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From page 100... ... 100 4 Causes of Water Quality Impairment Chapter 3 provides an overview of water quality standards and the types of water quality problems in southwestern Pennsylvania. In this chapter the causes of impairments to waters that prevent their designated uses are discussed with an emphasis on those caused by improper human waste disposal methods. Read the entire page →
From page 101... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 101 TABLE 4-1 Parameters Found in Water Quality Standards to Measure Impairment of Aquatic Life, Human Health, and Recreational Water Use in Pennsylvania Designated Use Impairment Causes in 303(d) Report Water Quality Parameter to Determine Impairment Metals Iron, manganese Acidity pH Nutrients Nitrite plus nitrate Salinity, total dissolved solids, chlorides Total dissolved solids, chlorides, osmotic pressure Other inorganics Sulfate Organic enrichment Dissolved oxygen Thermal modification Temperature Toxicity Ammonia nitrogen, fluoride, phenolics Excess algae growth Not listed Siltation Not listed Other habitat alteration Not listed Suspended solids Not listed Turbidity Not listed Flow alteration; water or flow variability Not listed Oil and grease Not listed Chlorine Not listed Aquatic life Pesticides Not listed Human health Chemicals in fish Federal food and drug standards used Recreation Pathogens (surrogate) Read the entire page →
From page 102... ... 102 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania Pennsylvania has 215 significant lakes totaling 98,942 acres.2 A total of 75,543 acres have been assessed, with 30,346 (40 percent) supporting their designated aquatic life use and 45,197 (60 percent) Read the entire page →
From page 103... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 103 systems. All of these systems, if not operating or maintained properly, have the potential to adversely affect the region's water quality. Read the entire page →
From page 104... ... 104 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania As shown in Table 4-2, there are more than 1,100 industrial, municipal, and nonmunicipal sanitary sewage dischargers in the area that have been granted National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) Read the entire page →
From page 105... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 105 TABLE 4-3 Influent and effluent Parameters for Typical Domestic Sewage Source 5-Day BOD5(mg/L) Read the entire page →
From page 106... ... 106 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania privately owned package wastewater treatment plants, many of which were failing or overloaded beyond capacity. Throughout Pennsylvania, many small communities experience problems with antiquated sewage treatment facilities and, particularly in southwestern Pennsylvania, older systems that are overloaded during heavy rainfalls (Strawley, 2002) Read the entire page →
From page 107... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 107 BOX 4-1 Small Rural Communities Study In an EPA-funded study examining environmental justice issues in wastewater services, research teams from the University of Tennessee's Municipal Technical Advisory Service and Tennessee Technological University's Center for Management, Utilization, and Protection of Water Resources conducted an intensive in-field study of socioeconomic factors in 12 small, rural Tennessee communities (including 2 control communities) , selected because of one or more negative wastewater impacts of health risks, water quality violations, or aesthetic problems. Read the entire page →
From page 108... ... 108 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania BOX 4-1 CONTINUED with failing and improperly operating septic systems, residents stated that "people take care of their septic systems," that the house was on public sewer, are that they did not know about any problems. The mayor of one of these communities confided that there were many problems with septic systems, but that there were concerns that small lots allowed no room for repairs, that the community lacked the money for centralized treatment, and that even if funds could be obtained for a central system there would be nobody to oversee it. Read the entire page →
From page 109... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 109 FIGURE 4-2 Illustration of urban wet weather flows, including combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows. SOURCE: http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/cso/images/uww.jpg. Read the entire page →
From page 110... ... 110 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania FIGURE 4-3 Distribution of CSOs in Pennsylvania. NOTE: This figure shows the locations of the agencies that hold the 155 CSO permits. Read the entire page →
