Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCGESS STORY
Fecal Coliform Levels Decline after Photographs and Stream Walks Help
Pinpoint Failing Septic Systems
Waterbodies Improved Bacte;'afromHfail"9 septictanksan'runofffr°m ani™',
agriculture and urban areas caused Georgia s Jacks, Hopkins
and Cedar creeks to exceed water quality standards for fecal coliform bacteria. As a result,
Georgia's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) added three 4-mile-long segments—one each
on the three creeks—to Georgia's Clean Water Act (CWA) 2002 section 303(d) list of impaired
waters. Using CWA section 319 funds, the Gwinnett County Department of Public Utilities
(Gwinnett County) conducted a color infrared (CIR) aerial photography survey of the county. This
CIR survey identified actively failing septic systems, which were referred to the Gwinnett County
Environmental Health Department for enforcement action. As a result of those efforts, all three
4-mile-long segments showed decreased levels of fecal coliform bacteria, prompting Georgia
DNR to remove them from the state's list of impaired waters for fecal coliform in 2008.
Problem
The three impaired creeks flow through Gwinnett
County in north-central Georgia. Jacks Creek is a
tributary of the Yellow River, while both Hopkins
and Cedar creeks flow into the Alcovy River, just
east of the Yellow River (Figure 1). All three creeks
are in the Southern Outer Piedmont Ecoregion,
which has lower elevations and less precipitation
than other ecoregions to the north.
Monitoring data collected in 1999 show that Jacks,
Hopkins and Cedar creeks violated water quality
standards for fecal coliform in two of four geomet-
ric mean sampling sets. The standard requires that
fecal coliform levels not exceed a geometric mean
(four samples collected over a 30-day period) of 200
colony forming units (cfu) per 100 milliliters (ml)
in the summer and 1,000 cfu/100 ml in the winter.
Because the three creeks failed to meet criteria
supporting theirfishing designated uses (Georgia's
most stringent classification), Georgia DNR added
the three 4-mile-long creek segments to Georgia's
2002 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters
for high fecal coliform levels. Georgia DNR identi-
fied the primary sources of fecal coliform as failing
septic systems and animal waste from agricultural
and urban runoff.
Georgia DNR conducted a total maximum daily load
(TMDL) study for pathogen loads in the Ocmulgee
Georgia's
Major River
Systems
Figure 1. Jacks
Creek flows into
the Yellow River
(noted in blue),
and Hopkins and
Cedar creeks flow
into Alcovy River
(noted in red).
River watershed; the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency approved the TMDL in 2002. The TMDL
determined that the pathogen loads must be
reduced into Jacks Creek (by 15 percent), Hopkins
Creek (by 53 percent) and Cedar Creek (by 52 per-
cent) to meet water quality requirements for fishing.
Project Highlights
To accomplish the necessary reductions, Gwinnett
County implemented a countywide CIR septic
survey and developed a watershed improvement
plan (WIP) for the Yellow River watershed. As a
headwater tributary of the Yellow River, Jacks Creek
-------
was included in the WIP. One of the elements of the
WIP was to determine stream conditions and char-
acteristics through field stream survey inventories.
During the stream survey for Jacks Creek, Gwinnet
County identified nine water quality concerns,
including one illicit discharge, one failing septic
system, five incidents of livestock in the stream and
two kennels with uncontrolled runoff. As a supple-
ment to this project, Gwinnett County addressed
the sources by referring them to the appropriate
regulatory agency or internal department.
The county's CIR septic survey used aerial photog-
raphy to identify actively failing septic systems.
The photographic analysis process involves visually
examining and comparing many components of
individual photographs, including shadow, tone,
color, texture, shape, size, pattern and landscape.
The photographic analyst identified signatures
associated with specific environmental conditions
or events. After an analyst identified possible failure
sites through CIR, county staff members completed
ground verification inspections to identify areas
of surfacing effluent from failing septic systems
(Figure 2). That effort helped to identify 18 fail-
ing septic systems in the Jacks Creek watershed
Figure 2. Two
photographs of
the same site in
the Jacks Creek
watershed indicate
a failing septic
system. The
standard photo (top)
shows an isolated
area of thick green
grass. The red area
seen in the infrared
photo (bottom),
shows that the
isolated grassy
area is also warmer
than the area
surrounding it.
and a combined 19 failing systems in the Hopkins
Creek and Cedar Creek watersheds. The county's
Environmental Health Department worked with
homeowners to repair the failing systems and edu-
cated them about maintenance to prevent future
failures. Those activities occurred between 2003
and 2007.
Results
Georgia DNR collected monitoring data on Jacks,
Hopkins and Cedar creeks in 2006, as part of a
larger effort to update the Ocmulgee River fecal
coliform TMDL. The data show that all segments of
Jacks, Hopkins and Cedar creeks now meet water
quality standards for bacteria (Table 1). On the basis
of the data, Georgia DNR removed all three seg-
ments of Jacks, Hopkins and Cedar creeks from the
state's list of impaired waters in 2008.
Table 1. Data from 2006 show that Jacks, Hopkins
and Cedar creeks meet water quality standards
for fecal coliform bacteria (< 1,000 cfu/100 mL in
winter and < 200 cfu/100 mL in summer)
Waterbody
Jacks Creek
Hopkins Creek
Cedar Creek
Geometric mean (cfu/100 ml)
January 2006
116
32
57
July 2006
198
123
106
Partners and Funding
Partners implemented projects with support from
CWA section 319 funding, including $114,866 in the
Jacks Creek watershed, $1,558 in the Hopkins Creek
watershed and $1,964 in the Cedar Creek watershed.
Gwinnett County provided the remaining 40 percent
of project costs for a total of $191,444 in Jacks
Creek, $2,597 in Hopkins Creek and $3,273 in Cedar
Creek. Key partners in this effort were the Gwinnett
County Department of Public Utilities and Gwinnett
County Department of Environmental Health. The
partners provided technical expertise, labor and
enforcement of regulations when necessary.
I
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-10-001N
August 2010
For additional information contact:
Jeff Linzer, II
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
404-675-1643 • Jeffrey_Linzer@dnr.state.ga.us
Laurie J. Hawks
Gwinnett County
678-376-6939 • laurie.hawks@gwinnettcounty.com
------- |