peeling the onion - michigan water environment association impaired waters -...

Peeling the Onion: Making Sense of Michigan’s

Water Quality

Water Resources Division,

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality

Kevin Goodwin

Senior Aquatic Biologist

GOAL: Increased understanding of MDEQ water quality assessments,

results, and application

• Complicated, often ‘indigestible’ process and

product

• Evolving process of reporting and communication with incremental improvements (we hope!)

• Increase information sharing…both directions

Simply Put…

1. Collect Data

2. Compare Data to an Acceptable Level or Condition

3. Specify where water is “Good”….and where it is

“Not Good.” 4. If it is “Not Good”, figure out how to return it to

“Good”

Presentation Outline

• Drivers behind monitoring program

• How we ‘convert’ data to the idea of quality

• State-wide discussion of water quality and how to interpret it…Integrated Report

• Once water quality is determined, next steps to action

Rules, blah, acronyms, blah, blah

The Great Lakes State • Michigan is physically defined by, and easily identifiable because of,

water

• Rivers and Streams: 76,000+ miles • Inland Lakes: 872,000+ acres (over 11,000 lakes) • Great Lakes Shoreline: 3,000+ miles • Wetlands: almost 6.5 million acres • These high-quality waters are a major driver of:

– Recreation, Tourism, Industry, overall Quality of Life

Water Quality Monitoring: Why We Do, What We Do

• Water Resources Division Mission:

–Clean and Safe Water Resources

• Federal Requirement – 1972 Clean Water Act

– Biennially, even years

– Convert monitoring data into big pictures in this report

1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act

(Clean Water Act) • All put together equal the Water Quality and Pollution

Control in Michigan Sections 303(d), 305(b), and 314 Integrated Report…..aka “Integrated Report”, submitted every other year

• Section 303(d) – Impaired Waters. Identify waters for which current conditions are not meeting water quality standards, prioritize, and ultimately develop target pollutant loads designed to attain uses

• Section 305(b) – All Water Conditions. Description of water quality of navigable waters and the extent of use support

• Section 314 – Lakes. Identify eutrophic classification of public lakes and those known to be impaired for use(s).

• Metrics related to beach and river quality related to total body contact recreation (bacteria)

• Metrics related to Fish Consumption and Other Indigenous Aquatic Life & Wildlife

• Data needed for these also vital to Integrated Report

“Clean and Safe Water Resources”

Data Collection

• Water Chemistry Monitoring Program (Gt. Lakes tributaries, bays, connecting channels)

• Volunteer Monitoring

• Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program

• Biological Integrity Monitoring Program

• Beach Monitoring (BeachGuard)

• ‘Other’: Outside Agency, Organization,

Individual data

• Large portions of this monitoring are funded by the 1998 voter-approved Clean Michigan Initiative (CMI) bond, expected to sunset in 2017

Assessments Moving from Data to Quality

• Pool Available Data

• Group by water body types

• Compile and compare data to Water Quality Standards and assess Designated Use support

• Extrapolate our findings across spatial scale – Broad issues (e.g. atmospheric deposition) applied

broadly

– Site-specific (e.g. contaminated groundwater) applied more closely

Water Quality Standards

• Numeric criteria – Can’t be over “X” concentration of a pollutant (e.g.

toxic chemicals, metals)

• Narrative criteria – Based on a ‘condition’:

e.g. biological communities,

nuisance nutrients

• Water Quality Standards designed to be protective and support Designated Uses…

Designated Uses The uses/activities for which Michigan’s surface waters are protected.

• Partial/Total Body Contact Recreation • Other Indigenous Aquatic Life and Wildlife • Fish Consumption • Warm/Cold Water Fishery • Drinking Water • Agriculture • Navigation • Industrial Water Supply

These are our ‘bottom lines’ when understanding water quality. Each one is looked at as a separate ‘layer’.

1. The fisheries designated use is impaired if the DO falls below the minimum allowable level – OR- if the fish community is rated “poor” via a P51 survey

2. The total body contact use is impaired if the WQS are exceeded more than 10% of samples using 5 or more sampling events

3. The Other Indigenous Aquatic Life and Wildlife Designated use is impaired if bugs score ‘poor’ OR nuisance plants/algae are present OR a chemical pollutant is present at toxic levels

(Yes, that’s confusing – but protective!!!!)

