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NONPOINT SOURCE SUCCESS STORY
VirainitK
Installing Control Measures Reduces Bacteria Loading and Improves
Water Quality in Indian Creek
Waterbodies Improved Two segments (13.67 miles) of Indian Creek failed to meet
the Commonwealth of Virginia's water quality standards for
designated recreation (swimming) use. As a result, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) listed the segments as impaired for bacteria on Virginia's 2008 Clean Water Act (CWA) section
303(d) list of impaired waters. A total maximum daily load (TMDL) study identified livestock, failing
septic systems, pets and wildlife as primary pollutant sources. The control measures installed under
an implementation plan reduced bacteria loading, thereby improving the water quality of Indian
Creek. As a result, DEQ removed both segments from the impaired waters list in Virginia's 2018 CWA
section 305(b)/303(d) Water Quality Assessment Integrated Report (Integrated Report).
Problem
The Indian Creek watershed, a segment of the Upper
Clinch watershed, is part of the Tennessee-Big Sandy
River Basin in Tazeweil County, Virginia (Figure 1).
The Upper Clinch River watershed is approximately
115,000 acres, with forest and woodlands as the pre-
dominant land use (68 percent), followed by pasture
and hay land (19 percent).
Two segments of Indian Creek, VAS-P02RJDI01A00
(9.07 miles) and VAS-P02RJDI02A04 (4.61 miles), were
.isted as impaired for not meeting their designated
uses. The impaired segments are on the main stem;
they begin at the Greasy Creek confluence with
Harmari Creek and then stretch downstream to the
Clinch River's confluence with Cedar Bluff.
Water quality samples were collected under DEQ's
ambient monitoring program. Data for the 2002-2006
assessment period indicated 10 of 24 samples (42
percent) exceeded water quality standards for
Escherichia coli bacteria. Based on a greater than '10
percent exceedance criterion, these segments were
initially identified as impaired on Virginia's 2008 CWA
section 303(d) list of impaired waters. To meet the
water quality goals, E. coli samples must not violate
the single sample maximum value of 235 colony-
forming units per 100 milliliters (cfu/100 mL) more
than 10 percent of the time based on a minimum of
Figure 1. Location of two impaired segments and a bacteria
monitoring station in the Indian Creek watershed in
southwestern Virginia.
12 samples. If multiple samples are collected within a
30-day period, a geometric mean must be equal to or
less than 126 cfu/100 mL.
In 2011, DEQ developed a bacteria TMDL for the Upper
Clinch River watershed, which identified the primary
pollutant sources causing the bacteria impairment as
agriculture, iivestock, pets, failing septic systems and
wildiife.
Upper Clinch River and Tributaries Implementation Area
Indian Creek Success Story
A Monitoring Station
VAS-P02R_IDI01A00
VAS-P02RJD102A04
/\/ US Highway
S , 6th Order Hydrologic Unit
Middle and Coal Creek IP Watershed
_ » Plum and Indian Creek IP Watershed

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Story Highlights
Results
In 2017, DEQdeveloped an implementation plan for
bacteria with inputs from federal, state and local
government agencies; the Tazewell Soil and Water
Conservation District (TSWCD); and watershed
stakeholders. TSWCD and the Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) administered control
measures through 18 different projects, with the
combined efforts of federal, state and local agencies
and stakeholders, including the Virginia Department
of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Virginia
Cooperative Extension (VCE), and Tazewell County
Farm Bureau. The outreach activities included conduct-
ing local farm tours, holding farmers' meetings, and
distributing informational brochures on the impor-
tance of water quality improvement in the watershed.
Control measures installed in 2006-2016 included
16,460 linear feet of stream exclusion fencing with
grazing land management, 9 acres of woodland buffer
and filter area, and 9 acres of riparian forest buffer
planted under the Conservation Reserve Enhanced
Program (CREP) program. As a result of stream fencing
and buffer installations, 30 beef cows and 20 goats
were prevented from accessing the stream.
Installing control measures resulted in water quality
improvement and decreased bacteria exceedances in
Indian Creek. Eleven water quality samples collected
from 2011 through the 2016 assessment period at
monitoring station 6BIDI001.49 showed one sample
exceedance of the E. coli standards (Figure 2).
Exceedances were less than 10 percent of collected
bacteria samples, resulting in full support of the
designated recreation (swimming) use. Based on this
improvement, both segments (13.67 miles total) of
Indian Creek were removed from DEQ's list of impaired
waters in the 2018 Integrated Report.
Partners and Funding
The water quality improvement in Indian Creek is a
result of joint efforts by the TSWCD, NRCS and state
and federal agencies, including DCR, VCE Services and
local stakeholders. The funding of control measures
installation (2006-2016 period) totaled $267,334. This
includes $90,937 from Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share
Program, $118,798 from state contributions to CREP
and state tax credits, and the remainder from the
Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund.
Indian Creek Watershed
(Bacteria Monitoring Station: 4BIDI001.49)

42%



Exceedance
, Limit


/ 9%


r i
2002-2006	2011-2016
Water Quality Assessment Period
Figure 2. E. coli violation rates (percent of samples exceeding the 235 cfu/100 mL water
quality standard) in Indian Creek.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-21-001L
August 2021
For additional information contact:
Stephanie Kreps
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
276-676-4803 • Stephanie.Kreps@deq.virginia.gov
Mike Home
Tazewell Soil and Water Conservation District
276-979-4244 • mike.horne@vaswcd.org

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