Ohio Nutrients Update

Elizabeth Toot-Levy | May 19, 2017

DISCLAIMER: Opinions of the presenter are not those of Ohio EPA or Geosyntec

Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom

• Early Season Forecast

• First Report of 2017

• Severity of harmful algal bloom (HAB) in Western

Lake Erie Basin (WLEB)

• Loading Season

– March 1 through July 31

Total Precipitation(inches)

Max Daily Precipitation(inches)

March 2017 3.62 1.81

April 2017 3.47 0.80

May 2017(as of 5/14/2017)

3.23 1.74

2017 Maumee River Flow @ Waterville

Early Season Projection 1 – May 9

May 8, 2017 May 15, 2017

Early Season Projection 1 – May 9

• Current

projection

• Based on last 15

years of data

• Large

uncertainty in

potential bloom

severity

Early Season Projection 2 – May 16

Early Season Projection 1 – May 9

Early Season Projection 2 – May 16

MODIS – May 8

MODIS – May 13

2016 Ohio Nutrient Mass Balance - Goals

• Required by Ohio law ORC 6111.03 (2015 HB 64)

• First report 2016 and every 2 years moving forward

• Baseline for tracking progress:

– 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

– 2008 Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force Action Plan

• Identification of environmentally beneficial, cost-

effective mechanisms for nutrient reduction???

• Compute annual nitrogen and phosphorus loads in

Ohio watersheds

– Lake Erie

– Ohio River Basin

2016 edition

• Individual Water Years (WY) 2013 & 2014

• 63% of Ohio

– Maumee

– Portage

– Sandusky

– Cuyahoga

– Muskingum

– Great Miami

– Scioto

Point Sources Considered

NPDES Discharges

• Includes CSOs

• Self-monitoring data

• Median of available data

• If no data, median of similar sized WWTPs

• Industry assumed negligible if not required to report

• Assumed no loss through watershed

Home Sewage Treatment

Systems

• GIS analysis to identify

approximate number

• Literature reviews to

determine discharge

concentrations

• ODH data to estimate

effectiveness of HSTS

• Assumed no loss

through watershed

Non-point Sources Considered

• What remains after the point sources are counted

• Assumed a loss of nutrients as the load traveled

downstream

• Calculated upstream of monitoring locations

• Upstream load was used to estimate downstream

load

• Greater area downstream of sampling

point increases uncertainty

Agricultural Sources

Stormwater MS4s

Mining Activities

Natural Sources

Others…

2016 Results

Load = flow * concentration

• Greater precipitation and stream flow result in higher load of total phosphorus, except for Maumee

• In 2014 Maumee had 16% more flow than 2013 and 10% less total phosphorus

Yield = discharge normalized

by watershed area

• Higher in 2014 for all

watersheds except

Sandusky

Results

• Analyzed statewide and on a watershed basis

• Non-point sources of TP were greater portion of

load in Lake Erie basin

– Sandusky – 93% of total load

– Maumee – 88% of total load

– Portage – 85% of total load

• Point sources of TP were greater portion of load in

Ohio River basin than in the Lake Erie basin

– Muskingum – 42%

– Great Miami River – 31%

– Scioto River – 30%

2018 Mass Balance Report

• At least 2015 and 2016 data, possibly 2017

• Identification of trends

• Additional monitored watersheds

• Refinement of non-point source loadings

– Agriculture

– Residential development

– Urban areas

– Industry

• Peer Review????

• Stakeholder Process?????

2016 Integrated Report

• State is required to assess progress in meeting the

Clean Water Act every 2 years

• Integrated Reports

– CWA Section 305(b) water quality reports

– CWA Section 303(d) lists of impaired waters

• Summarizes general conditions in Ohio’s waters

and identifies those waters not meeting goals

• Ohio EPA typically prepares a TMDL for each

impaired water, based on prioritization schedule

• 2016 Integrated report submitted to USEPA in

October 2016 for approval

Beneficial Uses Evaluated

• Human Health Use (based on fish tissue)

– 1/3 of monitored watersheds and 2/5 of monitored lakes were impaired

– PCBs and mercury

• Recreation Use

– Swimming advisories

– Location, location, location

• Aquatic Life Use

– Slight decline in monitored miles meeting attainment

– Addition of historic data

– 87.4% of Ohio’s large rivers are in attainment

– Noted improvement in Maumee and Tiffin Rivers

Beneficial Uses Evaluated

• Public Drinking Water Use

– 119 surface water dependent public water supplies (excluding those on Ohio River)

