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Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Implementing Best Management Practices Improves Stream Health in
Hall/Byers and Hutton Creeks
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Sediment Ioadin9s from cropland, pasture and hayland degraded
aquatic habitat in Hall/Byersand Hutton creeks. As a result, the
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) added Hall/Byers and Hutton creeks to the Clean
Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters for benthic impairments due to sedimentation in
1998 and 2002. Installing agricultural best management practices (BMPs) helped reduce sedimentation
in the creeks, allowing Virginia to remove two segments of Hall/Byers and Hutton creeks from its list of
impaired waters in 2014.
Problem
The Hall/Byers Creek and Hutton Creek watersheds
are in Washington County, part of southwestern
Virginia's Middle Folk Holston River Basin (USGS
Hydrologic Unit Code 06010102). These watersheds
are contiguous to one another, approximately
10 miles northeast of Abingdon, Virginia. Byers
Creek merges with Hall Creek approximately one
mile upstream of the Middle Fork Holston River
(Figure 1).
The 9,991-acre Hall/Byers Creek watershed is
comprised of pasture/hay (57 percent), forest (20
percent), urban (12 percent) and crop (10 percent)
land uses. The 7,149-acre Hutton Creek watershed
area is comprised of pasture/hay (57 percent),
forest (23 percent), urban (10 percent) and crop (10
percent) land uses.
To assess aquatic life conditions of Hall/Byers
and Hutton creeks, DEQ used the Virginia Stream
Condition Index (VSCI) based on biometrics analy-
sis. A stream that achieves a rating score above 60
for an entire year is considered to be supporting
biological integrity and, therefore, is considered
supportive of the aquatic life designated use.
Because Hall/Byers and Hutton creeks failed to
meet this threshold, 0.48 miles of Byers Creek and
5.15 miles of Hutton Creek were added to the CWA
section 303(d) list of impaired waters for general
standard-aquatic life in 1998 and 2002. Water qual-
ity data analyses and field observations indicated
that the primary cause of the benthic impairment in
these streams was excessive sedimentation. DEQ
developed sediment total maximum daily loads
(TMDLs) for these watersheds in 2003.
Monitoring Sites
Previously Impaired Waters
Middle Fork Holston River
Hydrography
Roads
Lower Middle Fork Holston River
I I County Boundary
Figure 1. Locations of biological monitoring stations on Hall/Byers
and Hutton creeks, and the extent of segments that failed to
support their aquatic life designated uses because of agriculture-
related sedimentation.
Project Highlights
Landowners installed a number of agricultural
BMPs primarily through a TMDL implementation
project from 2001-2008. These BMPs included
96,750 linear feet (18.3 miles) of livestock exclu-
sion fencing, 702 acres of small grain cover crop
for nutrient management, 311 acres of harvestable
cover crop, 224 acres of riparian forest buffer and
38 acres of permanent vegetative cover on crop-
land. Landowners also installed 13 grazing land
protection systems (Figure 2) to prevent livestock
access to streams and 10 animal waste storage
facilities in the impaired watersheds.
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In addition, stakeholders worked with landowners
to promote agricultural and residential BMP
implementation. The outreach efforts included
watershed tours, group meetings, personal con-
tacts and presentation of BMP informational materi-
als to farmers, residents and community leaders.
Results
The BMPs installed in Hall/Byers and Mutton creeks
have resulted in total load reductions of 19,739
tons of sediment, 107,628 pounds of nitrogen
and 22,108 pounds of phosphorous. Also, the
animal waste storage facilities installed treated
approximately 4,471 tons of animal waste in these
watersheds. Due to this reduced pollutant loading,
biological monitoring conducted by DEQ personnel
in spring and fall of 2012 at Hall/Byers Creek (moni-
toring station 6CBYS000.08) and in 2007 and 2012
at Mutton Creek (monitoring station 6CHT0000.07)
demonstrated that biological conditions in both
waterbodies had improved. Data showed thatVSCI
scores for Hall/Byers Creek and Mutton Creek were
above the water quality standard minimum thresh-
old of 60 (Table 1).
The increased VSCI score reflects improved
biological conditions that support the aquatic life
Table 1. Virginia Stream Condition Index
scores indicating biological assessment of
Byers Creek and Mutton Creek
Station
6CBYS000.08
6CBYS000.08
6CBYS000.08
6CBYS000.08
6CBYS000.08
6CHT0000.07
6CHT0000.07
6CHT0000.07
6CHT0000.07
6CHT0000.07
6CHT0000.07
6CHT0000.07
Stream Name
Byers Creek
Byers Creek
Byers Creek
Byers Creek
Byers Creek
Mutton Creek
Mutton Creek
Mutton Creek
Mutton Creek
Mutton Creek
Mutton Creek
Mutton Creek
Sampling
Date
7/2/2002
11/15/2002
6/30/2005
5/29/2012
11/26/2012
7/2/2002
11/15/2002
6/30/2005
4/9/2007
10/10/2007
5/29/2012
11/26/2012
Score1
57
66
52
64
70
55
63
57
69
63
72
70
Figure 2. Photos taken before (left) and after (right) a landowner
installed a livestock exclusion system in the Mutton Creek
watershed.
designated uses in both waterbodies. As a result,
DEQ removed 0.48 miles of Byers Creek (segment
VAS-005R _ BYS01A94) and 5.15 miles of Mutton
Creek (segment VAS-005R _ HT001A94) from the
state's impaired waters list in 2014.
Partners and Funding
A score above 60 shows support of biological integrity
The water quality improvement has largely resulted
from partnerships between the Holston River Soil
and Water Conservation District (HRSWCD) and
several federal and state agencies, including the
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
(OCR), DEQ, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),
Tennessee Valley Authority, and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. The TMDL implementation project
was locally administered by HRSWCD and included
cost-share funding, outreach activities and technical
assistance to implement agricultural and residential
BMPs. Using a mix of state and CWA section 319
funds, OCR provided a total of $1,141,606 for BMP
cost share and $200,000 for technical services and
outreach/education. NRCS provided $225,512 for
BMP installation. The state of Virginia also provided
support for BMP implementation in the form of tax
credits.
UJ
O
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-15-001BB
May 2015
For additional information contact:
Charlie Lunsford, VDEQ
Charlie.Lunsford@deq.virginia.gov • 804-698-4172
Martha Chapman, VDEQ
Martha.Chapman@deq.virginia.gov • 276-676-4845
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