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Section 319
NONPOINT SOOR" PROGRAM SOCCESS STORY
Collaborative Efforts by Poultry Integrators Reduce Bacteria Loads
A/ t h H I H Runoff from agriculture operations and leaking septic systems
VVaterDOay imprOVea contributed high |eve|s of bacteria to the Little Assawoman Bay
watershed, causing the bay to violate bacteria water quality standards. In response, the Delaware
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) added the three-square-mile
Little Assawoman Bay watershed to Delaware's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list in 1996.
Targeted education and best management practices (BMPs) implementation successfully reduced
bacteria counts, allowing the bay to meet water quality standards. As a result, in 2006 DNREC removed
Little Assawoman Bay from Delaware's CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters.
Problem
The watershed drains an area that extends from
the Assawoman Canal to its confluence with
Little Assawoman Bay on the southeast coast of
Delaware. Little Assawoman Bay—the smallest of
Delaware's Inland Bays—is connected to Indian
River Bay on the north by the Assawoman Canal
and to Assawoman Bay on the south via a narrow
channel. The Little Assawoman Bay watershed is an
agriculture-dominated watershed with no influenc-
ing point sources. The area has a high concentration
of poultry growing operations but is experiencing
rapid conversion toward urban uses.
Excessive bacteria inputs from agriculture and
failing septic systems prevented Little Assawoman
Bay from supporting its recreational uses. Water
quality monitoring data show that bacteria levels
routinely exceeded the state water quality stan-
dard for primary recreation, which requires that
a single sample value of Enterococcus bacteria
must not exceed 104 colonies (col)/100 milliliters
(ml) and that the geometric mean value must not
exceed 35 col/100 ml. Because Little Assawoman
Bay failed to meet standards, DNREC placed it
on Delaware's 1996 CWA section 303(d) list of
impaired waters for bacteria. DNREC developed
a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for bacteria in
2004 that addressed the entire Inland Bay water-
shed, which includes the Little Assawoman Bay
watershed.
Project Highlights
In 2001 the nonprofit Center for the Inland Bays
(CIB) collaborated with Delmarva's major poultry
integrators (Perdue Farms, Mountaire Farms and
Allen's Family Foods); the Delaware Nutrient
Management Commission; DNREC's Nonpoint
Source Program; and the Sussex Conservation
District to develop the Little Assawoman Bay as a
model watershed area. The project, known as the
Poultry Integrators' Nutrient Effort (PINE), sought to
accelerate compliance and certification programs
mandated by Delaware's Nutrient Management
Law. This comprehensive approach was developed
to reduce nonpoint source pollution.
The Little Assawoman Bay watershed has one of
the highest concentrations per land area of poultry
growers in the state. The watershed has 27 active
poultry operations consisting of 77 functioning
poultry houses and one swine operation produc-
ing 1,500 hogs per year. Operators implemented
numerous agricultural BMPs in the watershed,
including dead bird disposal; heavy use area
protection; manure conveyors and storage struc-
tures; nutrient management planning; cover crops;
manure relocation and alternative use, wood chip,
and vegetative riparian buffers.
The PINE project greatly increased BMP use in the
watershed. For example, Dan and Iris Moore grow
poultry for Perdue Farms in two tunnel ventilated
poultry houses. Before the targeted PINE efforts,
BMPs on the Moore farm included a dead bird corn-
poster and a manure storage structure. The Moores
enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program with the Sussex Conservation District and
had 54 acres of early succession pine and hardwood
mix (Figure 1). The Moore's farm was selected
for PINE because it is close both to wetlands and
tributaries of the Little Assawoman Bay, as well
as next to a new development of more than 1,000
homes. After an initial PINE consultation, plans were
drawn up to increase the number of BMPs used on
the property. New BMPs included pouring concrete
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Figure 1. Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program planting at Moore Farm.
Figure 2. The PINE project included planting a tree
buffer along the property line.
pads on the ends of the poultry houses for easy
manure cleanup, installing vegetative buffers in front
of tunnel fans to reduce the dust plume, adding an
irrigated tree buffer along the property line adjacent
to the new housing development (Figure 2), building
a new truck route in and out of the farm, and digging
a shallow wetland. PINE also suggested removing
two old poultry houses along the road. The housing
development company agreed to pay to remove the
two old houses, install the irrigated vegetated buffer
and build the new truck route.
Results
Monitoring data show that bacteria levels have
dropped in Little Assawoman Bay, thanks to the
efforts of the agricultural community. By the end
of the monitoring assessment period in 2006, data
from each of the measured monitoring stations show
that the water meets water quality standards for
bacteria (Table 1). On the basis of these data, DNREC
removed the three-square-mile segment of the Little
Assawoman Bay from Delaware's 2006 CWA section
303(d) list of impaired waters for bacteria. Monitoring
will continue at all Little Assawoman Bay stations to
ensure that the waters continue to meet standards.
Partners and Funding
The PINE project was a partnership between
the CIB; University of Delaware; Sussex County
Conservation District; Delmarva's major poultry
integrators (Perdue Farms, Mountaire Farms and
Allen's Family Foods); and the Delaware Nutrient
Management Commission.
The project used slightly more than $100,000 in
federal CWA section 319 funds to pay the salary
of a Little Assawoman Bay watershed coordina-
tor. Additional funding sources included the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Environmental Quality
Incentives Program and Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program, Delaware Conservation
Cost Share Program, and Americana Bayside
Development Corporation. Because of the nature
of the funding and enrollment procedures, much of
the funding involvement is immeasurable.
Table 1. 2006 monitoring data show that Little Assawoman Bay meets water quality
standards3 for Enterococcus bacteria
Monitoring station
Little Assawoman Bay Ditch at Rd. 58 Bridge
Little Assawoman Bay, Mid-Bay
Single sample value
(col/100 ml)
20
20
Geometric mean value
(col/100 ml)
14
8
a Water quality standard: a single sample value of Enterococcus bacteria must not exceed 104 col/mL and
the geometric mean value must not exceed 35 col/100 mL.
I
c
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-09-001T
August 2009
For additional information contact:
Bob Palmer
Delaware Nonpoint Source Program
302-739-9922 • robert.palmer@state.de.us
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