•
               Section 319
               NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCCESS STORY
 Implementation of Conservation Practices Improves Bacteria Levels in

 Commission Creek

Waterbodv I m Droved   H'9h leve'S °f Escherichia coli(E- co//) bacteria, caused in
                   ''"'   v   "   part by cattle production, led to Commission Creek being
 added to Oklahoma's 2002 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters.
 Implementing a system of conservation practices (CPs) to improve grazingland and
 exclude livestock from riparian areas resulted in decreased bacteria in the creek. As a
 result. Commission Creek was removed from Oklahoma's 2008 CWA section 303(d) list
 for E. co/i impairment and is in partial attainment of its primary body contact recreation
 designated use.
 Problem
 Twelve-mile-long Commission Creek
 (OK520620050160 _ 00) flows through Ellis County
 on the western Oklahoma border with Texas (Figure
 1). The majority of the land in the 31,543-acre area is
 used for wheat and cattle production. A small amount
 of cotton and sorghum is also produced. Erosion of
 grazingland, coupled with improper management
 of livestock wastes and direct livestock access to
 streams, was potentially the largest nonpoint source
 (NPS) problem in the watershed, contributing to high
 levels of fecal bacteria in the stream. In the 2002
 water quality assessment, E. co/i levels exceeded the
 state criterion, with a geometric mean of 146 colony
 forming units/100 milliliters (CFU). The primary body
 contact recreation designated use is considered
 impaired if the geometric  mean exceeds 126 CFU
 for E. co/i. A TMDL for E. co/i and Enterococcus was
 implemented by Oklahoma in 2006.
                                                             Commission Creek Watershed
 Project Highlights
 Landowners implemented CPs with support from
 the Oklahoma Conservation Commission's (OCC's)
 Locally Led Cost Share Program (LLCS), and
 funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
 Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
 Environmental Quality Incentives Program,
 Conservation Reserve Program and Wildlife Habitat
 Incentive Program. The focus of most CPs in this
 watershed was to improve rangeland quality and
 restore natural habitat. Improved water quality was
 expected from decreased runoff from poor quality
 land that can carry both sediment and fecal bacteria
                                             Figure 1. The Commission Creek watershed flows through
                                             Ellis County in western Oklahoma.
                                             into waterbodies. From 2006 to 2014, landowners
                                             installed eight alternative water supplies and imple-
                                             mented 2,784 acres of prescribed grazing. Brush
                                             management on 660 acres also helped improve
                                             range quality. In addition, upland wildlife habitat man-
                                             agement occurred on 2,466 acres, which produced
                                             high quality, diverse, natural vegetation which is less
                                             susceptible to erosion.

                                             The OCC NPS education program, Blue Thumb, had
                                             an active presence in Ellis County from 2004 to 2010.
                                             In 2002, staff from the Ellis County Conservation

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Bacteria Data, Commission Creek
800-
600-
3
LJ_
y
I400'
Uj
200-
0-
Ge
me

ometr c
an =146 Geometric *
mean = 142
H K
Geometric
mean = 93
*
Geometric
mean = 50



2002






D
2004 2008
AssessmentYear




— ' —


2014
Figure 2. Boxplots indicate the interquartile range
(25th-75th percentile) and median of the data for
assessment years 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2014. A
stream meets criteria for E. coli if the geometric
mean, based on no more than five years of data
preceding the assessment year,  is less than
126 colony forming units/100 ml (CPU).

District and local NRCS participated in a Blue Thumb
training session. In addition, a local  high school
teacher and her students monitored a stream in the
county and submitted reports on the results to the
local newspaper to inform  local citizens about poten-
tial problems and options to improve water quality.
The high school students participated in an annual
training about NPS pollution and used an Enviroscape
watershed model to teach  younger students about
NPS dynamics and solutions.
Results
The OCC Rotating Basin Monitoring Program, a state-
wide nonpoint source ambient monitoring program,
documented improved water quality in Commission
Creek due to the conservation efforts  (Figure 2). The
grazingland and nutrient management CPs decreased
erosion and bacteria loading, and the CPs designed
to improve rangeland and wildlife habitat resulted
in denser vegetation and fewer bare spots, which
equated to less runoff of soil, nutrients and bacteria
from animal wastes into waterbodies.  Monitoring
data showed that the geometric mean of E. coli in
the 2008 assessment was 93 CFU, below the state
standard of 126 CFU. Hence, Commission Creek was
removed from the 2008 CWA section 303(d) list for
E. coli impairment. The geometric mean in the 2014
Figure 3. The OCC Rotating Basin Monitoring
Program documented improved water quality in
Commission Creek, seen here in 2015.
assessment was even lower, at 50 CFU, indicating
that E. coli in Commission Creek has remained low,
and the creek is in partial attainment of the primary
body contact recreation use. With continued good
management, the waterbody is expected to fully
attain its primary recreation designated use.
Partners and Funding
The improvement in water quality in Commission
Creek was documented by OCC's statewide N PS
ambient monitoring effort known as the Rotating
Basin Monitoring Program (RBMP). The RBMP is
funded in part with U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) CWA section 319 funds at a total annual
cost of $1 million. This funding supports personnel,
supplies, lab analyses and other associated costs.
Sampling efforts comprise 20 water quality collec-
tions at approximately 100 sites every five weeks
per five-year cycle. Instream habitat, fish and macro-
invertebrate samples are also collected during this
period. Statewide educational efforts through OCC's
Blue Thumb are also funded by EPA section 319 at
a cost of approximately $600,000 annually. The Ellis
County Conservation District and landowners in the
watershed contributed approximately $5,000 through
the LLCS program. NRCS spent a little over $1 million
through its programs for implementation of CPs in Ellis
County from 2006 through  2014, and implementation
continues in the area through various  programs.
I
3
s
        U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
        Office of Water
        Washington, DC

        EPA841-F-15-001II
        August 2015
For additional information contact:
Shanon Phillips
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
shanon.phillips@conservation.ok.gov
405-522-4500

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