Stream Redesignation Evaluation Report
Water Quality Standards Review

INDIAN SPRING RUN
CHESTER AND LANCASTER COUNTIES SEGMENT
Stream Code: 07538
Drainage List: O

Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Section (TES)
Division of Water Quality Assessment And Standards
Bureau of Water Supply and Wastewater Management
Department of Environmental Protection
April 2004

Indian Spring Run flows through Chester and Lancaster Counties and is a tributary to Pequea Creek in the Susquehanna River watershed (Figure 1). This basin covers an area of 11.6 square miles and contains 11.1 stream miles. It is located in West Caln, Sadsbury and West Sadsbury Townships, Chester County and Salisbury Township, Lancaster County. The Indian Spring Run basin currently has the protected water use designation of Cold Water Fishes (CWF). As a result of a request from staff in the Department’s Southeast Regional Office, this basin was evaluated for redesignation as Exceptional Value Waters (EV). This report is based on a field survey conducted in February of 2001.

Land use in this basin changes dramatically from upstream to downstream. Above the SR 10 Bridge the basin is mostly forested with some low-density residential areas along the roads. Below the bridge, the land use shifts to intensive agriculture with a mixture of cropland and pasture.

No long-term water quality data were available to allow a direct comparison to water quality criteria. Grab samples were collected at 4 stations in the Indian Spring Run basin during the February 2001 survey (Tables 1 & 2). These samples indicated that water quality was generally good. Since the instantaneous nature of grab samples precludes comparison to applicable water quality criteria, the indigenous aquatic community is a better indicator of long-term conditions and is used as a measure of ecological significance.

There are no surface water withdrawals for public water supply or NPDES permitted surface water discharges in the candidate basin. A permit was issued to Earth Rite Inc. for an on-lot septic system in the basin of Unnamed Tributary 07539.

Habitat assessments and biological samplings were conducted at 4 locations during the February 2001 survey. The physical habitat assessments revealed that conditions at Station 1ISR and Reference Station R1 scored in the Optimal range for benthic macroinvertebrates and fish (Table 3). Stations 2ISR and 3UNT scored at the high end of the Suboptimal range while Station 4ISR was at the low end of this same range. Overall, habitat scores for the Indian Spring Run stations, ranged from 146 to 201. The lower scoring parameters were primarily represented by poor riparian vegetation and disruptive bank pressure, especially at Station 4ISR, which is located in the intensive agricultural land use portion of the basin.

Benthic macroinvertebrate samples were collected at 4 stations (Table 4) using the Department’s antidegradation protocol (adapted from the EPA’s 1989 Rapid Bioassessment Protocols manual). Taxonomic diversity was good at the three upper stations with a mean of 36.3 total taxa per station. Individuals from several genera that are sensitive to water quality degradation were common at these stations (e.g. Epeorus, Paracapnia, and Neophylax). At Station 4ISR there were only 25 total taxa and individuals from sensitive taxa were rare.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) conducted a survey of Indian Spring Run’s fish community in April 1995 (Table 5). They found a healthy native brook trout population at the two upper stations on Indian Spring Run (1ISR and 2ISR) and the station on UNT 07540 (3UNT). These trout populations are significant for a stream in Chester County, which has very few streams with naturally reproducing wild trout. The PFBC speculated that if sampling had occurred in the late summer or fall, a Class B brook trout population would most likely have been present in UNT 07540. In addition to brook trout, other cold-water species such as black-nose dace and creek chubs were also common at these stations. No trout were collected at Station 4ISR.

The biological use qualifying criteria applied to Indian Spring Run was the integrated benthic macroinvertebrate score test described at § 93.4b(a)(2)(i)(A) and § 93.4b(b)(1)(v). This score is calculated from the macroinvertebrate samples referenced above. Following the Department’s antidegradation protocol, a subsample was randomly selected from the total samples and enumerated (Table 6). Selected benthic macroinvertebrate community metrics were generated from these subsamples. Candidate station metrics were compared to those of a reference station on Rock Run (Table 7). Rock Run (01591) was used as the reference stream because it has a protected use designation of EV, is a tributary to French Creek (01548) located in Chester County, and has a comparable drainage area to Indian Spring Run. All sampling was conducted on the same day to minimize the effects of seasonal variation. This comparison was done using the following metrics which were selected as being indicative of community health: taxa richness; modified EPT index (total number of intolerant Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera taxa); modified Hilsenhoff Biotic Index; percent dominant taxon; and percent modified mayflies.

Based on these five metrics, Stations 1ISR and 2ISR had a biological condition score greater than 92% of the reference station score, which qualifies for an EV designation under the Department’s regulatory criterion (§ 93.4b(b)(1)(v)). Also Station 3UNT had a biological condition score between 83 and 92% of the reference station score, which qualifies for a High Quality (HQ) designation. The remaining station (4ISR) had a score less than 83% of the reference station score, which does not meet the threshold required for designation as HQ waters (§93.4b(a)(2)(i)(A)).

The Department provided public notice of this redesignation evaluation and requested any technical data from the general public through publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on April 14, 2001 (31 Pa.B 2074). A similar notice was also published in the Ephrata Review on March 28, 2001. In addition, West Caln and Salisbury Townships along with the Chester and Lancaster County Planning Commissions, were all notified of the evaluation in a letter dated March 21, 2001. No data on water chemistry, instream habitat, or the aquatic community were received in response to these notifications.

Based on applicable regulatory criteria, the Department recommends that the use designation of the Indian Spring Run basin from the source to the SR 10 Bridge be changed from CWF to EV based on biological condition scores greater than 92% of the reference station score and UNT 07540 basin from the source to the SR 10 Bridge be changed from CWF to HQ-CWF based on a biological condition score between 83-92% of the reference station score. The Indian Spring Run basin and the basin of UNT 07540 downstream of the SR 10 Bridge should retain its current CWF use designation. These EV and HQ-CWF recommendations affect 4.9 stream miles.

Return to the Status List & Stream Reports Main Page