• Nitrates – NW Ohio

• Pesticides – SW Ohio

• HABs

– 15% of Assessment units impaired

– Lake Erie Western and Central Basin shorelines

– Lake Erie Island Shoreline

– Water supply sources in Lima, Bowling Green, Clyde, Norwalk, Akron, Barberton, Woodsfield, Cadiz, Celina, Sardinia, Clermont County

Impairments = TMDLs

Identified impaired waters must have a plan for

improvement

• TMDL: the maximum load of a pollutant that the

water body can assimilate and maintain water

quality standards

• Quantitative assessment of problems and sources

of pollution

• Calculation of allowable discharges

• Other means to reach attainment

• Plan for implementation

Lake Erie Impairments

• Western Basin Shoreline

– Human Health

– Public Drinking Water Supply

– Recreation

• Central Basin Shoreline

– Human Health

– Public Drinking Water Supply

– Recreation

• Lake Erie Islands Shoreline

– Human Health

– Public Drinking Water Supply

Identified impairments mean action must be taken to meet water

quality standards

Lake Erie Shorelines

2016 Lake Erie water quality and transect monitoring stations

Status of Integrated Report

• USEPA missed the deadline to act on Ohio EPA’s

2016 Integrated Report

• Environmental groups of sued to compel USEPA to

approve or disapprove the 2016 Integrated Report

• It’s not really about the failure to take action

• Want to force EPA to designate all of Lake Erie

impaired

• Can’t take action until Ohio IR report is approved or

disapproved

Impairment Listing for Lake Erie

• Pressure to list Lake Erie as impaired

• Impairment would likely mean a TMDL

• Would a TMDL would provide new tools to clean up

Lake Erie?

• TMDLs provide targets

• What about the GLWQA targets?

– 40% reduction from 2008 levels by 2025

– 20% reduction from 2008 levels by 2020

Lake Erie Nutrients

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit approval and monitoring

• Wastewater treatment technical and feasibility studies

• Storm water management program administration

• Water quality monitoring (Watershed and Lake Erie)

• Combined Sewer Overflow monitoring

• Environmental Infrastructure funding (wastewater, drinking water)

• 319 Grant, Surface Water Improvement Fund (SWIF), GLRIFund administration

• Areas of Concern program administration

• Harmful Algal Bloom program administration

• Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies

• Administer and enforce a program for the regulation of sewage sludge management

Lake Erie - Nutrients

Ohio Department of Agriculture

• Agricultural nonpoint program implementation

• Agriculture Fertilizer Applicator Certification Program

• CAFO permitting and regulatory oversight

• Certified Livestock Manager training and inspections

• Manure and Fertilizer Application (SB 1) enforcement

• Fertilizer sales records

• Watershed coordinator program administration

• Agricultural nonpoint BMP technical assistance and oversight

• Agricultural Pollution Abatement Program

• Ohio Runoff Risk Forecast website

• Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

Lake Erie Nutrients

Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)

• Farm Bill financial and technical assistance for conservation planning and practice implementation

• GLRI grants

• Co-Chair the WLEB Partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

• Maintain Ohio Field Office Technical Guide conservation practices and standards

Farm Service Agency

• Conservation Reserve Program

• Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

• Farmable wetlands program administration

WLEB Collaborative Action Plan

• Ohio Department of Agriculture

• Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

• Ohio Department of Health

• Ohio Department of Natural Resources

• Ohio Lake Erie Commission

• Natural Resource Conservation Service

• Farm Service Agency

• US Environmental Protection Agency

• US Geological Survey

• National Ocean and Atmospheric Agency

• Heidelberg University National Center for Water Quality Research (NCWQR)

• Ohio Department of Higher Education

• The Ohio State University

• University of Toledo

HAB Response Strategy for Recreational Waters

• Unified statewide

approach: ODNR, ODH,

OEPA

• Publicly owned

recreation waters

• Monitoring for HAB

development

• Sample algae blooms

• Issue Recreational

Advisories

HAB Advisories

Public Health Advisory

Issued when HAB is visually

confirmed or cyanotoxin

levels exceed Public Health

Advisory levels

Elevated Recreational

Public Health Advisory

Issued when cyanotoxin

levels exceed the Elevated

Recreational Public Health

Advisory levels

HAB Response Strategy for PWS

• Ohio EPA Webinar (April 4, 2017)

