Stuart F. Bruny, P.E. ORSANCO Commissioner

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1 Stuart F. Bruny, P.E. ORSANCO Commissioner

2 Established 1948 Authorized by Congress Eight signatory States (IL, IN, NY, KY, OH, PA, VA, WV) Pledge cooperation to abate interstate water pollution in Ohio River valley compact district Created ORSANCO to coordinate and implement

3 3/state (gubernatorial appointments); 3 federal (Presidential appointments) State EPA director ex-officio One federal is EPA Regional Administrator Budget: $2.5 million from states & USEPA Staff 23

4 981 Miles from Pittsburgh to Cairo Drinking water source for 5 million people (33 intakes) 38 power generating plants 120+ species of fish; rich in mussels 230 million tons of cargo transported annually; 20 locks and dams Recreational water resource

5 Regulatory establish Ohio River Pollution Control Standards Monitoring (lots of it) & assessment Spill Detection/Response (monitoring, communications) Clean Water Act/Safe Drinking Water Act implementation coordination (TMDLs, NPDES, etc ) Applied research (pharmaceuticals, mercury) Public Involvement programs (volunteer monitoring, River Sweep, mobile aquarium)

6 Referred to as 305(b) report ORSANCO completes for Ohio River. Recommendation for states 303(d) Lists of waters requiring TMDLs. Based on ORSANCO monitoring data Impairments All 981 miles impaired for PCBs and dioxin based on historical high volume water quality data. 630 miles impaired for contact recreational use based on exceedances of E. coli &/or fecal coliform criteria. Recent previous assessments have temperature and dissolved oxygen impairments in lower river.

7 Commission initiated study to characterize total dissolved solids (TDS) and its primary constituents in the Ohio River and selected tributaries. Weekly sampling conducted at 11 Ohio River sites and on 5 tributaries for a suite of parameters. Sampling effort ran for 1 year (Dec 2011 Dec 2012). Data assessment is ongoing. Final report to be completed June 2013.

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9 Dissolved Solids Analytes Supplemental Parameters 1. Sodium 2. Potassium 3. Magnesium 4. Calcium 5. Lithium 6. Chloride 7. Sulfate 8. Bromide 9. Fluoride ph Conductivity Temperature Stream flow Coordinate THM sampling when possible 10. Bicarbonate 11. Total Dissolved Solids

10 TDS Standard 500 mg/l Highest levels observed during low-flow period in Aug/Sept. Levels on the Ohio River did not approach the 500 mg/l standard (max observed 368 mg/l) TDS was higher on tributaries, particularly the Big Sandy and Muskingum Rivers

11 ORSANCO and Water Resources Mission (per Compact) has been focused on water quality Growing importance of integrating quality and quantity management Droughts and shortages not just a west of the Mississippi issue anymore 2009 Strategic Planning Workshop Outcome: ORSANCO should become more holistic in its services to the states

12 Committee Role: To study, discuss and evaluate water resources issues of concern or interest to the Commission and basin states Provides a forum for states and federal agencies to discuss water resources issues (meets 3 times annually) Current membership includes: States Indiana Kentucky New York Ohio Pennsylvania Tennessee Virginia West Virginia Federal Tennessee Valley Authority US Army Corps of Engineers US Geological Survey Committee must be financially self-supporting

13 Effort funded by private foundation grants Initial focus to complete three water resource characterization studies 1. Water resources inventory and characterization Characterize current water resources issues (i.e. water use, interbasin transfers, climate change, E-flows) 2. Examination of laws and regulations Comparison of existing state and federal rules/regs governing water resources 3. Evaluation of Commission role in water resources management Define appropriate role for Commission and develop funding mechanism for future WR activities Timeline Reports #1 and #2 to be completed 2013 Report #3 to be completed 2014

14 Methyl Mercury fish tissue data was collected in hybrid striped bass samples. 40% of samples exceeded ORSANCO s MeHg fish tissue criterion of 0.3 mg/kg. Hybrid striped bass considered worst case scenario. ORSANCO s Technical Committee decided river would remain unassessed until fish tissue data from other commonly consumed species was collected and evaluated. Some states have listed Ohio River for mercury impairments. OEPA does not include Ohio River in any listings.

15 ORSANCO prohibition on mixing zones for bioaccumulative chemicals of concern (mercury). Effectively will require discharges to meet ug/l for total mercury at end of pipe. PPG requested and received a variance from this prohibition. Ironton has requested a variance from ORSANCO has already received variance from OEPA. ORSANCO is developing formal variance procedure.

