| Water Body Name: | Blackwood Creek |
| Water Body ID: | CAR6342002119990128133830 |
| Water Body Type: | River & Stream |
DECISION ID |
20634 |
Region 6 |
Blackwood Creek |
||
| Pollutant: | Nitrogen |
| 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 listing cycle. 303(d) listing decisions made prior to 2006 were not held in an assessment database.
Regional Board conclusion: No new data were assessed for this assessment cycle, however; the final listing decision has changed since the Lake Tahoe TMDL, which partly addresses the nitrogen impairment within Blackwood Creek, was adopted after the 2010 Integrated Report. Blackwood Creek 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 Blackwood Creek. There is also a water-body specific Blackwood Creek TMDL that addresses historic channel disturbance and bedded sediment instabilities. The largest source of nitrogen in the Lake Tahoe (and Blackwood Creek) watershed is transportation-related emissions that lead to atmospheric nitrogen deposition. The Lake Tahoe TMDL includes implementation measures to reduce atmospheric nitrogen sources. The TMDL relies on the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to lead efforts to improve transportation infrastructure and reduce overall vehicle miles traveled in the Lake Tahoe region to reduce emissions that lead to atmospheric nutrient loading. Public transit and vehicle fleet turnover are expected to further reduce nutrient-laden emissions in the Tahoe basin that will reduce nitrogen loading in the Blackwood Creek watershed. Furthermore, Federal, State, and larger local restoration agencies have well defined multi objective watershed restoration programs to address historic disturbances to Lake Tahoe tributary stream channels. Implementation of USFS-Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit's Blackwood Creek Restoration Project between 2008 and 2009 helped restore the functional channel/floodplain relationship within the most degraded section of Blackwood Creek which is expected to reduce sediment and nutrient loading to Blackwood Creek. The California Tahoe Conservancy has also implemented additional work on Blackwood Creek to treat channel incision at the Highway 89 crossing that will further reduce pollutant loading. These projects are all part of the Blackwood Creek TMDL implementation plan that targets restoration to address channel instability and re-establish natural geomorphic function. Finally, the Lake Tahoe TMDL requires the USFS-Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit to undertake restoration actions to reduce erosion and treat urban storm water runoff from paved and unpaved roadways, campgrounds, and recreational trails within the Blackwood Creek watershed. Storm water collection, conveyance, and treatment facilities coupled with revegetation of previously disturbed lands and stabilizing areas designated for recreational use are expected to reduce nutrient loading to Blackwood Creek. Pollutant load reductions within Blackwood Creek 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 Blackwood Creek 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 Blackwood Creek 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: | 4587 | ||||
| Pollutant: | Nitrogen | ||||
| 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 |
27246 |
Region 6 |
Blackwood Creek |
||
| 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 listing cycle. 303(d) listing decisions made prior to 2006 were not held in an assessment database.
Regional Board conclusion: No new data were assessed for this assessment cycle, however; the final listing decision has changed since the Lake Tahoe TMDL, which partly addresses the phosphorus impairment within Blackwood Creek, was adopted after the 2010 Integrated Report. Blackwood Creek 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 Blackwood Creek. There is also a water-body specific Blackwood Creek TMDL that addresses historic channel disturbance and bedded sediment instabilities. The primary source of phosphorus in Blackwood Creek is associated with historic watershed disturbance actions that have caused elevated watershed erosion rates and altered natural geomorphic processes in the stream itself. Recreational uses, including informal camping, paved and unpaved access roads, and user-created trails are all additional sources of sediment and associated phosphorus loading to the creek. The Lake Tahoe TMDL requires that the USFS-Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit undertake restoration actions to reduce erosion and treat urban storm water runoff from paved and unpaved roadways, campgrounds, and recreational trails within the Blackwood Creek watershed. Storm water collection, conveyance, and treatment facilities coupled with revegetation of previously disturbed lands and stabilizing areas designated for recreational use are expected to reduce sediment and associated phosphorus loading to Blackwood Creek. Maintenance activities, including vegetation management work and restoration of small disturbed sites that are underway, or planned and expected, within the forested uplands of Blackwood Creek will further reduce or avoid increases in fine sediment and associated phosphorus loads). Furthermore, Federal, State, and larger local restoration agencies have well defined multi objective watershed restoration programs to address historic disturbances to Lake Tahoe tributary stream channels. Implementation of USFS-Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit's Blackwood Creek Restoration Project between 2008 and 2009 helped restore the functional channel/floodplain relationship within the most degraded section of Blackwood Creek which is expected to reduce sediment and nutrient loading to Blackwood Creek. The California Tahoe Conservancy is also planning to implement additional work on Blackwood Creek to treat channel incision at the Highway 89 crossing that will further reduce pollutant loading. These projects are all part of the Blackwood Creek TMDL implementation plan that targets restoration to address channel instability and re-establish natural geomorphic function. Finally, the Lake Tahoe TMDL requires implementation dust control measures which help reduce pollutant loads of fine sediment. Implementation of these measures helps address the phosphorus loading (associated with these fine sediments from dust sources) that impairs Blackwood Creek. Pollutant load reductions within Blackwood Creek 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 Blackwood Creek 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 Blackwood Creek 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: | 4588 | ||||
| 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 |
20633 |
Region 6 |
Blackwood Creek |
||
| 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: | Erosion/Siltation | Natural Sources | Nonpoint Source |
| Expected TMDL Completion Date: | 2022 |
| 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 assessment 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 in 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: | 4586 | ||||
| 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): | |||||
DECISION ID |
20635 |
Region 6 |
Blackwood Creek |
||
| Pollutant: | Sedimentation/Siltation |
| 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 (being addressed by USEPA approved TMDL)(2010) |
| Revision Status | Original |
| Sources: | Source Unknown |
| TMDL Name: | Blackwood Creek |
| TMDL Project Code: | 182 |
| Date TMDL Approved by USEPA: | 07/11/2008 |
| 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 assessment cycle. No new information was reviewed for this current assessment cycle. Therefore, the previous conclusion remains unchanged, and is as follows: In October 2007 the Lahontan RWQCB approved a sediment TMDL for Blackwood Creek, with an implementation program recognizing ongoing watershed restoration work by the U.S. Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. The TMDL was adopted under Resolution 6T-2007-0027 and did not involve a Basin Plan amendment. The USEPA approved the TMDL on July 11, 2008. |
| Regional Board Staff Decision Recommendation: | No new data were assessed for this assessment cycle. The conclusion reached in the previous cycle remains in 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: | 4589 | ||||
| Pollutant: | Sedimentation/Siltation | ||||
| 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): | |||||