• PWS requirements

– Action levels regarding microcystins

– Monitoring, public notice, treatment, and record keeping requirements

– Laboratory certifications and analytical methods

• Raw water > 5ug/L – increase monitoring to 3

days/week

• Finished water detect

– Notification, resample, repeat

Ohio Microcystin Detections

The Nutrient Challenge

• Nutrients are not toxic

• There are not dose-response relationships

• Relationship between nutrients and aquatic life is

indirect

• There are other confounding factors

– Habitat

– Flow

– Temperature

– Sunlight

• There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution

Ohio Nutrients Technical Advisory Group (TAG)

• Mission to develop

nutrient rule

recommendations

• External members

representing all (most?)

stakeholder groups

• Unique approach in

Ohio

• Submitted draft rule

framework to Ohio EPA

in December 2015

Fertilizer Industry

Technology Experts

Draft Stream Nutrient Assessment Procedure

FIRST: Determine biological WQ criteria attainment

Biocriteria are a direct measure of WQ designated use

attainment

AND: Evaluate key nutrient response indicators

24-hour DO swing (max DO - min DO)

Benthic chlorophyll-a

THEN: Confirm preliminary condition assessment

Other stressors – habitat or pollutants?

If not impaired, determine if threatened

* Note that nutrient concentration is not directly incorporated. Nutrient concentration is poorly correlated with nutrient-caused impairment !!

DRAFT - SNAP

Today

• TAG submitted SNAP and implementation

framework

• Ohio EPA rule development

• WQS for Eutrophication and Implementation

Procedures

• Ohio EPA is currently testing the SNAP procedure

• Expect Ohio EPA to reach out to TAG

• Timeline???

Evaluation for Reducing Discharge of Phosphorus

• Ohio EPA believes that operations changes “may

be the most economical approach allowing for the

most immediate results”

• Ohio EPA evaluating what operational changes

have been used that are effective and economical

– The low-hanging fruit option

• Form for NPDES permit renewals

– Evaluation for Reducing Discharge of Phosphorus Form

• Permit forms website

– http://www.epa.ohio.gov/dsw/permits/npdesform.aspx

Individual Wastewater Discharge Permit Applications

Individual Wastewater Discharge Permit Applications

Technical and Financial Capability Study to Reduce

Phosphorus

• Senate Bill 1 (April 2015)

• Technical and financial capability study

• Ability of facility to reduce total phosphorus to 1

mg/L or less

• Facilities with a design flow > 1 MGD and do not

currently have a phosphorus effluent limit

• Due to Ohio EPA by December 1, 2017

• http://www.epa.ohio.gov/dsw/permits/individuals.as

px#153935121-nutrient-information

Technical and Financial Capability Study to

Reduce Phosphorus

Western Lake Erie Basin Nutrient Source Inventory

• Toledo-Lucas County Sustainability Commission

• Interactive mapping tool that shows sources of nutrients in the WLEB

• Includes:– National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitted

facilities –– Industrial Dischargers, Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) and

Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs)– Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)– Row Crop Agriculture– Unsewered Areas– Biosolids/Manure Land Application Areas– Surface Water Quality Monitoring Locations

• http://cec-tech.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=41dd91038c4d4a138e1385321d707df7

2017 GLRI Funding

• $300 million in 2017 Great Lake Restoration

Funding is safe

– For now

• FY 15 -19 focus includes:

– Reducing nutrient runoff that contributes to algal blooms

• Priority watersheds for phosphorus runoff

reductions

– Lower Fox River, Wisconsin

– Saginaw River, Michigan

– Maumee River, Ohio

Ohio Agriculture: On-Field Ohio!

Ohio Agriculture: On-Field Ohio

• Research program, began in 2012, to better understand and mitigate the impact of nutrient runoff on water quality

• Evaluate the relationship between on-field conditions and nutrients leaving the fields

• Ohio P index score re-evaluation and potential integration in to the Tri-State Fertility Guidelines

• Led by The Ohio State University – Dr. Elizabeth Dayton

• 29 fields monitored, 14 in WLEB

• Edge of field testing

• Evaluation of different practices

• On the ground results

• Data from 1993 through 2015 shows soil test phosphorus levels holding steady or trending down in 80% of Ohio’s counties

• 3 demonstration farms in the Blanchard River

watershed

– Stateler Family Farms

– Kurt Farms

– Kellogg Farms

• Serve as models for other farmers

– Researching innovative practices to reduce nutrient run-off

– Results will be widely shared with other farmers, management agencies, and the public

Blanchard River Demonstration Farms

Closing thoughts…

• What does a TMDL provide that we don’t already

have?

• Are we chasing something attainable?

• Are we out of low-hanging fruit?

Contact :

Elizabeth Toot-Levy

etootlevy@geosyntec.com

440-227-9181