16 Objective: Project at Hannibal L&D in area of mercury discharge variance request by PPG Inc. Natrium, WV mile 120 A single site-specific bioaccumulation factor for methyl Hg Calculated from direct measurement of methyl mercury in water and methyl mercury in tissue

17 12 Equal Discharge Increment (EDI) composite water samples (1 year/monthly) Analysis for total and methyl mercury, filtered and unfiltered Known methylation factors: DOC, D SO4, Chlorophyll-a 12 composite fish tissue analyses: 4 TL4 composites 4 TL3 composites 4 TL2 composites 4 sediment samples

18 Objectives: Create inventory of FGD systems and ash ponds on the Ohio River (FGD type, installation date, discharge location). Characterize total and methyl mercury discharges from FGD systems. Data will be used in conjunction with mercury trend analyses to investigate potential impacts from these discharges.

19 Four sample events (quarterly) at four coal-fired power generation facilities Three sample locations per facility: Upstream baseline or raw inflow FGD wastewater post treatment Fly/bottom ash pond final discharge Analytical parameters to be monitored: Filtered total Hg Unfiltered total Hg Filtered methyl Hg Unfiltered methyl Hg Selenium Bromide Dissolved Organic Carbon Dissolved Sulfate Total Dissolved Solids ph/specific Conductance

20 2012 revisions of bacteria criteria for protection of recreational use. Fecal coliform criteria removed. Numeric E. coli criteria revised as follows: 130 cfu/100ml as 90-day geometric mean. Previously 30-day. 240 cfu/100ml in more than 25% of samples. Previously single sample max. Max. Temperature criterion of 110 deg F added for protection of human health from body contact exposure.

21 USEPA Region 5 is completing a bacteria TMDL for the entire Ohio River. About 2/3 of the river is listed as impaired. ORSANCO has been involved: Monitoring to generate data to support the modeling effort. Provide technical expertise on the Ohio River. Collection of other necessary data. Army Corps of Engineers HEC-RAS model being utilized. There will be a continued public involvement process (one set of meetings held in 2009). See ORSANCO s website for additional info.

22 Fish Community 1957-present Macroinvertebrate Community 1964-present Fish Tissue Contaminants 1970-present Supplemental Data Collections Mussel Community 2012 Periphyton Community Water & Sediment Chemistry 2007-present Mobile Aquarium Displays ~2001-present

23 Lockchamber Rotenone Long term trends analysis Night-time Boat Electrofishing 1990-present Aquatic Life Use Assessments [305(b)] Uses Modified Ohio River Fish Index (morfin) Probabilistic Pool Surveys (15 sites/pool) 18 Riverwide Fixed Stations (sampled annually since 2004) Benthic Trawling Exploration as supplement to EF

24 Collected at electrofishing sites Methods Rockbaskets Hester-Dendy (HD) 1968-present Shallow (2-3 of water) & Deep (10 ) D-Frame Net Kicks (Kicks) 2004-present Recently developed multi-metric index Uses combination of Deep HD & Kicks Draft numeric index has been developed and will be evaluated over the next couple years. Initial results seem to compare reasonably with fish surveys.

25 Objectives: Monitor contaminants levels & track trends Provide information to states to support fish consumption advisories ( Provide information for 305(b) assessment of Fish Consumption Use Analytes PCBs Mercury (total & methyl) & other metals DDTs, Chlordanes, and other pesticides PBDEs, PFCs, Dioxins, etc on occasion Fish tissue contaminants of concern include PCBs and mercury

26 Mussel Community 2012 Initial explorations for use as bio-indicators Periphyton Community Draft diatom multi-metric index recently completed Water & Sediment Chemistry 2007-present Used to create condition gradients for biotic data * All collected at electrofishing zones

27 2200 Gallon Mobile Aquarium Set-up at various events along river Approximately events April-October Filled at event with water & fish Generally species

28 In May 1977, the Commission voted to expand it s monitoring capabilities to include volatile organics (VOC s), in response to an ongoing Carbon Tetrachloride release into Kanawha River that February. 6 downstream water utilities were unprotected and vulnerable with no ability to detect volatile organics routinely; water quality was compromised and communities were served contaminated water for over a week. ODS is designed to be a Spills Detection Network. Samples collected from Ohio River at 14 drinking water utilities (one on Kanawha River). At least 1 source water sample is analyzed per day from each site. In 2012, nearly 4,200 VOC samples were collected from ODS locations and analyzed. Less than 2% of the time, reportable detections found (that s a good thing!) Most common detections are Chloroform, (THM s), Benzene, 1,1-Dichloroethylene, and TCE.

