Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Adding Protection Measures Restores Sitting Bull Creek
Waterbody Improved
Heavy recreational use combined with inadequate restroom
facilities resulted in poor water quality in New Mexico's Sitting Bull
Creek. Severe algal blooms became a common occurrence, prompting the New Mexico Environment
Department (NMED) to add the creek to the state's 1998 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list
of impaired waters for sedimentation, total phosphorus, and bacteria. NMED collaborated with the
U.S. Forest Service (USFS) using CWA section 319 funds to close unauthorized trails, reduce erosion
from the road and parking lot with management measures, and improve the bathroom facilities. Water
quality improved, allowing NMED to remove all listed impairments for Sitting Bull Creek in 2006. The
creek now fully supports its designated uses.
Problem
Sitting Bull Creek is a scenic oasis and a popular
recreation destination in the Chihuahuan desert of
southeastern New Mexico, about 40 miles south-
west of Carlsbad (Figure 1). It is part of the Pecos
River watershed, but is only perennial in the upper
reaches. Inadequate infrastructure and a lack of
management at the Sitting Bull Falls Recreation
Area led to pollution problems, including eroding
soil from steep paths, runoff from roads with poor
drainage control, and the deposition of human
waste near the creek because of a lack of adequate
bathroom facilities.
Nuisance algal blooms were common in pools
below Sitting Bull Falls in the mid-1990s (Figure 2).
Using best professional judgment, NMED deter-
mined that the creek did not support its designated
uses of warmwater fishery and secondary recre-
ation contact. As a result, in 1998 NMED added a
1.8-mile segment of Sitting Bull Creek (segment
NM-9000.A-007: from Last Chance Canyon to
Sitting Bull Springs) to the CWA section 303(d) list
of impaired waters for sedimentation, bacteria and
total phosphorus.
Staff from the NMED Surface Water Quality Bureau
(SWQB) identified the probable sources of Sitting
Bull Creek's water quality problems as dispersed
recreation, improper sanitation, grazing and roads.
The key pollution sources were addressed before a
TMDL could be developed.
Sitting Bull
Creek Project
Site
Figure 1. Sitting Bull Creek is in the Pecos River
watershed in New Mexico.
Project Highlights
To restore water quality in Sitting Bull Creek, the
NMED SWQB coordinated with USFS staff from
the Lincoln National Forest to include water quality
protection measures in their plans to renovate the
Sitting Bull Falls Recreation Area. From fall 1996
to summer 1998, partners used CWA section 319
funds to address sediment pollution by installing
a sediment retention basin and hard armoring
the eroding drainage channels leading from the
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Figure 2. Nuisance algal blooms were common in
pools below Sitting Bull Falls in the mid-1990s.
Figure 3. Restoration project efforts included
adding fencing and armoring drainage ditches.
road and parking lot (Figure 3). They installed pipe
fencing around the picnic areas to discourage
access to the unauthorized trails and to protect the
riparian area from erosion. In addition, the partners
installed a new water supply well and upgraded
the restroom facilities; these improvements have
resolved the sanitation issue and reduced bacte-
rial loading. Volunteer site hosts are stationed in
RVs onsite to monitor the day-use area to ensure
success. This project was a good example of
interagency cooperation on resource management,
as both agencies came together on their planning
efforts to upgrade the recreation area and improve
water quality.
Results
NMED SWQB performed an intensive survey of the
creek after completion of the restoration project. In
2003, staff conducted six sampling events for fecal
coliform, all of which showed that bacteria levels met
the water quality standard (the monthly £ co/i bac-
teria geometric mean must be 206 colony-forming
units per 100 milliliters [cfu/100 ml] or less and any
single sample must be 940 cfu/100 ml or less).
In July 2006, NMED SWQB performed a nutrient
assessment that showed acceptable levels for
the ecoregion-specific ratios required for nitrogen
and phosphorus. Chlorophyll a and pH levels also
fell within acceptable ranges. Because three or
more indicators fell within acceptable ranges, the
segment is considered not impaired by nutrients
and qualifies as providing full support of its desig-
nated uses. As a result, the NMED SWQB removed
Sitting Bull Creek from the
CWA section 303(d) list of
impaired waters for total
phosphorus, sediments,
and bacteria, citing signifi-
cant improvements in land
management.
The creek's water qual-
ity is excellent, which
prompted NMED to add the
more restrictive primary
contact designated use
to Sitting Bull Creek's list
of designated uses in the
2006-2008 State of New
Mexico Integrated CWA
Section 303(d)/305(b)
Report (Figure 4).
Partners and
Funding
Figure 4. Thanks to water quality
protection efforts, Sitting Bull
Creek is now designated for
primary contact recreation use.
The partners on this project
were the Guadalupe Ranger
District of the Lincoln National Forest and NMED
SWQB. A total of $22,700 of CWA section 319 funds
supported the Sitting Bull Falls Water Protection
and Habitat Improvement Project, which included
upgrading restrooms, purchasing seeding materials
for disturbed areas, and installing fencing, erosion
control structures and outreach kiosks. Matching
funds and in-kind activities were provided by the
U.S. Forest Service.
UJ
O
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-14-001KKK
November 2014
For additional information contact:
Daniel Guevara
Environmental Scientist
New Mexico Environment Department, Surface
Water Quality Bureau
505-476-3086 • daniel.guevara@state.nm.us
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