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Section 319
NDNPDINT SOURCE PFQSRAM SUCCESS STURY
Best Management Practices Reduce Siltation and Contaminated Runoff
WatPrbndv Imnrnvpd uno from livestock operations and unrestricted grazing
was contributing high levels of sediment and nutrients to Blue
Spring Creek in Coffee County, Tennessee. Education and the introduction of best manage-
ment practices (BMPs), including fencing, water facilities for cattle, and waste management
systems, have helped to eliminate existing water quality problems, allowing the creek to be
removed from Tennessee's 303(d) list.
Problem
Beef production is a major enterprise in Coffee
County, Tennessee, and livestock are raised
throughout the region to supply this industry.
Poor nutrient management plans and grazing
practices resulted in runoff that contained
sediment and nutrients entering the stream
untreated. Based on the results of a macroin-
vertebrate sampling and habitat assessment
that demonstrated values below expecta-
tions for streams in the Eastern Highland Rim
ecoregion, the Blue Spring Creek was listed on
Tennessee's 2002 303(d) list as having "other
habitat alterations" due to nonirrigated crop
production.
Project Highlights
Educational efforts have raised awareness
about the water quality problems associated
with unrestricted livestock grazing. Farmers
have been willing to help improve water quality
by installing BMPs on their land. Exclusion
fencing was used to keep livestock out of
natural water sources and off streambanks.
As a result, native vegetation has returned to
streambank areas, providing habitat for wildlife
and serving as a natural filter strip.
Alternative watering systems provide livestock
with water in areas with no stream access.
Frost-free water tanks have been particularly
successful in providing better water quality for
humans, livestock, aquatic plants, and animals.
The soil in heavy-use areas surrounding alter-
native water ponds is stabilized with geotextile
material to further prevent erosion.
Animal waste management systems, such as
holding ponds, allow for proper waste disposal.
Such systems take care of contaminated run-
off, as well as wash water and flush water from
dairy or swine operations.
Pasture seeding with a mix of fescue and white
clover, in combination with a nutrient manage-
ment plan, provided effective erosion control
on area farms.
Results
By 2003 biological integrity and habitat at
Blue Spring Creek had improved, as measured
by the higher diversity and types of macroin-
vertebrates such as insects, crayfish, snails,
and clams—indicators of good water quality.
Almost twice as many EPT families (a category
of insects used to measure water quality) were
present in 2003 (11 EPT) than in 1999 (6 EPT),
and 25 different taxa were collected in 2003
as compared to 15 different taxa found in
1999. Eight of these families are intolerant of
pollution. These metric values represent the
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highest score possible (15) out of a family-level
biological reconnaissance (biorecon) index that
considers scores from 11 to 15 indicative of a
non-impaired biological community. The habi-
tat assessment score had improved from 114
in 1999, which is considered inadequate in the
ecoregion, to a score of 136—well above the
target habitat score of 123, which indicates a
healthy biological population in the ecoregion.
As a result, Blue Spring Creek was removed
from Tennessee's 303(d) list in 2004.
Partners and Funding
This project included support from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Natural Resources
Conservation Service and the Coffee County
Soil Conservation District, which designed and
approved the animal waste management sys-
tems. The project costs totaled $110,219, includ-
ing funding through the Agricultural Resources
Conservation Fund (ARCF) and $8,733 of Clean
Water Act section 319 cost-share funding, which
was used to cover the costs of exclusion fencing,
alternative water facilities, and pasture seeding.
Total Taxa
EPT Taxa
Number of families in the pollution-sensitive group EPT found at
Blue Spring Creek in Coffee County between 1999 and 2003.
I
5
Q
'. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
\ Office of Water
a Washington, DC
EPA841-F-05-004P
August 2005
For additional information contact:
Sam Marshall, PhD
Tennessee Department of Agriculture
615-837-5306
sam.marshall@state.tn.us
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