| Water Body Name: | Truckee River, Upper (above Christmas Valley) |
| Water Body ID: | CAR6341001020020116165645 |
| Water Body Type: | River & Stream |
DECISION ID |
27228 |
Region 6 |
Truckee River, Upper (above Christmas Valley) |
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| Pollutant: | Phosphorus |
| Final Listing Decision: | List on 303(d) list (being addressed by USEPA approved TMDL) |
| Last Listing Cycle's Final Listing Decision: | List on 303(d) list (TMDL required list)(2010) |
| Revision Status | Revised |
| Sources: | Source Unknown |
| TMDL Name: | Lake Tahoe Nutrients/Sediment |
| TMDL Project Code: | 198 |
| Date TMDL Approved by USEPA: | 08/16/2011 |
| Impairment from Pollutant or Pollution: | Pollutant |
| Regional Board Staff Conclusion: | This pollutant was considered for placement on the section 303(d) list in a previous assessment cycle. 303(d) listing decisions made prior to 2006 were not held in an assessment database.
Regional Board conclusion: No new information was reviewed for this current assessment cycle; however, the previous conclusion has changed since the Lake Tahoe TMDL, which partly addresses the phosphorus impairment within this segment of the Upper Truckee River (above Christmas Valley) was adopted after the 2010 Integrated Report. The Upper Truckee River (above Christmas Valley) is a tributary to Lake Tahoe. On-the-ground efforts required by the Lake Tahoe TMDL will also achieve pollutant load reductions in waters tributary to Lake Tahoe, including the Upper Truckee River. The primary source of phosphorus in the undeveloped portions of the Upper Truckee River (above Christmas Valley) is associated with historic watershed disturbance actions that have caused elevated watershed erosion rates. Recreational uses, including informal camping and user-created trails are all additional sources of sediment and associated phosphorus loading to the river. Federal, State, and larger local restoration agencies have well defined multi objective restoration programs with established funding and developed restoration plans. Maintenance activities and restoring small disturbed sites coupled with extensive trail maintenance and rerouting that are underway, or planned and expected, within the forested uplands of this watershed will also reduce or avoid increases in fine sediment and nutrient loads.Additional reduction in phosphorus loading will be achieved by implementing the fuels reduction activities planned within the Upper Truckee River watershed above Christmas Valley that are planned as part of South Shore Fuel Reduction and Healthy Forest Restoration Project. Additionally, the Lake Tahoe TMDL also requires implementation of measures to control stationary sources of dust which help reduce pollutant loads of fine sediments. Implementation of these measures helps address the phosphorus loading that impairs the Upper Truckee River above Christmas Valley that is associated with these fine sediments from dust sources. Pollutant load reductions within Upper Truckee River, above Christmas Valley will be tracked through implementation of detailed performance and compliance measures and assessment and reporting protocols included in the Lake Tahoe TMDL. The TMDL Management System project is establishing activity-based tracking and reporting requirements to assess activities that are expected to reduce pollutant loading from non-urban sources. The Lahontan Water Board and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection will implement a Lake Tahoe TMDL Management System for managing, tracking, integrating and evaluating new information generated from TMDL implementation actions, effectiveness monitoring, research efforts, and other factors such as climate change and wildfires. The Management System is based on an adaptive management framework to (1) link load reduction effectiveness with project implementation monitoring to improve project design and to assess if actual environmental improvement is occurring as expected; (2) establish guidance and operation protocols for how new information will be incorporated into project designs and TMDL program implementation; (3) establish prioritized TMDL research needs to fill data gaps and reduce uncertainties, and (4) implement a process for updating and reporting pollutant load reduction estimates and tracking projects within the TMDL implementation timeline. The Lake Tahoe TMDL requires implementation, effectiveness, and status and trends monitoring. Tributary stream status and trends monitoring will track long-term changes in water quality conditions relative to established water quality standards or goals, and project-specific monitoring will be used to assess the efficacy of various implementation measures . Long-term water quality trends and pollutant load reduction tracking in Upper Truckee River, above Christmas Valley will be captured through the ongoing efforts of the Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program (LTIMP) whose primary objective is to monitor discharge, nutrient load, and sediment loads from representative streams that flow into Lake Tahoe. Nitrogen and phosphorus loading calculations are performed using the LTIMP flow and nutrient concentration database. LTIMP has monitored Upper Truckee River and other tributaries to Lake Tahoe since 1988; this data is stored on the USGS website at http://wdr.water.usgs.gov/. |
