Tiffin River

Division of Surface Water December 15 th , 2015 Biological and Water Quality Study of the Tiffin River and Select Tributaries, 2012-2014. Defiance, Fulton, Williams, and Henry Counties DSW/EAS 2015-06-04 Tiffin River Watershed 2012-14 December 15 th , 2015 Biological and Water Quality Study of the Tiffin River and Select Tributaries, 2012-2014 D efiance, Fulton, Williams, and Henry Counties Prepared by State of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Surface Water Lazarus Government Center 50 West Town Street, Suite 700 P.O. Box 1049 Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049 Ecological Assessment Section 4675 Homer Ohio Lane Groveport, Ohio 43125 Northwest District Office 347 N. Dunbridge Road Bowling Green, Ohio 43402 Jo hn R. Kasich, Governor State of Ohio C raig W. Butler, Director Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Technical Report Number DSW/EAS 2015-06-04 Table 1. Tiffin River watershed sampling locations, 2012 & 2013. The color of the site number corresponds to the narrative biological score of the lowest scoring organism group, either fish or macroinvertebrates. Blue is exceptional to very good (meets Exceptional Warmwater Habitat), green is good to marginally good (meets WWH), yellow is fair, orange is poor, and red is very poor. Typically fair, poor, and very poor do not meet the goals of WWH, except in certain circumstances in the Huron-Erie Lake Plain (HELP) ecoregion with regard to fish biocriteria. In these limited circumstances a fair narrative would be considered meeting WWH goals. ............................................................................................................................... 4 Table 2. Aquatic life use attainment status for stations sampled in the Tiffin River study area based on data collected June-October, 2013. The Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), Modified Index of well-being (MIwb), and Invertebrate Community Index (ICI) are scores based on the performance of the biotic community. The Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) is a measure of the ability of the physical habitat of the stream to support a biotic community. The Tiffin River study area lies within the Huron-Erie Lake Plain (HELP) and Eastern Corn Belt Plains (ECBP) ecoregions and is noted on the table as such. If biological impairment has occurred, the cause(s) and source(s) of the impairment are noted. Data from several locations in the lower Tiffin River were also collected in 2012 and are denoted by [brackets]; only most recent data were used to determine attainment status. N/A = not applicable. .... 8 Table 3. Waterbody use designation recommendations for the Tiffin River watershed, including those streams not sampled in 2012-13. Streams highlighted in yellow were those evaluated during this survey. Designations based on the 1978 and 1985 water quality standards appear as asterisks ( ). A plus sign (+) indicates a confirmation of an existing use and a triangle (▲) denotes a new recommended use based on the findings of this report. A (o) indicates a designated use based on justification other than results of a biological field assessment performed by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Symbols separated by a / indicate confirmation of the existing beneficial use. .................................................... 17 Table 4. Protected lands in the Tiffin River watershed as documented in the Ohio EPA, Geographic Information System Recreation and Conservation Areas (CARL) Layer, 2007. Table created January, 2014. ......................................................................................................................... 24 Table 5. Community ground water treatment plants. .......................................................................... 28 Table 6 . Average IBI and MIwb scores for the Tiffin River mainstem, 2012, 2013, and 1992. ............. 29 Table 7. Fish community summaries based on pulsed D.C. electrofishing sampling conducted by Ohio EPA in the Tiffin River watershed duri