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Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Illinois
Implementing Nonpoint Source Pollution Controls Restores Honey Creek
Waterbody Improved
Sediment and organic matter from eroding streambanks and
cropland areas caused low dissolved oxygen conditions in lllinois's
Honey Creek. As a result, Honey Creek failed to support its aquatic life designated use, prompting the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) to add a 13-mile-long segment of the creek to the
list of impaired waters in the 1992-1993 Illinois Water Quality Report. Stakeholders stabilized stream
channels and worked with local landowners to implement best management practices (BMPs) to reduce
sedimentation/siltation and organic enrichment loading into the creek. Water quality improved, prompting
Illinois EPA to remove the creek from the state's list of impaired waters in 2008. Honey Creek now fully
supports its designated use for aquatic life.
Problem
Honey Creek is a 13-mile-long stream in Pike County,
Illinois (Figure 1). The creek begins at the west end of
the city of Pittsfield and flows south-southeast to the
point of confluence with Bay Creek, about 3.5 miles
north of the village of Nebo. The 21,672-acre Honey
Creek watershed is made up of approximately
77 percent cropland, 10 percent pastureland,
8 percent woodland and 5 percent other land uses.
Water quality monitoring conducted in 1992 indi-
cated that dissolved oxygen levels in Honey Creek
were 4.0 milligrams per liter (mg/L), which failed to
meet the applicable state water quality standard
requirements—a minimum of 6.0 mg/L for 16 hours
in any 24-hour period and a 5.0 mg/L instantaneous
minimum. As a result, Illinois EPA first designated
Honey Creek as impaired due to siltation and organic
enrichment in the 1992-1993 Illinois Water Quality
Report. The creek remained listed as impaired for
those pollutants through the 2006 Illinois Integrated
Water Quality Report and Section 303(d) List. (Note
that organic enrichment was redefined as dissolved
oxygen in the 2004 Illinois Integrated Water Quality
Report and subsequent reports.) Illinois EPA identi-
fied the sources of impairment as streambank
modification/destabilization and agriculture/crop
production.
Project Highlights
Between 1999 and 2002, Illinois EPA implemented a
Clean Water Act (CWA) section 319-funded project
that provided landowners with cost-share to imple-
ment BMPs throughout the watershed (see Figure 1).
This project augmented ongoing conventional land
Figure 1. The Honey Creek watershed is in western
Illinois. Project partners implemented BMPs to
reduce nonpoint source pollution in agricultural
runoff and to stabilize the creek.
and water treatment programs. Project partners in
the Honey Creek Watershed Project worked with
landowners to construct 25 large ponds/basins
in agricultural areas to prevent silt, nutrients and
Pittsfield'
Nonpoint Source Pollution Control
Projects in Honey Creek Watershed

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pesticides from entering the stream. Partners
also added sediment ponds designed to remove
suspended and soluble nonpoint source pollutants
in the extreme lower reaches of the side tributaries
off the main stem of Honey Creek (Figure 2). Project
partners focused their efforts on sites on the
tributaries of Honey Creek that had drainage areas
of 100 acres or more and were suitable for dam
installation. They added riprap outlet erosion control
(stilling basins) immediately below and for a dis-
tance of up to 100 feet downstream: from the outlet
pipe of each pond. The outlet of each pond was
raised above the normal elevation of the streambed
to increase the amount of dissolved oxygen carried
by the water into the stream.
Within the tributary streams of Honey Creek, part-
ners also installed six riffles and stream barbs (rock
structures installed in streams to modify flow pat-
terns and streambed topography) to help direct flow
and increase dissolved oxygen levels. Additionally,
project partners worked with the 23 participating
farms in the Honey Creek watershed (covering
approximately 1,288 acres) to develop conservation
plans, as well as nutrient and pesticide manage-
ment plans. Between 2007 and 2008, the Illinois
Department of Agriculture's StreambankStabilization
and Restoration Program supported a project to sta-
bilize an additional 700 feet of eroding streambank in
the Honey Creek watershed.
Results
Based on the BMPs implemented, Illinois EPA esti-
mates that the 1997-2002 Honey Creek Watershed
Project reduced annual pollutant loads by approxi-
mately 14,880 tons of sediment, 5,041 pounds of
phosphorus and 10,080 pounds of nitrogen The
2007-2008 streambank stabilization project further
reduced annual pollutant loadings by approximately
71 tons of sediment, 71 pounds of phosphorus and
141 pounds of nitrogen.
Data collected in 1992, 2004 and 2009 show dra-
matic improvements in dissolved oxygen and sedi-
ment levels in Honey Creek. While dissolved oxygen
levels failed to meet state water quality standards in
2002, levels increased to 8.22 mg/L by 2004, which
met the state minimum of 6,0 mg/L. Data show
that by 2009, dissolved oxygen levels increased
further to 10.4 mg/L—still meeting the applicable
dissolved oxygen standard, which had changed in
2008 to include seasonal and various time-related
requirements.
Figure 2. Example of a sediment pond constructed
along a tributary stream in an agricultural watershed.
The pond is designed to remove suspended and
soluble nonpoint source pollutants.
According to state water quality standards, a water-
body is considered impaired for sediment if bottom
sediment coverage is greater than 34 percent.
In 1992, data showed that silt and mud covered
64.3 percent of the stream bottom, indicating
impairment By 2004, that percentage had dropped
to 2.36 percent. In 2009, no excess sediment was
observed on the stream bottom
Finally, biological data also show that Honey Creek
now meets criteria to support aquatic life. To be
classified as supporting the aquatic life designated
use, Illinois EPA requires that the macroinvertebrate
Index of Biotic Integrity (mlBI) score be at least 41.
Honey Creek received mlBI scores of 68,0 in 2004
and 56.4 in 2009, showing that the creek has fully
supported its aquatic iife designated use since at
least 2004. On the basis of these data, sedimenta-
tion/siltation and organic enrichment/dissolved
oxygen were removed as causes of impairment in
Honey Creek in the 2008 Illinois Integrated Water
Quality Report. Illinois EPA has identified Honey
Creek as fully supporting its designated uses for
aquatic life in 2008, 2010 and 2012.
Partners and Funding
Contributing a total of $380,661 of CWA section
319 funds, Illinois EPA partnered with the Pike
County Soil and Water Conservation District, Bay
Creek River Conservancy District, and local landown-
ers to implement BMPs in the Honey Creek water-
shed. Local partners provided $253,774 in matching
funds, bringing the total cost for the Honey Creek
Watershed Project to $634,435.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-12-001QQ
September 2012
For additional information contact:
Jan Carpenter
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Jan.Carpenter@illiriois.gov
217-782-3362

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