| Regional Board Staff Decision Recommendation: | No new data were assessed for this assessment cycle. After review of the available data and information, RWQCB staff concludes that the water body-pollutant combination should not be removed from the section 303(d) list because applicable water quality standards for the pollutant are being exceeded. However, the final listing decision for this waterbody pollutant combination has changed for this listing cycle to "being addressed by a USEPA approved TMDL." This waterbody pollutant combination has been and continues to be addressed by implementation of the Lake Tahoe TMDL, which was approved by the USEPA on August 16, 2011. |
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| LOE ID: | 4654 | ||||
| Pollutant: | Phosphorus | ||||
| LOE Subgroup: | Pollutant-Water | ||||
| Matrix: | Water | ||||
| Fraction: | Not Recorded | ||||
| Beneficial Use: | Cold Freshwater Habitat | ||||
| Number of Samples: | 0 | ||||
| Number of Exceedances: | 0 | ||||
| Data and Information Type: | Not Specified | ||||
| Data Used to Assess Water Quality: | Unspecified--This LOE is a placeholder to support a 303(d) listing decision made prior to 2006. | ||||
| Data Reference: | Placeholder reference pre-2006 303(d) | ||||
| SWAMP Data: | Non-SWAMP | ||||
| Water Quality Objective/Criterion: | Unspecified | ||||
| Objective/Criterion Reference: | Placeholder reference pre-2006 303(d) | ||||
| Evaluation Guideline: | Unspecified | ||||
| Guideline Reference: | Placeholder reference pre-2006 303(d) | ||||
| Spatial Representation: | Unspecified | ||||
| Temporal Representation: | Unspecified | ||||
| Environmental Conditions: | Unspecified | ||||
| QAPP Information: | Unspecified | ||||
| QAPP Information Reference(s): | |||||
DECISION ID |
28341 |
Region 6 |
Truckee River, Upper (above Christmas Valley) |
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| Pollutant: | Fecal Coliform |
| Final Listing Decision: | Delist from 303(d) list (TMDL required list) |
| Last Listing Cycle's Final Listing Decision: | Delist from 303(d) list (TMDL required list)(2010) |
| Revision Status | Original |
| Reason for Delisting: | Applicable WQS attained; reason for recovery unspecified |
| Impairment from Pollutant or Pollution: | Pollutant |
| Regional Board Staff Conclusion: | Regional Board conclusion:
This pollutant was considered for removal on the section 303(d) list in a previous listing cycle. No new information was reciewed for this current assessment cycle. Therefore, the previous conclusion remains unchanged, and is as follows: This segment was originally listed for "Pathogens" on the basis of data for fecal coliform bacteria. The listing pollutant name has been changed to "Fecal Coliform" for clarity and consistency. This pollutant is being considered for removal from the section 303(d) list under section 4.3 of the Listing Policy. Under this section a single line of evidence is necessary to assess listing status. One line of evidence is available in the administrative record to assess this pollutant. Three log mean datapoints exceeded the water quality objective. Based on the readily available data and information, the weight of evidence indicates that there is sufficient justification for removing this water segment-pollutant combination from the section 303(d) list. This conclusion is based on the staff findings that: 1. The data used satisfy the data quality requirements of section 6.1.4 of the Policy. 2. The data used satisfy the data quantity requirements of section 6.1.5 of the Policy. 3. Three of 103 log mean datapoints exceeded the water quality objective and this does not exceed the allowable frequency listed in Table 4.2 of the Listing Policy. 4. Pursuant to section 4.11 of the Listing Policy, no additional data and information are available indicating that standards are not met. |
| Regional Board Staff Decision Recommendation: | No new data were assessed for this assessment cycle. The conclusion reached in the previous cycle remains the same. The Regional Board will update this decision when new data and information become available in a future assessment cycle. |
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| LOE ID: | 27159 | ||||
| Pollutant: | Fecal Coliform | ||||
| LOE Subgroup: | Pollutant-Water | ||||
| Matrix: | Water | ||||
| Fraction: | None | ||||
| Beneficial Use: | Water Contact Recreation | ||||
| Number of Samples: | 103 | ||||
| Number of Exceedances: | 3 | ||||
