Thief River Watershed Sediment Investigation

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Thief River Watershed Sediment Investigation

• By Corey Hanson,
• Water Quality Coordinator,
• Red Lake Watershed District
• For January 10, 2007 Northwest Regional
  Sustainable Development Partnership Meeting

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Project Origin

• Marshall County Water Resources Advisory
  Committee
• Red River Basin Water Quality Team
• December 15, 2005 Impoundment Meeting
• Part of Marshall County Water Plan and the RLWD
  10-Yr Plan

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Thief River Watershed
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Problems

• Sedimentation in the Thief River Falls Reservoir
• Large flushes of suspended solids and nutrients
  during releases from Agassiz NWR
• Streambank/ditch erosion and sedimentation
• Channelization
• Flooding
• Low Dissolved Oxygen
• Hydrogen Sulfide

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Evidence
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Thief lake Deltas
Moose River
Spillway Ditch
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How were problems identified

• Red Lake Watershed District Long-Term Monitoring
  Program
• Identification of impairments
• Monitoring by Marshall County
• Investigative monitoring
• Created more questions than answers
• Complaints about poor water quality

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Impaired Waters New On 2006 List
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Questions That will Be Addressed

• Is Agassiz NWR really cause of water quality
  problems in the Thief River or does the problem
  come from what is entering the refuge?
• Influence of the Mud River?
• How often does turbidity increase between Thief
  Lake and Agassiz NWR and what is causing this
  problem? Is this reach impaired?
• Are ditches contributing to the Thief River water
  quality problems?
• What happens during runoff events?
• How is the rate of release from Agassiz Pool to
  the quality of water being released from the
  pool?

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Suggested Solutions

• Intensive study that includes continuous
  monitoring.
• Focus on Thief Lake and Agassiz NWR
• Input vs Output
• TIMING
• Sediment Budgets
• Coordination
• Maintenance

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Project Objectives

• Purchase Equipment
• Equipment calibration and maintenance
• Water quality monitoring
• Flow monitoring
• Data entry and reduction
• Develop sediment budget
• Water quality modeling
• Assess Results
• Make recommendations
• Write and review report
• Publish Report
• Develop impaired waters work plans

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Timeline

• February 2007 February 2010
• Continuous monitoring in open water months of all
  years.
• Equipment installed as soon as possible.
• Monthly sampling (at least)
• FLUX and SWAT Modeling will be done near the end
  of the project so that monitoring data may be used

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Budget
Objectives Funding Types Funding Types Total
Grant and Local Cash In-kind
1. Equipment Purchase of 5 logging sondes, 3 level loggers, construction materials 3 level loggers, profiling sondes, logging rain gauge are already available from the RLWD 39,600 39,600
2. Equipment Calibration Maintenance 7,100 7,100
3. Water quality monitoring (Marshall Co. RLWD) 27,050 25,150 52,200
4. Flow monitoring (RLWD) rating curve development 9,900 9,900
5. Data entry reduction (all) 10,350 750 11,100
6. Develop sediment budget FLUX model (RLWD) 4,900 4,900
7. Water quality modeling SWAT model (EERC) 45,000 45,000
8. Assess results (All) 1,500 2,500 4,000
9. Make recommendations ALL 1,500 2,500 4,000
10. Write and review report (All) 6,500 2,500 9,000
11. Publish report (RLWD) 3,000 3,000
12. Develop impaired waters study work plans (All) 2,000 1,200 3,200
Total of Program Objectives 158,400 34,600 193,000
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Funding

• Encouraged by Molly MacGregor of the MPCA to
  apply for a Clean Water Partnership Resource
  Investigation Grant.
• MPCA Approved 96,500 in Funding for the Project
  (193,000 total budget)
• Cash Match from RLWD
• In-kind support
• Marshall County Water Plan, USFWS, DNR,
  Pennington County
• Red River Watershed Management Board?

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Monitoring Plan

• Continuous Monitoring
• Sampling
• Flow Rating Curves
• Streamgauging
• Data Analysis
• Modeling
• Flux
• SWAT
• Verification of existing impairments, ID of new
  ones

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Monitoring Sites
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Proposed Agassiz NWR Monitoring Sites
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Continuous Monitoring

• Eureka Manta Logging sondes with optical
  dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and water depth
  added.
• At least 5 or 6 sites
• Water level loggers at other sites
• 2 to 5 sites
• Weather

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Sampling

• 11 sites
• Sampling by the RLWD and the Marshall Co. Water
  Plan
• Total suspended solids
• Total phosphorus and orthophosphorus
• E-Coli
• Field Measurements
• Turbidity
• Dissolved Oxygen
• More

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Modeling

• Soil and Water Assessment Tool
• Basic Tasks
• Model Development, Calibration, and Validation
• Water Quality Assessment
• Identification of Target Areas and BMPs
• Evaluation of Hypothetical BMP Implementation
• Compilation of Results

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Next Steps

• Getting a grant agreement to sign
• Creating a detailed work plan and budget
• Review past studies/projects
• Piggyback Projects
• Monitoring by Agassiz NWR
• At outlet from Agassiz Pool to Ditch 11
• Ditch 11 above Agassiz Pool
• Ditch 11 Erosion Control

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Contact Information

• Corey Hanson
• Water Quality Coordinator
• Red Lake Watershed District
• 102 Main Ave N
• P.O. Box 803
• Thief River Falls, MN 56701
• Phone [phone]
• Cell 218-686-9691
• Email coreyh_at_wiktel.com
• Website www.redlakewatershed.org