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Section 319
NDNPDINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOGGESS STORY
Otter Creek Achieves Full Attainment of Designated Use After Agricultural
Best Management Practice Implementation
Waterbody Improved
High turbidity, due in part to practices associated with cattle
and wheat production, resulted in impairment of Otter
Creek and placement on Oklahoma's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list in 2004.
Implementation of best management practices (BMPs) to promote better quality grazing
land and cropland decreased sediment loading into the creek. As a result, the entire
30-mile length of Otter Creek was removed from Oklahoma's 2010 CWA section 303(d)
list for turbidity impairment. Otter Creek is now in full attainment of its fish and wildlife
propagation designated use.
Problem
Otter Creek is in Garfield and Logan counties in cen-
tral Oklahoma. Land use in the 75,106-acre water-
shed is primarily wheat cropland and rangeland and
pasture for cattle production, with a small amount
of corn production as well. Poor grazing land
management and a large amount of cropland con-
tributed to excess sedimentation in the watershed.
In the 2004 water quality assessment, monitoring
showed that 15 percent of Otter Creek's seasonal
base flow water samples exceeded 50 nephelo-
metric turbidity units (NTU). A stream is considered
impaired by turbidity if more than 10 percent of the
seasonal base flow water samples exceed 50 NTU
(based on five years of data before the assessment
year). On the basis of these assessment results,
Oklahoma added the entire 30-mile-long Otter
Creek (OK620910030040 _ 00) to the 2004 CWA
section 303(d) list for nonattainment of the fish and
wildlife propagation designated use due to turbidity
impairment.
Project Highlights
Landowners implemented BMPs with assistance
from Oklahoma's locally led cost-share program and
through the local U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
General Conservation Technical Assistance
Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program
(EQIP), Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). From
2005 to 2009, landowners improved pasture and
Figure 1. The Otter Creek watershed is in central Oklahoma.
range condition with 1,200 acres of prescribed
grazing, installation of eight ponds for alternative
water sources, three grade stabilization struc-
tures, 813 acres of integrated pest management,
128 acres of nutrient management, 328 acres of
supplemental vegetation planting and 1,010 acres of
upland wildlife habitat management. One hundred
and four acres of forested riparian buffer was
established to reduce streambank erosion. Cropland
erosion was reduced through 3,176 acres of residue
management, reduced tillage, and no-till methods,
577 acres of conservation cover, cover crops and
conservation crop rotation. In addition, 288 acres of
contour farming, 11 acres of grassed waterways and
1,580 feet of terraces lessened erosion from sloped
cropland. Over 100 acres of riparian forest buffer
further protected the stream from excess sediment
running off the land.
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From 2010 to 2012, additional BMP implementation
further improved grazing and croplands and kept
erosion potential low. Supplemental planting on
14 acres and prescribed grazing on approximately
1,300 acres, along with installation of five grade sta-
bilization structures and one pond allowed optimal
usage of rangeland and reduced bare soil. Reduced
tillage, no-till and conservation crop rotations on
approximately 2,000 acres and 480 acres of contour
farming, 1,652 feet of terraces and seven acres of
grassed waterways protected cropland from exces-
sive soil loss.
Results
The Oklahoma Conservation Commission's
Rotating Basin Monitoring Program, a statewide
nonpoint source ambient monitoring program,
documented improved water quality in Otter
Creek due to landowners implementing BMPs.
In the 2004 assessment, 15 percent of seasonal
base flow water samples exceeded the turbidity
criteria of 50 NTU. This exceedance was reduced
to zero percent in 2010, and Otter Creek was
removed from Oklahoma's CWA section 303(d)
list for turbidity impairment. Otter Creek is now in
full attainment of the fish and wildlife propagation
designated use.
Partners and Funding
The Rotating Basin Monitoring Program is sup-
ported by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's CWA section 319 program at an aver-
age annual cost of $1 million. Monitoring costs
include personnel, supplies and lab analyses for
18 parameters from samples collected every
5 weeks at about 100 sites. In-stream habitat, fish
Base Flow Turbidity (NTU)
NJ -t^ O> 00
O O O O O
Otter Creek
15%exceedance
0%exceedance 0% exceed a nee
'
v>. c".
r* :•> ' i
2004 2010 2012
Assessment Year
Figure 2. Monitoring data indicate that base flow turbidity levels
in Otter Creek have declined.
and macroinvertebrate samples are also collected.
Approximately $600,000 in CWA section 319
funding supports statewide education, outreach
and monitoring efforts through the Blue Thumb
program. The Oklahoma cost-share program
provided approximately $14,000 in state funding
for BMPs in this watershed through the Logan and
Garfield county conservation districts. NRCS spent
approximately $620,000 for implementation of
BMPs in this area from 2005 to 2009. An additional
$600,000 was spent from 2010 to 2012 to maintain
these practices and continue to promote good graz-
ing land and cropland management. Landowners
provided a significant percentage of funding toward
BMP implementation in these programs as well.
UJ
(9
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-14-001CCC
September 2014
For additional information contact:
Shanon Phillips
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
405-522-4500 • shanon.phillips@conservation.ok.gov
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