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Restoring Water Quality Within the Fish River Watershed: Baker Branch
Waterbody Improved ®a'
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Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L)
o
Sampling Date
—F&W Criteria
Figure 2. ADEM sampling data for Baker Branch (site
BAKB-1).
approach to the management of the Fish River water-
shed. In 1994, the Fish River Watershed Project was
expanded to include the Magnolia River watershed
and was renamed the Weeks Bay Watershed Project.
The 2002 Weeks Bay Watershed Management Plan
(WMP) was developed through multiagency coopera-
tion as a result of these efforts and eight years of
technical investigation.
Restoration projects (2007-2010) included funding of
LID best management practices. The Baldwin County
Soil and Water Conservation District (BCSWCD) used
Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 CWA section 319 funding to
implement bioretention areas, a rain garden, and
rainwater harvesting devices. This project also helped
to propel the development of a draft LID guidebook in
partnership with the Alabama Cooperative Extension
System (ACES) Water Program.
Results
Post-restoration monitoring of Baker Branch at ADEM
sampling site BAKB-1 in 2018 revealed that DO samples
were above the required 5 mg/L for the F&W use
classification (Figure 2). In most samples, nitrogen
levels were also very low or below the detection limit.
Carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD5)
was also below the detection limit in all samples.
Based on available data, ADEM's Water Quality Branch
determined that an impairment for organic enrichment
does not currently exist and removed the Bakers
Branch DO impairment in the 2020 integrated report
cycle.
Partners and Funding
In 2002, the Weeks Bay WMP was developed through
combined efforts of the BCSWCD, ADEM, the Alabama
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
State Lands Division, GSA, NRCS, ACES, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, the Alabama Department of
Public Health, the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, and the
Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
(WBNERR). In 2006, the Mobile Bay National Estuary
Program (MBNEP), in partnership with The Nature
Conservancy, developed the coastal habitat atlas
Conserving Alabama's Coastal Habitats: Acquisition and
Restoration Priorities of Mobile and Baldwin Counties.
The Baker Branch Restoration Project (2007-2010)
used $41,450 of FY2004 CWA section 319(h) funding,
with $34,283 contributed by the BCSWCD and ACES in
local in-kind matching funds.
The Baldwin County Commission and the Baldwin
County Highway Department developed the Fish
River and Magnolia River Watershed Study in October
2011. In 2016, the MBNEP funded the assessment
report, Pre-Restoration Analysis of Discharge, Sediment
Transport Rates, Water Quality, and Land-Use Impacts
in the Fish River Watershed, Baldwin County, Alabama,
and the Uplands/Wetlands Habitat Mapping Project.
The Weeks Bay WMP was updated in 2017 by MBNEP,
in partnership with BCSWCD, WBNERR, the Weeks Bay
Foundation, and the Weeks Bay WMP stakeholders
working group, with funding by the National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation's Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund.
Leveraged funding continues to support the assess-
ment, education, and development of restoration
plans by state and federal agencies, local organiza-
tions, and nonprofit groups. The ACES Water Program
developed the LID guidebook, which is now used as
the go-to LID manual for the state of Alabama.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-24-001I
April 2024
For additional information contact:
Baldwin County Soil and Water Conservation District
251-937-3297 • baldwin@alconservationdistricts.org
ADEM, Nonpoint Source Management Program
334-260-4501 • adem.nps.program@adem.alabama.gov
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