Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCGESS STORY
Cooperative Watershed Management Improves Dissolved Oxygen Levels
in the Dragoon Creek Watershed
Waterbodies Improved
Agricultural runoff from grassland and cropland led to sediment
and nutrient loading, which contributed to decreased dissolved
oxygen (DO) levels in the Dragoon Creek watershed. As a result, the Kansas Department of Health and
Environment (KDHE) added four streams in the watershed to the state's 1998 Clean Water Act (CWA)
section 303(d) list of impaired waters for low levels of DO. Watershed partners, including local, state
and federal agencies as well as numerous landowners, implemented agricultural best management
practices (BMPs) that reduced pollution. Data show that the four stream segments (Dragoon, Batch,
Plum and Smith creeks—totaling 76.3 miles) now meet the state's DO water quality standard,
prompting KDHE to remove them from the state's 2012 list of impaired waters for DO.
Problem
Pomona Lake Watershed
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The 205,359-acre Dragoon Creek watershed is
part of the Pomona Lake watershed in east-central
Kansas. Dragoon Creek originates in the south-
east portion of Wabaunsee County, and it flows
southeast until it merges with Valley Brook and
110-Mile Creek to form Pomona Lake in Osage
County (Figure 1). Grassland (55 percent) and
cropland (26 percent) are the primary land uses in
the Pomona Lake watershed; they are concentrated
heavily in the headwaters of the watershed, as well
as around Pomona Lake.
Between 1990 and 2000, water quality samples
were collected on Dragoon Creek (see Figure 1 for
monitoring location). Of 77 samples collected, eight
had DO levels below the state standard of 5 mil-
ligrams per liter (mg/L), the minimum DO concentra-
tion required to support the aquatic life designated
use. As a result, KDHE added four streams in the
Dragoon Creek watershed—Dragoon, Batch, Plum
and Smith creeks—to the state's 1998 CWA section
303(d) list of impaired waters for DO.
To address the DO impairments, KDHE developed
a total maximum daily load (TMDL), which the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved
in 2001. External organic loading from livestock
and other farming operations in the watershed and
in-stream primary production of organic material
were identified in the TMDL as probable causes of
the low-DO problems in Dragoon Creek. In addition
to monitoring DO, the state collected total phos-
phorus, total suspended solids and bacteria data to
assess organic loading in the stream.
Legend
Delisted Stream Segments (4) i N
• Monitoring Site SCS77 A
BMP Targeted Area! f.
BMP Targeted Area 2
Figure 1. Dragoon Creek is in the Pomona Lake watershed.
Project Highlights
ginning in 2001, the Osage County Conservation
District; U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS);
local landowners; the Pomona Lake Watershed
Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) and
the USDA Farm Service Agency implemented agri-
cultural and livestock BMPs throughout the Pomona
Lake watershed. Landowners installed a number of
BMPs to limit livestock access to waterbodies on
more than 3,200 acres (3,107 acres of access control
and 103 acres of use exclusion). BMPs included
17 new or refurbished ponds used for alternative
watering sources for livestock; 14 watering facilities;
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Figure 2. A landowner installed this livestock
exclusion fence to reduce organic loading to
surface waters.
4,606 linear feet of pipeline to support the alterna-
tive watering systems; and 44,574 linear feet of
livestock exclusion fencing (Figure 2).
Project partners also implemented a number of
BMPs to reduce agricultural runoff, including
4,279 acres of prescribed grazing; 5,617 linear feet
of diversion methods to redirect runoff; 17,660 lin-
ear feet of field borders (bands or strips of perenni-
al vegetation established on the edges of cropland
fields); 254 acres of filter strips (areas of grass or
other permanent vegetation); 296 acres of grassed
waterways (grass strips planted along cropland
drainage areas); 6,458 acres of conservation crop
rotation; 265 acres of pasture and hay planting;
556 acres of cover crops; 6,362 acres of residue
and tillage management; 167,846 linear feet of
terraces; 975 acres of contour farming; 11 water
and sediment control basins; and 6,042 acres of
nutrient management. Additional BMPs included
32 acres of riparian forest buffers, 676 acres of for-
est harvest management, and installation of four
onsite wastewater systems.
Results
KDHE has collected 63 water samples in Dragoon
Creek since the TMDL went into effect in 2001.
Fourteen samples collected between 2001 and 2012
under conditions of high temperature and low flow
did not indicate low DO. Average flow conditions for
the periods of low DO during 2001-2012 were lower
(24 percent of median flow) than those for such
periods before 2001 (33 percent of median flow).
Therefore, the improvement in water quality does not
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Figure 3. BMPs installed as part of the TMDL implementation
effort led to improved DO levels in Dragoon Creek.
appear to be an artifact of improved flow conditions
or moderate water temperatures during the past
decade. In addition, monitoring conducted after
2001 shows less phosphorus and organic material
in the waterbody, contributing to decreased oxygen
demand on the stream in recent years. All samples
collected since 2008 have met Kansas's DO criterion
of 5 mg/L, the DO level necessary to support the
aquatic life designated use (Figure 3). Based on
these data, KDHE removed Dragoon, Batch, Plum
and Smith creeks (76.3 total stream miles) from its
list of impaired waters in 2012 for DO impairment.
KDHE indicates that BMPs to abate nutrient, sedi-
ment and organic matter loads to the stream likely
contributed to improving DO levels in the Dragoon
Creek watershed.
Partners and Funding
The success of this project can be attributed to
several local, state and federal partners, includ-
ing Osage County Conservation District; Kansas
Department of Agriculture (KDA), Division of
Conservation; EPA Region 7; Pomona Lake WRAPS;
NRCS; Farm Service Agency; Ecotone Forestry;
Kansas State University; and Kansas Rural Center.
The project was supported by CWA section
319 funds, specifically a 2006 Pomona WRAPS
Assessment grant ($85,000), a 2007 Pomona
WRAPS Planning grant ($50,000) and two Pomona
WRAPS implementation grants (totaling $85,000).
KDA's Division of Conservation, NRCS, and local
landowners provided additional support.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-13-001J
February 2013
For additional information contact:
Sheryl Ervin
Kansas Department of Health and Environment
785-296-8038
servin@kdheks.gov
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