Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Implementing Agricultural Best Management Practices Restores Upper
Tonawanda Creek
\A/ t h H I H Nutrients and sediment in runoff from agricultural activities and
die UUUy ii p U WU other nonpoint sources impaired the water supply use for the upper
portion of Tonawanda Creek in Wyoming and Genesee counties in New York. As a result, the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) included this segment on the New York
State Priority Waterbodies List in 1996 and added it to the Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list
of impaired waters in 2004 for silt and sediment. The soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) in
both counties worked with farmers to install agricultural best management practices (BMPs) to reduce
sediment and nutrient pollutant loads in the watershed. The upper portion of Tonawanda Creek now
meets water quality standards for total dissolved solids, prompting NYSDEC to remove it from New
York's list of impaired waters in 2012.
Problem
New York's Tonawanda Creek is a 101-mile-long
tributary to the Niagara River. The creek drains
approximately 631.9 square miles, making its water-
shed one of the largest in western New York. The
watershed drains portions of Wyoming, Genesee,
Niagara and Erie counties, as well as the Tonawanda
native reservation area. The principal land use in
the watershed is agriculture (45 percent; primarily
dairy, vegetable crops and cash crops), followed by
forest (27 percent), urban/residential (17 percent)
and wetlands (11 percent). Tonawanda Creek flows
through the former lake bed of the prehistoric Glacial
Lake Tonawanda, and many of the wetlands in the
watershed are remnants of that earlier time.
In 2004 NYSDEC added the Upper Tonawanda
Creek and Minor Tributaries assessment unit (which
includes approximately 255 stream miles upstream
of the city of Batavia) to the CWA section 303(d) list
of impaired waters for failing to support its water
supply use because of elevated levels of silt and sed-
iment (Figure 1). New York's water quality standards
for total dissolved solids (TDS) require that levels
remain below 500 milligrams per liter (mg/L). (TDS
is a surrogate for silt and sediment.) Water quality
monitoring data collected in 1993 and 1994 indicated
that TDS levels in the upper portion of Tonawanda
Creek regularly exceeded the state's water quality
standard, with maximum values of approximately
800 mg/L. The major sources of the silt and sedi-
ment were agriculture and streambank erosion.
Upper Tonawanda
Creek Watershed
Upper Tonawanda
Creek Watershed
River/Stream Segment
Little Tonawanda Creek, Lower, and Tributaries
Tonawanda Creek, Middle, Main Stem
Tonawanda Creek, Upper, and Minor Tributaries
Figure 1. Upper Tonawanda Creek watershed.
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Project Highlights
New York's Nonpoint Source Management Program
(NPS Program) established a network of County
Water Quality Coordinating Committees in the
early 1990s. Each county committee assessed its
county's nonpoint source and water quality manage-
ment priorities and developed County Water Quality
Strategies to address them. The strategies developed
for both Wyoming and Genesee counties identified
the Tonawanda Creek watershed as a high priority.
Subsequently, both counties completed County
Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM)
Strategic Plans, which identify agricultural nonpoint
source concerns in the priority watersheds and priori-
tize the BMPs needed to address the concerns.
To support these strategic plans, the Tonawanda
Creek Watershed Agricultural BMP Implementation
Project was initiated in 2001. In the first phase
of the project, detailed AEM assessments were
completed on 68 farms to inventory current farming
activities and potential environmental concerns,
assess and prioritize areas of concern, and develop
conservation plans to address these concerns and
farm goals. After completing AEM assessments,
project partners began implementing agricultural
BMPs within the watershed. Since 2006 New
York Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) grants
have supported implementation of a wide range
of conservation practices to address nutrients
and sediments on 12 farms in the upper portion
of the Tonawanda Creek watershed. The BMPs
have included conservation tillage practices, cover
cropping, pasture and grazing management, fenc-
ing, livestock water supplies, filter strips, barnyard
management systems, silage leachate management
systems, and waste storage and transfer systems.
The Tonawanda Creek watershed remains a high
priority in updated water quality strategies and AEM
strategic plans for this area; therefore, it will be
considered for future funding support through EPF
and other New York State grant programs.
Results
The Wyoming County and Genesee County SWCDs'
activities to support agricultural BMP implemen-
tation reduced soil erosion, sedimentation and
nutrient losses from farms and contributed to
improvements in water quality in Upper Tonawanda
Creek (Figure 2). Water quality sampling conducted
in 2006 showed average TDS values of approximate-
ly 270 mg/L, with a maximum value of 302 mg/L.
These concentrations were significantly below the
500 mg/L standard. In 2010 additional biomonitoring
Figure 2. Implementing best management practices
have led to water quality improvements in upper
Tonawanda Creek.
continued in the watershed to track water quality
improvements. On the basis of these data, NYSDEC
removed the Upper Tonawanda Creek and Minor
Tributaries assessment unit from the CWA section
303(d) list of impaired waters in 2012.
Partners and Funding
A comprehensive partnership between the
Wyoming County and Genesee County SWCDs,
regional and state agencies, and citizen and farmer
groups has helped to implement BMPs and has
led outreach and education efforts related to
improved management practices. The two phases
of the Tonawanda Creek Watershed Agricultural
BMP Implementation Project were supported
by $943,029 in Agricultural Nonpoint Source
Implementation Program funds provided through the
New York EPF. The EPF provides the state's CWA
section 319 matching funds. Landowner and spon-
sor matches contributed an additional $704,295 for
agricultural projects in the Tonawanda Creek water-
shed. The nonpoint source BMPs implemented in
the watershed are consistent with the New York
Nonpoint Source Program's Management Practices
Catalogue for Nonpoint Source Pollution Prevention
and Water Quality Protection in New York State.
The Tonawanda Creek Watershed Committee was
formed in 2010 to continue the mission to protect,
conserve and restore the quality of Tonawanda
Creek and its watershed. This committee is a
multi-county alliance (Wyoming, Genesee, Erie and
Niagara counties) that includes state, local and tribal
officials and interested citizens. Its work is critical
to maintaining the quality of portions of Tonawanda
Creek that have shown improvements and to con-
tinuing to restore Lower Tonawanda Creek.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-13-001Q
April 2013
For additional information contact:
Don Tuxill
New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation
518-402-8168
detuxill@gw.dec.state.ny.us
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