Section 319
NUNPOINT SOURCE PRPQRAM SUCCESS STORY
Watershed Partnership Restores River
Waterbodv Imoroved
Stream entrenchment and bank failure caused excess
sediment to enter the Belle Fourche River, prompting South
Dakota to add a 17-mile-long segment of the river to its 1998 and 2002 Clean Water Act
section 303(d) lists of impaired waters for elevated total suspended solids (TSS). The Belle
Fourche River Watershed Partnership (BFRWP) led efforts to restore riparian grazing areas
and reduce the volume of unused irrigation water returning to the river, both of which
reduced the amount of sediment entering the river. Water quality improved, and South
Dakota removed this segment of the Belle Fourche River from the 2008 303(d) list for TSS.
Problem
The Belle Fourche River drains
parts of Butte, Lawrence and
Meade counties in western South
Dakota. The river flows into the
Cheyenne River and, ultimately,
to the Missouri River. Land
use in the watershed is primar-
ily livestock grazing with some
cropland and a few urban and
suburban areas. Data show that
elevated levels of sediment in the
river were causing TSS levels to
exceed the water quality standard
of 158 milligrams per liter (mg/L)
TSS daily maximum. Therefore,
South Dakota added the 17-mile-
long Whitewood Creek to Willow
Creek segment (Figure 1) of Belle
Fourche River to the 1998 section
303(d) list of impaired waters
because of elevated TSS.
Figure 1. Map of the
In April 2001 BFRWP launched
an assessment project to deter-
mine the TSS total maximum daily load (TMDL) for
the Belle Fourche River. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) approved the final TMDL in
2005. The primary contributors of TSS, as defined
by the TMDL, included the large volume of unused
irrigation water that was discharged to the natural
waterways, natural bank sloughing and impaired
riparian habitat.
The TMDL indicated that irrigation and the return
flow of unused irrigation water were responsible for
ater Quality Success Story
Dakota
Legend
Other 2002 303d Rivers
Belle Fourche Success Story segment
C3 Belle Fourche SP-12 Watershed
impaired portion of the Belle Fourche River.
approximately 20 percent of the TSS in the Belle
Fourche River system. As unused irrigation flows
return to the river, the increased water volumes
erode the river channel, causing parts of the river
bank to slump into the channel and create increased
TSS levels. Much of the irrigation in the watershed
is flood irrigation. This type of irrigation mobilizes
sediments by three processes: (1) tail water/runoff
crossing fields, (2) water flowing inthecanalsand
laterals, and (3) flows in the intermittent streams
carrying tail water/runoff to the perennial streams in
the watershed.
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According to the TMDL, stream entrenchment and
bank failure were responsible for another 75 percent
of the TSS in the river. Stream energy caused natu-
ral bank failure, particularly in the eastern portion of
the watershed. These areas are dominated by high
banks composed of primarily clay soils that supply
suspended solids to the channel. Increased quanti-
ties of water resulting from the unused irrigation
return flows caused additional channel erosion,
which in turn led to additional bank failures.
Finally, the TMDL estimates that rangeland and
riparian area erosion contributed the remaining
5 percent of the TSS load to the river.
Results
Project Highlights
In 2004 BFRWP adopted a watershed approach to
implement the best management practices (BMPs)
recommended in the Belle Fourche River TMDL. To
help implement the TMDL, BFRWP developed the
Ten-Year Belle Fourche River Watershed Strategic
Implementation Plan and the Five-Year Belle
Fourche Irrigation District Water Conservation Plan.
The projects focused on addressing how irrigation
was conveyed within the Belle Fourche Irrigation
District (BFID), including the on-farm delivery of
irrigation waters. Other projects included restor-
ing riparian rangeland areas and increasing public
outreach. BFRWP collaborated with six different
producers to complete the riparian grazing reha-
bilitation projects and eight separate producers to
complete the irrigation improvement projects.
The project partners implemented a canal auto-
mation project, a canal operational model and an
updated water card/billing system within the BFID.
These projects dramatically increased irrigation
delivery efficiency while improving the under-
standing of how the system operates as a whole.
Providing off-stream water supply and managed
grazing alternatives has improved the health of both
riparian and upland habitat by trapping sediments
before they can enter the stream.
Recent quarterly sampling performed by the South
Dakota Department of Environment and Natural
Resources indicates a drop in TSS concentrations
below the standard of 158 mg/L daily maximum
(see Table 1). As a result of these improvements,
South Dakota removed this 17-mile segment from
its 2008 303(d) list for TSS.
Table 1. TSS statistics (mg/L) for the Belle
Fourche River at Vale
Statistic
Mean
Median
Standard
Deviation
Maximum
Number of
Samples
Pre-BMPdata
(June 1977-
April2005)
76.8
34.5
153
885
106
Post-BMP data
(June 2005-
August2006)
18.3
15
12.3
32
3
Partners and Funding
The success of the project is largely a result of
the participation of the following local, state and
federal agencies and organizations: Butte and
Lawrence County Conservation District, Elk Creek
Conservation District, South Dakota Conservation
Commission, South Dakota Department of
Agriculture, South Dakota Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, South Dakota
Game Fish and Parks, South Dakota Grassland
Coalition, South Dakota School of Mines and
Technology, South Dakota State University, U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, EPA, U.S. Geological
Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.
More than $9.1 million secured from several local,
state and federal sources funded the watershed's
rehabilitation, including $2.5 million from EPA sec-
tion 319 funds, $3.7 million from local participants
and $2.9 million from other federal sources.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-09-001B
February 2009
For additional information contact:
Steve Bubnick
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8
bubnick.steven@epa.gov • 303-312-6829
Pete Jahraus
South Dakota Dept. of Natural Resources (SDDENR)
pete.jahraus@state.sd.us • 605-773-5623
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