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
GENERAL WATERSHED DESCRIPTION
Pine Run is a second order tributary to Chest Creek at River Mile Index (RMI) 10.9 in Chest Township, Clearfield County near Westover (Westover quadrangle) and drains 4.19 mi2 of land (Figure 1). Land use consists of light residential, reclaimed strip mining, and forest uses. Pine Run currently has a protected designated use of Cold Water Fishes (CWF).
The Pine Run basin’s CWF designated use was evaluated for redesignation as Exceptional Value (EV) because of a petition submitted by the Chest Township Road District dated June 1, 2001. The Department’s Central Office staff conducted aquatic life use and stream survey work in the Pine Run basin on April 24, 2002.
WATER QUALITY AND USES
Surface Water
No long-term water quality data were available to allow direct comparisons to water quality criteria. Grab samples taken April 24, 2002 revealed a moderately infertile, lightly buffered freestone headwater system with little impact from extensive, historical mining in the watershed. Historical water samples collected by the Department on May 18, 1993 showed elevated levels of aluminum, iron, and manganese, which is indicative of mining impacts. Fecal coliforms were below 20 colonies per 100ml to 40 colonies per 100ml (Table 1), which are normal. The increased alkalinity at station 3 is most likely due to limestone aggregate rip-rap lining the banks at a bridge crossing Pine Run, and was seen in both 1993 and 2002 samples. Stream flow in 2002 was moderate. No recent precipitation events had occurred to influence spring base flow. Because of the instantaneous nature of grab sampling, the indigenous aquatic community is a better indicator of long-term conditions and is used as a measure of aquatic life use.
There are no permitted (NPDES) discharges nor water withdrawals in the Pine Run basin.
Aquatic Biota
An assessment of the physical habitat at three stations on Pine Run revealed optimal habitat for aquatic biota (Table 2). Benthic macroinvertebrate samples were collected using the Department’s PA-DEP RBPIII benthic sampling methodology. The PA-DEP RBPIII method was modified from EPA's Rapid Bioassessment Protocols. Macroinvertebrate sampling from the best available riffle habitats at stations 1PR, 2PR, and 3PR revealed a high-quality aquatic invertebrate community typical of headwaters streams (Table 3). Macroinvertebrate densities were relatively low, but this is due to this headwater system’s natural infertile conditions, not from pollution sources. Electrofishing conducted by the Department on May 13, 1993 indicated that Pine Run propagates a coldwater fish community, to include native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) (Table 4). Young-of-the-year brook trout were inadvertently captured in the D-frame kick net during the survey on April 24, 2002.
BIOLOGICAL USE QUALIFICATIONS
The biological use qualifying criterion applied to Pine Run was the Department’s antidegradation integrated benthic macroinvertebrate scoring test described at §93.4b(a)(2)(i)(A). Five benthic macroinvertebrate metrics (taxa richness, modified EPT index, modified HBI, percent dominant taxon, and percent modified mayflies) were used in an integrated comparison of the stations on Pine Run (1PR, 2PR, 03 PR) with a reference station (1RHR) established in the adjacent Rouges Harbor Run basin. The Rogues Harbor Run basin is designated as Exceptional Value (EV) in Chapter 93. The reference station was selected based on proximity, geologic setting, and drainage area being most similar to the candidate stream. Drainage areas for stations 1PR, 2PR, 3PR, and 01 RHR are 1.16, 2.10, 4.01, and 4.63 square miles, respectively.
Based on the metrics comparison, the scores of all three Pine Run stations (Table 4) exceeded the 92% EV reference score criterion.
PUBLIC RESPONSE AND PARTICIPATION SUMMARY
The Department provided public notice of this designation evaluation and requested any technical data from the general public through publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on April 27, 2002 (39 Pa.B 5503). A similar notice was also published in The Progress, a local Clearfield County newspaper, on April 26, 2002. In addition, Chest Township and the Clearfield County Planning Commission were notified of the evaluation by letter. No data were received in response to this notice.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on applicable regulatory criteria, the Department recommends that the use designation of Pine Run basin in Chapter 93 be changed from Cold Water Fishes to Exceptional Value. This recommendation is based on waters with biological condition scores greater than 92% of the reference score. This designation affects approximately 6.85 miles of stream.
|
Tables and Figures Figure 1 -
Pine Run PDF |
Return to the Status List & Stream Reports Main Page