From page 111... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 111 TABLE 4-5 Distribution of Select CSOs in Southwestern Pennsylvania by Major Authority or Agency Community CSO Structures/Outfalls City of Pittsburgh 216 McKeesport City Municipal Authority 28 ALCOSAN 21 Upper Allegheny Joint Sanitary Authority 19 Turtle Creek 10 Borough of Wilmerding 9 Girty's Run Joint Sewer Authority 9 Braddock 8 Etna 8 Total 328 SOURCE: http://cfpub2.epa.gov/npdes/cso/demo.cfm. FIGURE 4-4 Illustration of the proximity of public surface water intakes and CSO outfalls in Allegheny County in the vicinity of the City of Pittsburgh. Read the entire page →
From page 112... ... 112 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania contained an order of magnitude more indicator microorganisms than similarly sized stormwater systems. Typical fecal indicator concentrations in CSO discharges are provided in Table 4-7. Read the entire page →
From page 113... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 113 BOX 4-2 Wet Weather Events and Human Health Risk Rose et al. Read the entire page →
From page 114... ... 114 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) collection systems and is working in consultation with EPA, PADEP, and ALCOSAN on CSOs in the region (WRAS, 2003c) Read the entire page →
From page 115... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 115 BOX 4-4 Studies on the Effects of CSOs in Tributaries in Southwestern Pennsylvania Gibson et al. Read the entire page →
From page 116... ... 116 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania There are indications that the CSO problem has worsened in the last decade in southwestern Pennsylvania. Table 4-11 provides the total number of advisories and days affected by advisories for the summer recreational season in Allegheny County. Read the entire page →
From page 117... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 117 FIGURE 4-5 Infiltration and inflow sources. SOURCE: Adapted from http://dnr.metrokc.gov/WTD/i-i/whatis.htm. Read the entire page →
From page 118... ... 118 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania FIGURE 4-6 Sanitary sewer overflow from an elevated manhole in the Pittsburgh. region. Read the entire page →
From page 119... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 119 TABLE 4-12 Case Study: Septic Tank Effluent and Soil Water Qualitya Parameter (units) Statistics Septic Tank Effluent Quality Soil Water Qualityb at 0.6 Meter Soil Water Qualityb at 1.2 Meters BOD (mg/L) Read the entire page →
From page 120... ... 120 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania through perforated pipes into a subsurface drainfield or infiltration system. Within the drainfield, the soil filters out pathogenic microorganisms from the OSTDS effluent before it reaches groundwater. Read the entire page →
From page 121... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 121 70 percent. Pennsylvania was not surveyed, but nearby states had high failure rates (Ohio, 25-30 percent; West Virginia, 60 percent) Read the entire page →
From page 122... ... 122 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania discharges. The Blacklick Creek and Conemaugh River watersheds are impaired by numerous discharges of untreated sanitary wastes from municipalities and private OSTDSs. Read the entire page →
From page 123... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 123 Contamination of Surface and Groundwater by Failing OSTDSs No studies have been conducted that demonstrate the contribution of failing OSTDSs to pathogen loading in surface waters of southwestern Pennsylvania. As discussed in Chapter 3, fecal coliform bacteria samples were collected and analyzed by the ACHD from 4 stations on Montour Run and the mouths of 14 of its largest tributary streams in September 1996 (USACE, 1997) Read the entire page →
From page 124... ... 124 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania hydrogeologic districts and were sampled four times during a year, once each season. All but one well was isolated from surface water influence. Read the entire page →
From page 125... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 125 discharges are associated with numerous effects on receiving waters. Flooding, erosion, and sedimentation are amenable to engineering solutions (Marsalek and Chocat, 2002) Read the entire page →
From page 126... ... 126 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania result that receiving water may experience a tenfold increase in the number of fecal indicator bacteria, compared to low-flow periods (McDonald et al., 1982) Read the entire page →
From page 127... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 127 lie outside the area. For example, only about one-third of the Turtle Creek watershed is within the ALCOSAN service area, but all of the stormwater from that 200 square mile drainage area flows through the ALCOSAN service area. Read the entire page →
From page 128... ... 128 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania FIGURE 4-7 Acid mine drainage streams in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. SOURCE: PADEP, as cited at http://www.leo.lehigh.edu/envirosci/enviroissue/ amd/links/graphs.html. Read the entire page →
