Section 319
NONPOINT SOORCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Applying Agriculture Best Management Practices Reduces Bacteria
WatPrbndv Imnrnvpd Fecal coliform from animal agriculture areas, failing septic
tanks and impervious surfaces caused Georgia's Broxton Creek
to violate water quality standards. As a result, Georgia's Environmental Protection Division
(EPD) added a six-mile segment of Broxton Creek to Georgia's 2000 Clean Water Act (CWA)
section 303(d) list of impaired waters for fecal coliform bacteria. Using CWA section 319 and
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funds, farmers installed numerous best
management practices (BMPs) on pasturelands adjoining the creek's impaired segments.
Water quality improved, prompting Georgia EPD to remove the six-mile segment of Broxton
Creek from the list of impaired waters for fecal coliform in 2006.
Problem
Broxton Creek flows through Coffee County and
empties into the Satilla River in south-central
Georgia (Figure 1). The Satilla River basin lies
entirely within the Coastal Plain physiographic
province, which extends throughout the southeast-
ern margin of the United States. Pastures, cropland
and hayfields cover approximately 20 percent of the
watershed.
Monitoring data collected in the late 1990s show
that Broxton Creek violated the fecal coliform water
quality standard for its fishing designated use clas-
sification. The standard requires that fecal coliform
levels not exceed a geometric mean (four samples
collected over a 30-day period) of 200 colony form-
ing units (cfu) per 100 milliliters (ml) in the summer
and 1,000 cfu/100 ml in the winter. In the winter,
the criterion also requires that fecal coliform levels
not exceed 4,000 cfu/100 ml for any one sample.
In 1998 Broxton Creek violated water quality
standards for fecal coliform in one of four geometric
mean sampling sets and in two single winter sam-
pling events. Because Broxton Creek did not meet
criteria to support its fishing designated use clas-
sification, Georgia EPD added a six-mile segment of
the creek to Georgia's 2000 CWA section 303(d) list
of impaired waters for high fecal coliform levels.
Satilla River Basin
Major Rivers
Figure 1. Broxton Creek is a tributary of Georgia's Satilla River.
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Georgia EPD developed a total maximum daily
load (TMDL) study for pathogen loads in the Satilla
River watershed; the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency approved the TMDL in 2000. The TMDL
determined that pathogen loading into Broxton
Creek must be reduced by 85 percent to meet
water quality requirements for fishing. The TMDL
attributed the pathogen loading to runoff from
animal agriculture areas, leaking septic tanks, urban
areas and residential areas with pets.
Project Highlights
Using a combination of CWA section 319 and EQIP
funding, the Seven Rivers Resource Conservation
and Development Council worked with local
landowners to install BMPs that reduce patho-
gen runoff into Broxton Creek and improve the
landowners' operations. CWA section 319 funds
supported installing one poultry litter stackhouse
(Figure 2). Local agriculture agency partners
advised the landowner on the technical design and
specifications of the BMP and provided oversight
and expertise during installation. The landowner
participated voluntarily and provided partial labor
funds for the BMP.
Figure 2. Poultry litter stackhouse.
Other BMPs implemented in the watershed include
installing foundations to support cattle in heavy-
use areas, installing grade-stabilization structures,
planting pasture and hay areas, vegetating critical
areas, implementing waste management systems
and installing livestock watering pipelines and alter-
native watering structures. The U.S. Department
of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) office in Coffee County provided
additional technical assistance and support.
Coffee County adopted several ordinances to help
improve water quality including one that controls
soil erosion and sedimentation, one that governs
septic tank permits and one that requires drainage
plans for new subdivisions.
Results
Georgia EPD collected monitoring data on Broxton
Creek in 2003 as part of a larger effort to update
the Satilla River fecal coliform TMDL. Data show
that Broxton Creek's fecal coliform geometric mean
values, which had reached a high of 5,386 cfu/100
mL in February 1994, had dropped to 30 cfu/100 mL
in February 2003. The revised TMDL, approved in
2006, found that Broxton Creek met water quality
standards for its designated use and required no
additional load reductions. On the basis of that
information, Georgia EPD removed the six-mile
segment of Broxton Creek from the state's list of
impaired waters in 2006.
Partners and Funding
A total of $41,569 in CWA section 319 funding
supported projects in the Broxton Creek watershed.
Producers provided the remaining 40 percent of
BMP construction costs for a total of $69,281. Key
partners in this effort include the Coffee County
Soil Conservation District, Seven Rivers Resource
Conservation and Development Council, NRCS
agents and Coffee County. Agents of these gener-
ous partners provided technical expertise and labor.
Landowners in the Satilla River watershed contrib-
uted in-kind labor hours and some funding.
I
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-09-001W
September 2009
For additional information contact:
Jeff Linzer
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
404-675-6232 • Jeffrey.linzer@gaepd.org
Stan Moore
Seven Rivers Resource Conservation
and Development Council
912-367-7679 • stan.moore@ga.usda.gov
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