Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Agencies and Farmers Coordinate to Reduce Bacteria
A/atorhnH\/ ImnrnwoH Run°ff from agricultural lands and leaking home sewage tanks
Wdieruouy improved transported fecal coliform, suspended solids and turbidity to
the Bayou Plaquemine Brule, impairing contact recreational uses. As a result, the Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) added the Bayou Plaquemine Brule to the Clean
Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 1998. From 2004 to 2008, farmers
implemented agricultural best management practices (BMPs) on more than 70,000 acres within the
watershed. In addition, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals worked with homeown-
ers to install more than 3,300 aerobic treatment systems with effluent-reduction systems to reduce
the problems associated with home sewage systems. As a result, LDEQ determined that Bayou
Plaquemine Brule had attained bacteria standards and removed it from the CWA section 303(d) list
for fecal coliform in 2008.
Problem
Bayou Plaquemine Brule flows for 55 miles through
southwestern Louisiana's prairie region (Figure 1). It
joins the Mermentau River before flowing into the
Gulf of Mexico. Several tributaries flow into Bayou
Plaquemine Brule, including Hazelwood Gully,
Coles Gully, Long Point Gully, Bayou Wikoff, Bayou
Blanc and North Coulee Trief. The upper portion of
the watershed consists primarily of pasture and hay
lands, which contribute fecal coliform, suspended
solids and turbidity to this slow-moving waterway
(Figure 2). The lower portion of the watershed sup-
ports numerous rice farms.
Fecal coliform concentrations were extremely high
in the late 1980s, with an average annual concen-
tration as high as 37,000 cells per 100 milliliter
(ml) sample. LDEQ's data indicate that the values
remained high through 1997. As a result, LDEQ
added 55 miles of the Bayou Plaquemine Brule to
the state's 1998 CWA section 303(d) list for fecal
coliform. The water quality standard for primary
contact recreation requires that no more than
25 percent of the total samples collected monthly
or near monthly exceed a fecal coliform density of
400/100 ml. The primary contact recreation crite-
rion applies during the defined recreational period
of May 1 through October 31. From November 1
through April 30, the criterion for secondary contact
recreation applies, which requires that no more
than 25 percent of the total samples collected
annually exceed 2,000/100 ml.
LDEQ completed a total maximum daily load
(TMDL) for fecal coliform bacteria in Bayou
Plaquemine Brule in 2001. LDEQ found that fecal
coliform bacteria would need to be reduced by
Figure 1. The
Bayou Plaquemine
Brule watershed
is in southwestern
Louisiana.
Figure 2. The waters of the slow-moving
Bayou Plaquemine Brule are often turbid.
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83 percent to meet the primary contact recreation
water quality standard during the recreational
season and by 73 percent to meet the secondary
contact recreation standard during non-recreational
period. Edge-of-field and in-stream data collected
for the TMDL indicate that a rotational grazing
strategy would result in a 58 percent reduction in
total solids, a 65 percent reduction in turbidity and a
49 percent reduction in total phosphorus.
Project Highlights
Stakeholders completed a watershed plan in 2000
and launched a series of projects to help local land-
owners implement BMPs to reduce nonpoint source
pollutant loads. The St. Landry and Acadia Soil and
Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) estimate that
the Bayou Plaquemine Brule watershed supports
approximately 330 farms. The U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) implemented more than
70,656 acres of BMPs in the Bayou Plaquemine
Brule watershed between 2004 and 2008.
In addition to USDA's efforts, LDEQ directed CWA
section 319 funds to St. Landry and Acadia SWCDs
to implement BMPs in Cole Gully and Bayou Wikoff.
The most common BMPs implemented include irri-
gation water management and drill planting of rice,
rotational grazing and fencing for pasture lands.
The water management practices for rice allow the
sediment and bacteria to remain on the rice fields
rather than be discharged to the bayous. Rotational
grazing allows grasses to revegetate and reduces
overgrazing by livestock. In addition, the Louisiana
Department of Health and Hospitals inspected
more than 3,500 homes and helped homeown-
ers install more than 3,300 new individual aerobic
treatment units to reduce the pollution problems
associated with home sewage systems.
Within the Cole Gully watershed, 40 farmers
participated and implemented BMPs on 4,438 acres
through a CWA section 319 cost-share program. In
addition to the section 319 funds, USDA provided
funds through the Environmental Quality Incentive
Program (EQIP) to assist the same producers with
structural practices such as underground irriga-
tion pipelines, grade stabilization structures, well
decommissioning and irrigation land-leveling. The
federal and matching funds helped to offset the
costs accrued by the farmers for the management
practices.
The major objective of this cost-share project was
to demonstrate that agricultural nonpoint source
loads in Bayou Plaquemine Brule could be reduced
to prescribed levels by implementing BMPs. The
Bayou Wikoff and Cole Gully watersheds were
monitored at the edge-of-field level and at the in-
stream/watershed level.
Results
Monitoring data show a significant decline in
bacteria levels from 1998 to 2007, with annual aver-
age fecal coliform counts of 164 cells per 100 ml
sample (Figure 3). Bayou Plaquemine Brule meets
both the primary and secondary contact recreation
designated uses, prompting LDEQto remove the
entire 55-mile segment from the CWA section
303(d) list of impaired waters in 2008.
Average Concentration of Fecal Coliform in
Bayou Plaquemine Brule
HiiS 1?2«1 Hit M7S 21.
Figure 3. Monitoring data in the Bayou Plaquemine
Brule watershed from 1998 to 2007 shows a
significant decline in bacteria counts.
Partners and Funding
Partners used approximately $234,979 in CWA
section 319 funds in the cost-share program to help
farmers pay to install agricultural BMPs. Section 319
funds were also used to pay a portion (60 percent) of
the salary of one staff member who wrote the water-
shed implementation plan and managed the projects
implemented within the watershed. EQIP provided
an additional $235,815 for cost-share of BMPs.
I
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-10-001C
March 2010
For additional information contact:
Jan R. Boydstun
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
225-219-3606 • jan.boydstun@la.gov
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