29 Continued partnerships with water utilities, the Water Users Advisory Committee (WUAC), and industry has kept ODS operational for 34 years. In kind services provided by ODS host sites over the past two years totals over $1.4M. Operational and maintenance costs are estimated to be over $200,000 annually when renovation is completed.

30 Methylene Chloride 1,3 Dichlorobenzene 1,1 Dichloroethylene 1,4 Dichlorobenzene 1,1 Dichloroethane 1,2 Dichlorobenzene Chloroform 1,1,1 Trichloroethane Acrylonitrile Carbon Tetrachloride 1,2 Dichloroethane Benzene trans-1,2 Dichloroethylene Trichloroethylene cis-1,3 Dichloropropene 1,2 Dichloropropane trans-1,3 Dichloropopene Dichlorobromomethane Hexachloro-1,3-butadiene Toluene 1,1, 2,2 Tetrachloroethane Tetrachloroethylene 1,1,2 Trichloroethane Dibromochloromethane Trichlorofluoromethane Ethylbenzene Napthalene Chlorobenzene Styrene (co-elutes with o,p xylenes) Bromoform

31 ODS MONITORING LOCATIONS Water Utility GC/MS technology Early 90 s technology CMS5000 process GC

32 In ORSANCO was able to obtain $4.4 Mil in funding to support a network wide renovation and upgrade. The Renovation will allow the ODS to: Use automated sample injection to increase frequency of analysis to 4-6 times daily Reduce analysis time Increase number of VOC s that can be identified Increase number of monitoring sites Involve and educate public with interactive website

33 Project began with Electric Power Research Institute 2008 feasibility study. Power plants compliance cost ranged from $ per lb of nitrogen Typical farmer BMP cost $2-4 per lb Project funding to date from project partners and grants: $5 Million Advisory groups from Power Industry, Agriculture, WWTP s, Environmental Groups. WWTP advisory group from NACWA Project Partners Electric Power Research Institute American Electric Power Duke Energy Hoosier Energy Tennessee Valley Authority American Farmland Trust Ohio Farm Bureau Federation ORSANCO Hunton & Williams Kieser & Associates US EPA USDA

34 An option for compliance with permit limits. A permitted source of nutrients with a high compliance cost pays a non-point source with a lower reduction cost to install nutrient best management practices. Non-point source reductions must be new.

35 Full Scale Program 38 Power plants 230,000 Farmers Thousands of WWTP Millions of Pounds of Nutrients

36 Pilot phase will test out procedures developed for the program Pilot Trading Plan signed by Ohio EPA, Indiana DEP, Kentucky DEP August 9, 2012 $100,000 will be spent on BMP s in each State. Projects are currently being scoped Installation of BMP s this spring/summer First credits for sale in September 2013 Project will go full scale in 2015.

37 Problem: Nutrients are one of the most common causes of impairments to water in the U.S. USEPA has directed all States to develop numeric nutrient criteria Objective: Collect a long term dataset for development of numeric nutrient criteria. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) Some algae cause taste and odor problems with drinking water. These issues have become more common on the Ohio River. Some algae can produce toxins which are harmful to humans and animals.

38 Parameters: total phosphorus, nitrate/nitrite, TKN, ammonia, phytoplankton algae identification, chlorophyll a. Frequency: 2/month. 12 months/year for nutrients. 9 months/year for algae. 7locations West View, PA ORM5 Wheeling, WV ORM87 Huntington, WV ORM306 Northern KY ORM463 Louisville, KY ORM600 Evansville, IN ORM792 Paducah, KY ORM936

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40 EPA has mandated that states develop numeric nutrients criteria. Criteria development for the main stem of the Ohio River began in Development of numeric criteria have proved to be a difficult task. There are not obvious cause-effect relationships between concentrations of nutrients and impairments caused by nutrients. There are occasional algae blooms and drinking water taste & odor problems that are associated with nutrients. Continuing to look at other indicators such as changes in macroinvertebrate communities resulting from nutrients. Unknown as to when numeric criteria may be proposed.

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