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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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