Assessment Examples

• By Designated Use, assess as: – Fully Supporting: Use being attained

– Insufficient Information – additional work/info needed

– Not Supporting: Use not being attained • Category 4A - TMDL in place

• Category 4B - Work/actions/plan already in place

• Category 4C - Not caused by a

pollutant

• Category 5 – the “List”

Assessments Moving from Data to Quality

Designated Uses – An Overview

When these layers are ‘stacked’ and looked at as a group, with red meaning ‘not supporting’, Michigan’s designated use support status uninformative.

Other Indigenous

Fish Consumption

Cold Water Fishery

Warm Water Fishery

Partial Body Contact

Total Body Contact

Designated Uses – An Overview

When looked at separately, each designated use can be examined closely, with available information and potential problems much more apparent on a statewide basis.

Michigan’s Water Quality

• Understanding Problems – ‘peeling the onion’

• By Use

– Other Indigenous Aquatic Life

– Total Body Contact Recreation

Other Indigenous Aquatic Life & Wildlife

• Broadly encompasses those critters living in/near water

• Indicators of water and habitat quality

• Biological Surveys, Water Chemistry

Not Assessed Insufficient Info Fully Supporting Not Supporting 4A Not Supporting 4B Not Supporting 4C Not Supporting 5

Other Indigenous Aquatic Life & Wildlife


Other Indigenous Aquatic Life & Wildlife PCB and Mercury Atmospheric Deposition

Causes Removed

Total Body Contact

• Swimming/Bathing Beaches

• Bacterial Counts used (E. coli)

• Focus is on

– Bathing beaches

– River & Stream areas with specific concern (focused on potentially ‘bad’ stuff)


Total Body Contact Recreation

Michigan “BeachGuard”

• http://www.deq.state.mi.us/beach/

• Google: MI BeachGuard

• Online resource for public and private beach closures and advisories

http://www.deq.state.mi.us/beach/

http://www.deq.state.mi.us/beach/

Sum of the Parts

• Each Designated Use layer tells a story of quality, issues, causes, etc…

• Understanding layering helps to interpret water quality at many levels, each speaking differently to our priorities and concerns

Integrated Report process is EVER CHANGING!

• Shifting priorities and concerns for public health & welfare, ecological health, emerging issues result in monitoring changes producing new data

• Assessment methods – constant need to incorporate changes in data, more efficient assessment processing, better incorporation of others’ data (internal and external):

• DNR – Fisheries (stream data)

• Drinking water intake data

• Volunteer Groups (inland lakes, streams, beaches)

• Communication of findings, access to information

MISWIMS

www.mi.gov/miswim

http://www.mi.gov/miswim

Life After Integrated Report: Moving from Quality to Action

• Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) are required by the U.S. EPA when a water body is not meeting designated uses or water quality standards.

• Other ‘non-TMDL’ options

– Not a ‘pollutant’ causing the problem

– Other Work/actions/plan already in place

TMDL? Total Maximum Daily Load

– Identifies extent of impairment

– Identify pollutant(s) causing Use to

not be supported

– Attempts to determine pollutant sources

– Allocates acceptable pollutant loads to point

and non-point sources

– Provides assurance that the

WQS will be attained and Use

will be supported in the future

I thought he said no

acronyms…?

TMDL Development Process

• Identify Problem – Assessments

• Schedule: TMDLs are usually completed in the order they are put on the 303(d) list (first come, first served).

• Modifications to the scheduled dates are sometimes made to accommodate staff work loads and financial considerations.

• Collect additional data 1-2 years prior – confirm problem, cause & define extent

TMDL Development Process

• Draft Document

• Public Input & Comment – public meeting and 30-day notice

• Final Document submittal to EPA

• EPA 30-day Review: approve or comment

TMDL Implementation • TMDL Goal: Numeric/Narrative

target; Water Quality Standards

• DEQ Authority – through permits – Waste Water : TMDL Goals incorporated into Limits, if

applicable – Storm Water: TMDL referenced for plans

• MS4: Reference to TMDL and load reduction Goals (but specific targets not incorporated) “TMDL Implementation Plan” – BMPs (current and proposed): incorporated in the SWMP – Monitoring Plan: demonstrating PROGRESS

TMDL Implementation

• No DEQ Authority (Voluntary): Most pollution reduction from residential areas and farms is done through voluntary programs

• TMDL Guidance: Helps

prioritize Watershed

Plans, grants, work

Circle of (Water Quality) Life

[email protected]

peeling the onion - michigan water environment association impaired waters -...

Documents