Holistic Watershed Approach (2002 to 2003)

The final piece of the structure fell into place with the integration of the Pretreatment Program with the CSO, SSO, MS4, Stream Monitoring programs in April 2003.

The next step was to break this strategic plan down into manageable pieces. It was decided to use a five year planning window consistent with MSD’s capital budgeting process. The mission statement was then refined for this first five-year period. Specifically, it called for the development and implementation of a sustainable strategic process for water quality management within the wet weather programs. The process selected was called the Resource Management Process (RMP). The goal for this process was to be transferable and applicable to all county watersheds.

This process sets the foundation for water quality-based decision making and will be utilized to integrate programs, as well as manage resources, on a watershed basis. This process will allow MSD to prioritize the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) using criteria that reach beyond just regulatory requirements, taking into account environmental benefit, habitat, biodiversity, and community livability goals.

The RMP is cyclic because the process of watershed management is dynamic. Conditions and priorities change; therefore, the community needs a process that is responsive and adaptive to change. The cyclic process chosen ensures that CIP decisions will be periodically reviewed and adapted as necessary to optimize resources.

The management process consists of six phases.

• Scoping Phase – Establish direction for the current round of planning using existing information.
• Assessment Phase – Establish major goals and priorities.
• Prioritization Phase – Establish specific management objectives and goals.
• Strategies Phase – Identify, evaluate, and select management alternatives to achieve the stated goals and objectives.
• Implementation Phase - Establish and implement plans, projects, and schedules to achieve the goals.
• Evaluation Phase – Determine the effectiveness of the programs and projects undertaken. Use this information for subsequent iterations of the RMP cycle.

Upon refinement of the five-year mission statement, a watershed was selected as the pilot implementation area. Of the 11 partial or complete watersheds within Metro Louisville, the Beargrass Creek watershed was selected. This watershed has an area of approximately 61 square miles and contains about 148 streams miles. The Beargrass Creek Watershed contains three sub-watersheds – South Fork, Middle Fork, and Muddy Fork. The watershed is approximately 38% impervious area with a landuse breakdown of 44% residential, 5% industrial, 20% commercial, 15% public, 4% parks, and 12% undeveloped. It contains CSOs, SSOs and stormwater outfalls.

MSD’s monitoring network in the Beargrass Creek watershed consists of five locations with paired Hydrolab sondes (measuring pH, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, percent dissolved oxygen saturation, and temperature every 15 minutes) and stream flow gages (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. A stakeholder working group has been meeting for 18 months and has identified 170 potential stakeholders for Beargrass Creek. Through the end of 2004, this working group will develop a symposium to educate the 170 shareholders.

The 1998 Kentucky 303(d) list classifies all three forks within 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 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 KDOW, in partnership with the University of Kentucky (UofK) and MSD, will develop the TMDLs with the financial assistance of a USEPA Region IV grant. The TMDL reports will be submitted to EPA 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 weather 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. EPA, 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 the other watersheds as a routine part of MSD’s program in anticipation of future watershed planning efforts.

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