Beargrass Creek Watershed

The Beargrass Creek Watershed has an area of approximately 61 square miles and contains 148 stream miles. The Beargrass Creek Watershed is comprised of three sub-watersheds—Middle Fork (25 square miles), Muddy Fork (8 square miles) and South Fork (27 square miles). This watershed is the most urban of all the watersheds within Jefferson County.

The table below shows the various land use percentages for each of the three sub-watersheds.

Water Quality Impacts

Water quality problems within this watershed are often severe. A high percentage of the watershed is paved, and runoff contributes to high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the streams. This watershed also includes sewers that sometimes overflow. Fecal bacteria levels exceed water-quality standards more than half the time. In addition, fast moving storm water scours the stream banks, causing erosion and damaging or destroying habitat. Runoff from paved surfaces also diminishes water and habitat quality.

Development of the Beargrass Creek Watershed Plan
The watershed plan for Beargrass Creek grows out of a need to transform this deteriorating resource from a liability into a community asset. To accomplish this, a planning process has been undertaken that will serve to accurately define the problems, describe policies, programs and activities that should be undertaken to rehabilitate and manage the watershed.

This resource management effort will require the support and participation of local and state government agencies, private businesses, non-profit organizations, and residents.

The Resource Management Process for Beargrass Creek will address two important community issues: 1) the need to accommodate new growth and development and its associated land use changes, and 2) the need to preserve, protect and restore natural resource features and the associated value they offer. The benefits typically derived from watershed planning include improved and sustainable land use planning, design and development, stream protection, preservation and restoration, increased health and diversity of aquatic plant and animal life, and improved recreational and educational opportunities that make use of healthier streams and rivers.

MSD’s monitoring network in the Beargrass Creek watershed consists of five locations with paired Hydrolab sondes (measuring every 15 minutes - pH, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, percent dissolved oxygen saturation, and temperature) and stream flow gauges (measuring every 5 minutes). The network is supplemented with sampling to determine fecal coliform levels (samples collected five times per month) at each of these locations during the recreational contact season (May 1 through October 31). Wet weather samples are collected at the five locations, as well as at point source discharges and from specific land uses.

MSD has also developed the Beargrass Creek Water Quality Model (BCWQM). This tool utilizes HSPF and XP-SWMM models to predict the potential benefits for the watershed for various alternative scenarios, including combinations of alternatives. This predictive tool has been successfully tested and is being refined and utilized to develop program priorities and project scheduling.

While there had been two previous Beargrass Creek Task Force initiatives, planning for a third effort was started in September 2002. The primary modification is that MSD will not lead the process, but will be a participant and make technical assistance available to the group. Over 170 potential stakeholders within the Beargrass Creek watershed have been identified to receive an invitation to participate in the kickoff meeting scheduled for October 2003.

The 1998 Kentucky 303(d) list classifies all three forks of Beargrass Creek as not meeting the designated use criteria for Primary Contact Recreation and Aquatic Life due to pathogens (1990) and organic enrichment/dissolved oxygen (1994). Per the Clean Water Act (CWA) provisions for establishing section 303(d) list priority ranking of impaired waters and to establish total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for such waters, dissolved oxygen and pathogen TMDLs are scheduled to be completed in December 2004. These TMDLs will rely heavily on the monitoring network and BCWQM developed by MSD. The Kentucky Division of Water (KDOW), in partnership with the University of Kentucky and MSD will develop the TMDLs with the financial assistance of a USEPA Region IV grant. The TMDL reports will be submitted to USEPA Region IV for approval.

The next step will be to use the TMDL in concert with the Beargrass Creek stakeholder group and the RMP to develop a Watershed Plan that minimizes or eliminates the discharge of wet water pollutants to Beargrass Creek. The process will serve to define the problems and describe policies, programs, and activities necessary to rehabilitate and manage the watershed.

The final component of the water quality-based wet weather strategic plan is to pursue the development and implementation of a watershed permit for Beargrass Creek. It is envisioned that this permit will implement an integrated solution to achieve watershed objectives by coordinating regulatory activities. Specifically, this watershed-based permit would enable MSD and its Co-Permittees to effectively focus resources and management tools to achieve applicable water quality standards within the watershed. USEPA, KDOW and MSD are collaborating to develop this permit and establish implementation parameters.

The intent is to use the process developed for Beargrass Creek as a model for the other watersheds across the County. As this process is being developed in Beargrass Creek, many similar supporting activities are proceeding in other watersheds as a routine part of MSD’s program in anticipation of future watershed planning efforts.

Monitoring

MSD and the communities have performed extensive monitoring throughout the three watersheds within Beargrass Creek. Community monitoring efforts have included monitoring by the Beargrass Creek Task Force, the Salt River Watershed Watch, the Friends of Beargrass Creek, the University of Louisville, and monitoring activities by local schools. Though MSD does not utilize this information for purposes of modeling or program development, it does allow MSD to observe trends within the watersheds.

Modeling

The Beargrass Creek watershed has both CSO and SSO point source discharges, as well as water quality impacts from storm water runoff. In an effort to understand the pollutant loading from each of these sources, modeling activities are being performed.

Strategies

Until 2001, MSD developed project for the control and mitigation of CSOs, SSOs and storm water within the requirements of the individual regulatory programs. Success was measured on the basis of cost per unit reduction in average annual overflow volume (AAOV) or number of best management practices (BMPs) implemented. However, MSD did not have the tools to quantify the reduction in pollutant loadings or reductions in water quality violations resulting from this

approach, or to evaluate if alternative approaches would result in overall greater environmental benefit. Hence, MSD is developing a water quality-based evaluation tool.

Water Quality Tool

The Water Quality Tool will assist with the development of strategies within the Beargrass Creek Watershed.

Restoring urbanized streams is difficult because of the complex nature of impacts, the cost associated with many of the solutions, and the difficulty predicting the environmental benefit of various solutions. Having a predictive tool that links management strategies with water quality standards, biocriteria, and habitat quality provides a framework for making management decisions. The use of a water quality-based evaluation tool, provides for more effective management of resources, resulting in enhanced environmental benefit. The Water Quality Tool will quantify the reduction in pollutant loadings resulting from a particular project or set of parameters and will be used to evaluate alternative approaches for overall greater environmental benefit.

Project Implementation

The Beargrass Creek Watershed is arguably the most heavily impacted of all the Jefferson County watersheds. As was stated before, the watershed contains both CSOs and SSOs point source discharges, and non-point source water quality impacts. MSD has undertaken a number of projects within the Beargrass Creek Watershed, ranging from true water quality projects, to those that reduce flow and remove trash/debris from the stream.

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