| Data and Information Type: | Water column surveys (e.g. fecal coliform) | ||||
| Data Used to Assess Water Quality: | This assessment uses data collected and analyzed by Lahontan RWQCB staff in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2008. It focuses on violations of the 20/100 mL limit. Data were evaluated as 30-day normalized log means. For the six years of sampling there were 103 log mean datapoints and 3 datapoints in violation of the 20/100 mL limit. | ||||
| Data Reference: | 2008. Big Meadow Post Grazing Allotment Violation Analysis | ||||
| 2008. Non-Point Source (NPS) Fecal Coliform (colonies/100 ml) for Upper Truckee River above Christmas Valley | |||||
| 2009. Determination of Fecal Coliform Violations of Lahontan Basin Plan Water Quality Objectives: Data Reduction Procedure | |||||
| SWAMP Data: | Non-SWAMP | ||||
| Water Quality Objective/Criterion: | The Lahontan Basin Plan's objective for coliform bacteria states:
"Waters shall not contain concentrations of coliform organisms attributable to anthropogenic sources, including human and livestock waste. The fecal coliform concentration during any 30-day period shall not exceed a log mean of 20/100 ml, nor shall more than 10 percent of all samples collected during any 30-day period exceed 40/100 ml. The log mean shall ideally be based on a minimum of not less than five samples collected a evenly spaced as practicable during any 30-day period. However, a log mean concentration exceeding 20/100 ml for any 30-day period shall indicate violation of this objective even if fewer than five samples were collected." |
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| Objective/Criterion Reference: | Water Quality Control Plan for the Lahontan Region (as amended) | ||||
| Evaluation Guideline: | |||||
| Guideline Reference: | |||||
| Spatial Representation: | Data were collected at the Hawley Grade station at the bridge downstream of the USGS gage. | ||||
| Temporal Representation: | The data used were collected in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2008. | ||||
| Environmental Conditions: | The Upper Truckee River is the largest tributary of Lake Tahoe. Its watershed above Christmas Valley is National Forest land and includes a popular hiking/mountain biking/cross country skiing trail. Range livestock grazing under a U.S. Forest Service permit occurred in the watershed prior to 2000. The permit was subsequently revoked. | ||||
| QAPP Information: | The data were collected and analyzed using the Lahontan RWQCB's quality assurance protocols. | ||||
| QAPP Information Reference(s): | |||||
DECISION ID |
19953 |
Region 6 |
Truckee River, Upper (above Christmas Valley) |
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| Pollutant: | Iron |
| Final Listing Decision: | List on 303(d) list (TMDL required list) |
| Last Listing Cycle's Final Listing Decision: | List on 303(d) list (TMDL required list)(2010) |
| Revision Status | Original |
| Sources: | Source Unknown |
| Expected TMDL Completion Date: | 2019 |
| Impairment from Pollutant or Pollution: | Pollutant |
| Regional Board Staff Conclusion: | Regional Board Conclusion:
This pollutant was considered for placement on the section 303 (d) list in a previous listing cycle. No new information was reviewed for this current assessment cycle. Therefore, the previous conclusion remains unchanged, and is as follows: 303(d) listing decisions made prior to 2006 were not held in an assessment database. The Regional Boards will update this decision when new data and information become available and are assessed. |
| Regional Board Staff Decision Recommendation: | No new data were assessed for this assessment cycle. The conclusion reached in the previous cycle remains the same. The Regional Board will update this decision when new data and information become available in a future assessment cycle. |
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| LOE ID: | 4652 | ||||
| Pollutant: | Iron | ||||
| LOE Subgroup: | Pollutant-Water | ||||
| Matrix: | Water | ||||
| Fraction: | Not Recorded | ||||
| Beneficial Use: | Municipal & Domestic Supply | ||||
| Number of Samples: | 0 | ||||
| Number of Exceedances: | 0 | ||||
| Data and Information Type: | Not Specified | ||||
| Data Used to Assess Water Quality: | Unspecified--This LOE is a placeholder to support a 303(d) listing decision made prior to 2006. | ||||
| Data Reference: | Placeholder reference pre-2006 303(d) | ||||
| SWAMP Data: | Non-SWAMP | ||||
| Water Quality Objective/Criterion: | Unspecified | ||||
| Objective/Criterion Reference: | Placeholder reference pre-2006 303(d) | ||||
| Evaluation Guideline: | Unspecified | ||||
| Guideline Reference: | Placeholder reference pre-2006 303(d) | ||||
| Spatial Representation: | Unspecified | ||||
| Temporal Representation: | Unspecified | ||||
| Environmental Conditions: | Unspecified | ||||
| QAPP Information: | Unspecified | ||||
| QAPP Information Reference(s): | |||||