From page 129... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 129 range from tens to several thousands of milligrams per liter, depending on the local geology and hydrogeology, the flooded state of the mine, and the time since its abandonment (Lambert et al., 2004; Wood et al., 1999; Younger, 2000) Read the entire page →
From page 130... ... 130 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania discharges to the Allegheny River, sulfate concentrations have decreased steadily since 1950, as shown in Figure 4-8. The decline in AMD chemical inputs to the Loyalhanna Creek and other surface waters in the basins is attributable to significantly reduced coal production, reclamation of abandoned mine lands since the late 1970s, implementation of AMD treatment at active mining operations and some abandoned mine sites, and decrease in the amount of readily available pyrite in the abandoned mine voids (Lambert et al., 2004; Sams and Beer, 2000) Read the entire page →
From page 131... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 131 TABLE 4-13 Domestic Wells in the Allegheny and Monongahela Watersheds Exceeding Secondary Maximum Contaminant Levels (Data From 1996-1998) Contaminant Mined Area (%) Read the entire page →
From page 132... ... 132 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania BOX 4-5 Longwall Mining in Southwestern Pennsylvania Coal mining has helped to shape both southwestern Pennsylvania's history and its current landscape. For many years, underground mining in this area used a method known as room-andpillar, in which about 50 percent of the coal seam is left in place as "pillars" for roof support. Read the entire page →
From page 133... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 133 face moves beyond the structure, tensile forces may again be in effect. This "dynamic subsidence" is the changing of the ground surface as the longwall passes through the area. Read the entire page →
From page 134... ... 134 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania FIGURE 4-9 Major land uses in southwestern Pennsylvania as of 1992. SOURCE: Generated from 1992 USGS National Land Cover Data. Read the entire page →
From page 135... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 135 part of agricultural production. Depending on the water quality problem (e.g., sediment, pathogens, pesticides) Read the entire page →
From page 136... ... 136 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania BOX 4-6 Dunkard Creek Watershed: A Snapshot of Agricultural and Rural Land Practices Dunkard Creek watershed, a tributary of the Monongahela River, straddles the PennsylvaniaWest Virginia state boundary and lies within Greene County, Pennsylvania, and Monongalia County, West Virginia. The main stem of the creek originates approximately 2.5 miles west of Blacksville, West Virginia, at the confluence of the Pennsylvania Fork and the West Virginia Fork of Dunkard Creek. Read the entire page →
From page 137... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 137 percentage of ground cover due to equine habits of "spot grazing." These areas are very vulnerable to higher erosion rates. More than half of the area experiences problems with increased sediment and nutrient loads in streams due to winter feeding locations and lack of improved animal watering facilities. Read the entire page →
From page 138... ... 138 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania specify injection and incorporation requirements and site restrictions for food, feed, and fiber crops, as well as turf, animals, and public access (PADEP, 2001; Stehouwer, 1999a) Read the entire page →
From page 139... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 139 Acid mine drainage is a significant cause of water quality impairment in the region, predominately affecting streams and tributaries. This regional water quality issue extends beyond Pennsylvania to encompass much of the Appalachian Range. Read the entire page →
From page 140... ... 140 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania Caccio, S., M Giocomo, F Read the entire page →
From page 141... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 141 EPA. Read the entire page →
From page 142... ... 142 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania Herwaldt, B., G Craun, S Read the entire page →
From page 143... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 143 Makepeace, D., D Smith, and S Read the entire page →
From page 144... ... 144 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania deputate/watermgt/wc/Subjects/SrceProt/well/questions/default.htm. Accessed March 18, 2004. Read the entire page →
From page 145... ... Causes of Water Quality Impairment 145 Stehouwer, R Read the entire page →
From page 146... ... 146 Regional Cooperation for Water Quality Improvement in Southwestern Pennsylvania Wood, S., P Younger, and N Read the entire page →

From page 100...

... 100 4 Causes of Water Quality Impairment Chapter 3 provides an overview of water quality standards and the types of water quality problems in southwestern Pennsylvania. In this chapter the causes of impairments to waters that prevent their designated uses are discussed with an emphasis on those caused by improper human waste disposal methods.