Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Reducing Agricultural Runoff Reduces Lead in Bayou DeView
Waterbodies Improved
High lead levels due to runoff from row crop areas impaired
Arkansas' Bayou DeView. As a result, the Arkansas Department
of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) added four segments of the stream (58.2 miles total) to the state's
2012 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters for lead impairment. Watershed
partners initiated watershed assessments and implemented best management practices (BMPs) to
abate sediment runoff from row crops in the watershed. The lead levels in Bayou DeView declined,
prompting ADEQ to remove the four segments from the 2014 CWA section 303(d) list for lead
impairment.
Problem
Bayou DeView (Waterbody AR-4B-8020302) is an
83-mile-long waterway that flows through parts
of Woodruff, Monroe, Poinsett, Cross, Craighead
and Jackson counties in northeastern and east-
central Arkansas (Figure 1). The stream traverses
the eastern flank of the Cache River watershed and
is included within its boundaries. Bayou DeView's
relatively large watershed (approximately 30 per-
cent of the entire Cache River watershed) begins
in Craighead County, Arkansas, and ends with the
stream's confluence with the Cache River in Monroe
County, Arkansas. ADEQ has listed Bayou DeView
as a Channel-Altered Delta Ecoregion Stream.
Runoff from agricultural row crop fields was con-
tributing excess lead to Bayou DeView. An ADEQ
assessment, performed between 4/1/2006 and
3/31/2011, examined the stream's existing 2002-
2003 data and found that reach 004 (21.2 miles long),
reach 005 (8.6 miles long), reach 006 (10.2 miles
long) and reach 007 (18.2 miles long) did not meet
the state's water quality standard for lead. A stream
is considered impaired if more than one sample
during the 3-year period of record exceeds its appli-
cable criteria for lead, which varies based on water
hardness. Data showed three criteria exceedances
in 2003, prompting ADEQ to add four consecutive
upstream reaches to the state's 2012 CWA section
303(d) list of impaired waters for lead (Table 1). ADEQ
completed draft total maximum daily loads for lead
and total dissolved solids for the Cache River and
Bayou DeView in 2012.
Cache River Watershed
Bayou DeView Watershed
Impaired Reaches
- Streams
-Qties
J Major Highway
Project Highlights
In 2001 the Jackson County Conservation District
(JCCD) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) began
providing financial and technical assistance to
help landowners implement water control and
Figure 1. Bayou DeView is a tributary of the
Cache River in eastern Arkansas.
conveyance BMPs to manage the discharge of
drainage water from agricultural fields. Many land-
owners took advantage of this opportunity; they
installed 430 water control structures, preventing
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Table 1. Water Quality Data for Bayou DeView
Sample
Date
7/29/2002
10/22/2001
3/25/2002
11/4/2002
1/7/2003
3/10/2003
4/28/2003
6/23/2003
8/25/2003
Lead Level
WD
BDL
BDL
BDL
BDL
1.48*
1.38*
2.47*
BDL
1.15
Hardness
96
87
29
77
46
36
28
64
161
Water Quality Criteria
for Lead (p-g/L)
2.41
2.16
0.64
1.89
1.07
0.81
0.61
1.54
4.21
= Micrograms per liter
BDL = Below detection limit
* = Exceeds applicable water quality criteria
approximately 36,980 tons of soil from eroding
and entering Bayou DeView. These BMPs help
to prevent sediment (which carries lead) from
leaving agricultural fields by controlling the rate,
velocity and volume of field runoff (Figure 2). By
slowing the runoff and preventing the sediment
from reaching the stream, the BMPs decrease the
amount of lead that enters the stream.
In 2004 TNC proposed a work plan for a series of
integrated sediment, hydrology, geomorphology
and biology monitoring surveys. The surveys cul-
minated in a report and spatial relational database
containing a priority ranking of the Cache River's
tributary streams. Because of the short length of
the study (one year), however, no flow regime or
water quality trends could be established for statis-
tical predictions.
Figure 2. A project
participant installs a drop
pipe structure, which will
allowthe discharge runoff
water to empty directly into
Bayou DeView rather than
drain across an erosion-
prone field.
From 2006 until 2009, TNC began
a second phase of the project.
Critical stream bank erosion areas
were identified, ranked and priori-
tized based on the sediment con-
tribution from the subwatersheds
to the Cache River main stem. This
information was used for future
implementation projects designed
to reduce sediment inputs in the
watershed through BMP installa-
tion; it also allowed for a system
of ranking streams in the priority
watershed. As a result, ANRC was
able to make data-driven manage-
ment decisions concerning funding
allocation in the watershed.
The Cross County Conservation District (CCCD)
installed water conveyance and control structures
in the watershed from 2009 to 2011. This project
included approximately 115,600 feet of pipe for
water conveyance and water control structures,
resulting in an estimated soil savings of 219,660 tons
per year. The project will further reduce the amount
of lead and sediment entering Bayou DeView.
Results
ANRC and its partners successfully addressed
erosion from agricultural row crop sources and
lead levels dropped as a result. ADEQ collected
12 samples in 2011-2012; of those, 10 samples had
no detectable lead and two samples had very low
lead levels that fell well below the applicable water
quality criteria. Therefore, ADEQ has removed the
four reaches from Arkansas' 2014 CWA section
303(d) list for lead impairment. The stream remains
listed as impaired for turbidity.
Partners and Funding
The following partners helped to restore the four
reaches of Bayou DeView and the Cache River:
local landowners in the watershed, the JCCD,
CCCD, TNC, ANRC, ADEQ, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation
Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). ANRC provided EPA CWA section
319 funds to partners for several projects.
The JCCD and TNC used $250,000 in CWA section
319 funds to help local landowners identify problem
areas and purchase materials for implementing
BMPs. The JCCD and TNC also provided $200,400
in cash and in-kind match to purchase and install
materials. The CCCD used $450,000 in CWA sec-
tion 319 funds to help purchase BMP materials. The
CCCD also provided $450,000 in cash and in-kind
match to purchase and install materials.
TNC used $294,751 in CWA section 319 funds to
identify, quantify and rank stream segments on the
basis of the levels of sediment and nutrient load
contributed to the main stem Cache River, its tribu-
taries and the associated bottomland hardwood
and riverine wetlands. These data were used for
future projects designed to reduce sediment inputs
in the watershed through BMPs. TNC also provided
$247,220 in cash and in-kind match to identify prior-
ity stream segments in the watershed and install
monitoring stations.
UJ
(9
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-14-001FFF
September 2014
For additional information contact:
Dusty Rains
Arkansas Natural Resources Commission
501-682-3916
dusty.rains@arkansas.gov
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