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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