Enhancing Water Quality in Ooostanuala Watershed: An Integrated Approach toward Understanding Adoption and Efficacy of Best Management Practices

Non-Technical Summary: The Oostanaula Creek Watershed lies halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga in eastern Tennessee. It covers almost 45,000 acres and includes the City of Athens. Land-use in this watershed is typical of many watersheds in Appalachia - all the way from Georgia to New York State. The valleys are long and narrow and separated by tall ridges. Forests dominate the sandstone ridges and animal agriculture (typically beef pasture and dairy operations) the limestone valley bottoms. When it rains, runoff from the ridges quickly finds its way to the valley floor carrying with it soil and manure particles that can impact water quality. For the people living in the watershed and those downstream it is important to understand how water quality can be improved in ways that are cost-effective and practical. Often, these non-point sources of pollution can be more difficult to control than pollutants from industrial discharge pipes. It can also be difficult to find the origin of these pollutants. We can collect a water sample and find that it has bacteria in it, but we need to know where the bacteria is coming from - is it the cattle in the pasture, wildlife, or the leaking septic system next to the creek Answering these questions would help us better target the way we spend money to improve water quality. We do know that there are some things farmers and others can do to reduce water pollution but often we are just guessing that these practices will always improve water quality. Education and public awareness campaigns can help people understand why water quality is important for everyone and inform them as to what simple things we can do to improve water quality- and this will be a large part of our project. But we do need to develop tools and techniques to help us better understand which practices work. We will be working with farmers and other landowners to try and understand why some people are keen to follow best management guidelines to improve water quality. We also want to understand why some people may be more reluctant to adopt best management practices that may enhance water quality. Is it because they have less money, are uninterested, or are less informed Our work will also refine techniques that can be used to identify where the bacteria are coming from. For example, we have the tools to find out if bacteria in water is from humans or cattle. This information lets us know whether we need to look for failing septic systems, or poorly managed farms. However, we still do not know whether the bacteria are coming from dairy cattle or beef cattle. Because these different types of animals are fed different diets and their manure treated in different ways, we think we can come up with a new test that would tell us to which type of livestock operation we need to be targeting. A final thing we will be working on in this project is the improvement of a computer program that can predict how changes in watershed management practices might change water quality. If we have a reliable model then we could test our ideas before we implement any changes and save ourselves a lot of expense and effort by avoiding changes which have little impact on water quality. <P> Approach: Under Objective 1, we will analyze willingness of livestock producers to adopt BMPs and model BMP adoption for the Watershed. We will conduct two different surveys; in year one and year three. Responses will be georeferenced and integrated with the ArcSWAT architecture and will supplement secondary data collected from other sources to allow a more accurate geographic projection of agricultural practices in the Watershed. The information will provide a more accurate assessment of BMP efficacy, including estimates of the acres covered by various BMP packages under different policy scenarios. Under Objective 2a we will develop microbial source tracking assays to discriminate between dairy and pastured beef fecal waste. The microbial community profiles of cattle waste derived from dairy waste holding ponds and pastured cattle manure will be compared based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. After broad groups unique to either dairy waste or pastured cattle have been identified, specific primers will be designed to amplify targets that are more specific. For Objective 2b we will improve ArcSWAT model sub-routine for pathogen fate and transport. Fresh fecal samples will be collected from beef cattle and during dairy waste application events and analyzed for E. coli, as well as total, human and bovine Bacteroides genetic markers and any new source tracking genes identified in Objective 2a. Additionally, we will determine the stochastic relationships between E. coli and the source tracking targets, which may prove useful in selecting and specifying BMP installation using ArcSWAT. Under Objective 3, we will develop a comprehensive watershed-wide education program to inform youth and adult residents about the importance of maintaining and improving water quality. We will use a variety of proven methods using different educational models from mass media to one-on-one contacts. The youth of the Watershed will be targeted through programs delivered through an active 4H program in McMinn County. A standardized water curriculum called 4H2O for "4H'ers" will be tested. Adult education programs will be given through local farmer groups. We will continue to partner with the City of Athens for the annual Oostanaula Creek clean up and develop an educational display board for two local events held in Athens. Under Objective 4 we will conduct educational events throughout the Watershed to demonstrate that BMPs can simultaneously improve water quality and increase agricultural productivity. Funding was received funding from a 319 grant to implement practices that require minimal cost or planning, such as improvements to pastures, riparian buffers and fences. Project personnel will work with farmers to sign up for cost-share programs for larger cost BMPs (such as manure storage structures) and with the Tennessee Stream Mitigation Program to identify suitable streambank stabilization projects. In addition to the implementation of BMPs, various farmer field days and classroom training events are planned, for example the McMinn County "beef college" that gives farmers current information on optimizing their pasture beef operations.