (such as planting vegetation) to control erosion, reduce
sedimentation, and re-establish riparian and aquatic habitat.
Poultry Litter
Composting
Pesticide Waste
Collection
Program
Forestry
and Logging
Conservation
Highway Best
Management
Practices
Stream
Channel
Restoration
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Monitoring/Results
The agricultural community within the watershed has
been extremely receptive, with over 85% of the farmers
implementing BMPs. As a result, thousands of tons of
poultry litter and cow manure are now being properly
managed, no longer polluting runoff that finds its way
into the river. Water quality monitoring conducted
by the WV Department of Agriculture has shown
significant declines in fecal coliform levels. Based
on recent water quality monitoring results and the
extent of BMPs in the area, the North Fork River has
improved such that if DEP were evaluating this
information for listing purposes today, the stream
would not have been included on the WV303(d) list.
400-
200-
E
o
o 150-
*
£ 100-
50-
0-
495
•
Above 200 CFU/1 00ml potential of pathogen presence is high
145
45 49 • 42 1 M 56 56
18 18 1 20 18
MM MM MM I In I In n nr
Moyer ._ Upper VA State Seneca
g'p Franklin Trac, Petersburg Une Rocks Cabin:
South Branch North Fork
Sampling locations
1 126
n
L_
Lunice
Creek at
Petersburg
3/94 to 8/95
USGS
3/98 to 8/99
WVDA
* CPU: Colony Forming Units,
the number of colonies visible
to the eye after 24 hours of
incubation in the lab.
Figure 7. Comparison of median fecal coliform levels before and after
installation of Best Management Practices
r
1
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Ongoing and Future Projects
A watershed and water quality educational display for
the Monongahela National Forest Service, Seneca Rocks
Visitors Center.
Training for landowners on stream channel protection
and maintenance.
WV Department of Agriculture water quality sampling
and testing at its Moorefield Water Quality Testing
Laboratory.
The federal Farm Bill's EQIP,Wildlife Habitat Incentives
Program (WHIP) and Conservation Reserve Program
(CRP) will fund agricultural related BMPs or conservation
practices such as erosion and sediment control, runoff
management, nutrient management, buffers, pesticide
handling contraband pasture management.
Existing BMPs will continue along with periodic spot
checks on performance.
Partnerships and Coordination
Twenty organizations worked together to improve the water quality in the North Fork Potomac
watershed. Initial Potomac headwaters Water Quality Initiative Partners are noted below with an
asterisk.
North Fork Watershed Association
Participating Farmers/Landowners
Pilgrim's Pride/Wampler-Longacre Foods
Potomac Headwaters RC & D Council*
Potomac Valley Conservation District*
Trout Unlimited
USDA Farm Service Agency
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service*
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. Geological Survey
WV Conservation Agency*
WV Department of Agriculture*
WV Department of Highways
WV Department of Environmental Protection*
WV Division of Forestry
WVFarm Bureau
WV Poultry Water Quality Advisory Committee
WV Poultry Association
WV University College of Agriculture and Forestry*
WV University Extension Service*
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LU
,
EPA Region 3
Philadelphia, PA 19103
EPA/903/F-04/002
April 2004
The EPA Region 3 Water Protection
Division is responsible for the management
and implementation of the region's
programs to protect, preserve and
enhance water resources. The Division
administers programs authorized by the
Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Along with the
administration of programs, the Division
assists the Mid-Atlantic states, localities
and interstate commissions in developing
comprehensive environmental programs
for the achievement of environmental and
public health goals and standards and
oversees delegation of programs and state
implementation of delegated programs.
The Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) is a research,
monitoring, and assessment program in the Mid-Atlantic region.
MAIA is a partnership of federal, state and local governments;
non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and academic
institutions. MAIA's goal is to provide integrated scientific
knowledge to support the environmental decision-making
process for the Mid-Atlantic region. This includes development
and implementation of multi-scale monitoring designs, scientific
tools, and high-quality data.
Fred Sufflan
suffian.fred@epa.gov
215-814-5753
\
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 3
1650 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029
www. ep a. go v/region3
Patricia Bradley
bradley.patricia@epa. gov
410-305-2744
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment
Environmental Science Center
701 Mapes Road
Ft. Meade, MD 20755-5350
www. ep a. go v/maia
Teresa Koon
tekoon@wvdep. org
304-558-3614
WEST VIRGINIA
WVDEP Division of Water and Waste
Management
Nonpoint Source Program
414 Summers Street
Charleston, WV 25301
http: //www. wvdep. org/dwwm
Patrick Bowen
patrick.bowen@wv.usda.gov
304-457-4516 ext. 105 A
Natural
Resources
Conservation
Service
U.S. Dept of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service
USDA-NRCS-East Area Office
Rt. 4, Box 503
Phillippi,WV26416
www.wv.nrcs.usda.gov
David Raines
draines@wvca.us
304-558-2204
WV Conservation Agency
1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East
Charleston, WV 25305-0193
http://www.wvca.us
John Wagoner
304-822-5174
Potomac Valley
Conservation District
500 East Main Street
Romney,WV 26757
http ://www. wvca. us
Potomac Valley
Conservation District
All participating agencies are equal opportunity providers and employers.
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