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Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Mid
Implementing Best Management Practices Improves Carter Run
Waterbody Improved
In 1998 the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
added Carter Run to the state's Clean Water Act (CWA) section
303(d) list of impaired waters for violating the state's bacteria standard. To reduce bacteria loadings,
various agricultural and residential best management practices (BMPs) were installed through a total
maximum daily load (TMDL) implementation project supported by federal, state, and landowner funds,
implementing BMPs significantly reduced in-stream bacterial concentrations, resulting in reduced
Escherichia coli violation rates. As a result, DEQ expects that Carter Run will be removed from the
state's CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters in the near future.
Problem
Carter Run is in the Upper Rappahannock River
Basin in the Chesapeake Bay watershed The Carter
Run watershed spans approximately 35,580 acres
in northern Virginia's Fauquier County (Figure 1). The
primary land uses are forest (63 percent), agricul-
tural (35 percent), and residential (2 percent).
Virginia's current E. coli water quality criteria require
that bacteria levels be less than a geometric mean
concentration of 126 colony-forming units.(cfu)
per 100 milliliters (mL) based on ail data collected
during any calendar month, with a minimum of four
weekly samples. If too few data points are available
to calculate the monthly geometric mean, no more
than 10 percent of the total samples in the assess-
ment period may exceed 235 cfu/100 mL.
Of 17 water quality samples collected during the
1998 assessment period (1992-1996), five exceeded
the bacteria water quality standard necessary to
ensure support of the primary contact recreation
designated use. DEQ placed a 3.55-mile segment of
Carter Run (VAN-E02R-01) on the 1998 CWA sec-
tion 303(d) list of impaired waters because it failed
to meet the state's water quality standard for fecal
bacteria. Monitoring data indicated that Carter Run
continued to violate the bacteria standard during the
2002 and 2004 Virginia Integrated Report assess-
ment periods (1996-2000 and 1998-2002). Biological
source tracking data indicated that most of the
in-stream fecal bacteria were from human, pet,
livestock, and wildlife sources. To help identify and
address the pollution problems, the state developed
TMDLs for bacteria forThumb Run (VAN-E01R-01) in
2002, Deep Run (VAN-E10R-01) in 2004, and Carter
Run (VAN-E02R-01) and Great Run (VAN-E02R-02)
in 2005.
Figure 1. Carter Run watershed (yellow), one of
several TMDL watersheds in Fauquier County.
Project Highlights
In 2006 the Virginia Department of Conservation
and Recreation (DCR) and John Marshall Soil and
Water Conservation District (JMSWCD), with input
from other government agencies and stakeholders,
completed a TMDL implementation plan for the four
impaired waterbodies (Carter Run, Thumb Run, Deep
Run, and Great Run) and began a CWA section 319
implementation project to restore them. As part of
this project, JMSWCD joined with state and federal
agencies, including DCR, DEQ, the Fauquier County
Health Department (FCFID), and the U.S. Department
Thumb Run
Carter Run
Prince William
' County
Great Run
Fauquier County
Culpeper County
Deep Run
Stafford
County

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of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS), to promote various agricultural
and residential BMPs. The partners provided BMP
tours, engaged in outreach activities for farmers and
residents, and met with community members to
discuss water quality improvement. Other outreach
efforts included writing newspaper articles, mailing
information to watershed landowners, and making
presentations to community organizations.
Watershed stakeholders installed a total of
143 agricultural and residential projects in the
Carter Run watershed from 2007 to 2012. The agri-
cultural practices included 156,266 feet (29.6 miles)
of livestock stream exclusion fencing, 81 acres of
permanent vegetative cover on cropland, 58 acres
of riparian forest buffer, and 93 acres of harvestable
cover crops. The residential practices completed
in the watershed included 86 septic tank system
pump-outs, 24 septic system repairs, and six septic
system installations or replacements.
Results
DCR maintains a BMP-tracking database and
computes pollutant reductions for BMPs installed.
When DCR staff compared pollutant reductions in
the periods before and after the Carter Run imple-
mentation project began, they identified significant
reductions in bacteria, nitrogen, phosphorus, and
sediment loadings (Table 1).
As part of an ambient monitoring program, DEQ
collected Carter Run £ coli data for 2002-2012 at a
long-term-trend monitoring station. Figure 2 shows
the number of £ coli samples collected and the rate
of violation of the bacteria single-sample maximum
criterion of 235 cfu/100 ml_ annually. Violation rates
declined from a rate of 50 percent in 2006 (at the
start of the implementation project) to 0 percent
in both 2010 and 2012. For the 2014 assessment
period (2007-2012), DEQ identified an overall viola-
tion rate of 18 percent, still exceeding the 10 percent
threshold. The monotonic trend line drawn through
the violation rates on Figure 2 shows a decreasing
correlation (£. coli violation rate versus sampling
year), indicating that violation rates have significantly
decreased. As a result, DEQ expects that Carter Run
Table 1. Pollutant Reductions (Edge-of-Field) Before and After Implementation
Project
Time period
Bacteria (cfu)
Nitrogen (pounds)
Phosphorus(pounds)
Sedimentation/Siltation (tons)
Carter Run
Watershed
2002-2006
0.00 E+00
10,849
1,596
1,994
2007-2012
7.93 E+15
56,914
8,232
10,290
For additional information contact:
Kris Jarvis
John Marshall Soil and Water Conservation District
540-347-3120 (Ext.112) • kris.jarvis@fauquiercounty.gov
Charlie Lunsford
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
804-698-4172 • charles.lunsford@deq.virginia.gov
Carter Run
= 40
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Sampling Year
Figure 2. £ coli violation rates (exceeding 235 cfu/100 ml_
standard) in Carter Run. The numbers above the bars indicate
the number of samples collected annually.
will be removed from the state's CWA section 303(d)
list of impaired waters in the near future.
Partners and Funding
JMSWCD led the implementation of the agricul-
tural BMP program. FCHD managed the technical
assistance and educational outreach parts of the
residential BMP program. NRCS and the Virginia
Cooperative Extension Service also assisted with
the agricultural components of this project by pro-
viding financial and technical support. Several other
partners, including DCR and DEQ, contributed to
the project's success. Technical staff support within
JMSWCD and FCHD was funded by CWA section
319 grants. The total cost of installing BMPs in the
Carter Run watershed was $783,626; funding sourc-
es included $261,417 in CWA section 319 funds,
$366,949 in state DCR cost-share funds (including
state Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program
and other cost-share programs), and $45,262 in
federal NRCS Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program funds. Farmers and residents in the
watershed provided the remaining $109,998
(approximately 14 percent of the total BMP instal-
lation costs). Since 2005 JMSWCD and FCHD have
received approximately $186,181 in CWA section
319 funding to provide technical assistance with
BMP design and implementation, as well as educa-
tional outreach in the Carter Run watershed.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
^	^ Washington, DC
i^K7i
EPA 841 -F-14-0011
%L pr0^N February 2014

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