NONPOINT SOIREE SICCESS STOIY
Installing Best Management Practices within the Mill Creek Watershed
Improved Dissolved Oxygen Levels
Waterbody Improved
In 2004, Mill Creek, a tributary of the Ogeechee River in Bulloch
County, Georgia, was listed as impaired for dissolved oxygen
(DO). The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GAEPD) awarded the Central Savannah River
Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council a Clean Water Act (CWA) section 319
grant to assist local landowners with installing agricultural best management practices (BMPs) in
the Mill Creek watershed from 2010 to 2013. Farmers received technical and financial assistance to
develop nutrient and conservation management plans and install BMPs for better control of runoff
containing animal waste, sediment, nutrients and chemical fertilizers into Mill Creek. Based on water
quality monitoring data, GAEPD noted this waterbody as supporting its designated use (fishing) in
2014 and removed it from the CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters.
Problem
ill Creek Watershed - Supporting in 2014
Mill Creek is in the Southern Coastal Plain of southeast
Georgia. In 2004 GAEPD put a 16-mile segment of
Mill Creek (Newsome Branch to Ogeechee River near
Statesboro: GAR030602020401) on Georgia's CWA
section 303(d) list of impaired waters as not support-
ing its designated uses for fishing due to low DO.
One of the more predominant land uses in the Mill
Creek watershed is agriculture, which can lead to low
levels of DO due to surface water runoff that contains
pollutants such as animal waste, sediment, nutrients
and chemical fertilizers. Oxygen is needed to decom-
pose the organic load from livestock, and excessive
nutrient loading stimulates aquatic vegetation growth.
As a result, when aquatic vegetation dies it requires
additional oxygen to decompose the plant matter.
In September 2007 GAEPD published the Revised Total
Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Evaluation for Twenty-
Three Stream Segments in the Ogeechee River Basin for
Dissolved Oxygen. The dissolved oxygen TMDL for the
Ogeechee River Basin was established as 133.9 pounds
(Ibs) per day measured as Average Annual Oxygen
Demanding Substances to meet the water quality
standard of a daily average of 5.0 milligrams per liter
(mg/L) and no less than 4.0 mg/L at all times for waters
supporting warm water species of fish.
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Figure 1. Landowners implemented agricultural BMPs
in multiple locations throughout southeast Georgia's
Mill Creek watershed.
Project Highlights
The Central Savannah River RC&D Council installed
a series of 42 agriculture BMPs and wrote compre-
hensive nutrient/conservation management plans
for six producer properties from July 2010 through
January 2013 (Figure 1). The BMPs included fencing
out livestock from streams with alternative watering
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Figure 2. Watershed landowners installed numerous
BMPs in the Mill Creek watershed, including (1) a fence
and an alternative watering source practice that keeps
cattle out of the stream (top photo) and (2) pasture hay
planting that holds soil in place and reduces erosion
(bottom photo).
sources and planting pasture/hay land areas (Figure 2).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource
Conservation Service (NRCS) had already assisted
other farmers in the Mill Creek watershed with cost-
share BMPs and also provided technical advisement
to Central Savannah River RC&D Council during this
project. In addition, the Ogeechee River Soil and Water
Conservation District (District) helped the Central
Savannah River RC&D convene a Steering/Advisory
Committee that recruited farmers to participate in
the project.
Results
Data show that this segment of Mill Creek now meets
the water quality standards for DO and fully sup-
ports its fishing designated use (Figure 3). As a result,
GAEPD removed the 16-mile segment of Mill Creek
from Georgia's 2014 impaired waters list. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency approved the
Dissolved Oxygen Trend on Mill Creek
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(at Bulloch County Road 386)
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Sampling Date
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Aug-13 Dec-14
Figure 3. Data from Mill Creek sampling station 0202040301
show improving dissolved oxygen levels over time.
delisting of this stream segment in May 2014. Load
reduction estimates indicated that completed BMPs
were successful in decreasing loadings of organic
material and chemicals, resulting in less consumption
of oxygen. Total load reductions for nitrogen, phospho-
rus and sediment were modeled to be 2,495 Ibs per
year (yr), 1,089 Ibs/yr and 1,055 tons/yr, respectively.
Partners and Funding
The District provided in-kind labor through their ser-
vice on the advisory council. They assisted with
promoting the Mill Creek project and approved
proposed landowner contracts for BMPs. Agri-Supply
Company helped fund a BMP Demonstration Field Day.
The Central Savannah River RC&D and the District indi-
cated they might use the completed BMP installations
as demonstration sites for future educational events
to promote BMP usage and further the advancement
of conservation practices. NRCS assisted with educa-
tional outreach to landowners and approval of BMP
installations.
GAEPD awarded the Central Savannah River RC&D
a $313,370 CWA section 319 grant for project items
approved in the work plan, Lotts Creek & Mill Creek
Water Quality Improvement Project. Including in-kind
match contribution, the total project amount was
$522,624. These funds paid for agricultural BMPs,
equipment, personnel, travel and supplies. Matching
funds ($209,306 total) included local landowners'
BMP cost-share funds as well as in-kind labor provided
by landowners, the District, and Central Savannah
River RC&D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
\ Washington, DC
^ EPA841-F-16-001S
August 2016
For additional information contact:
Constance Gilliam
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
connie.gilliam@dnr.ga.gov
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