Nestucca River Basin Water Quality Study Tillamook And Yamhill Counties Oregon

Author : Jadene Dorsey-Kramer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (372 download)

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Download or read book A Statistical Evaluation of the Water Quality Impacts of Best Management Practices Installed at Tillamook County Dairies written by Jadene Dorsey-Kramer and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The overall goal of this study was to determine if the Tillamook Bay tributaries' water quality has improved as a result of the Best Management Practices (BMP) installed at Tillamook County Dairies. The Rural Clean Water Program (RCWP) was a 10 to 15 year experiment designed to control agricultural non-point source (NPS) in rural watersheds throughout the nation. The RCWP Tillamook Watershed Project in Tillamook County, Oregon promoted the installation of manure management facilities and nutrient management strategies to improve the water quality of Tillamook Bay. The goal of the project was to reduce the fecal coliform concentration by 70%. Since the Bay is used for oyster production, there has been extensive sampling of Tillamook Bay and its tributaries since 1960. Unfortunately, much of the tributary data were compiled for a variety of short-term projects and therefore, the area lacks a consistent strategy for data collection. This inconsistency coupled with the variability in the data has made it difficult to evaluate changes in the water quality. It is important to note that this analysis is not a prediction model. It is a statistical model using an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The term, model, will be used to describe the response of ANOVA. This model is the best representation of the trend given the limited useful data that was available. The 33 year "tributary" analysis of the Wilson River station (D412130) determined fecal coliform concentration reductions as high as 69.83, 62.67, 69.02 and 72.38% in the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, respectively. There were 48.59, 36.41, 47.21 and 52.95% reductions during the RCWP years (1980-1992) that may be attributed to the BMP's. The BMP installation began in 1981 and continued through 1995, however, the majority of the BMP's installation began in 1983. These reductions are not at optimum levels because of three important factors. First of all, not all farms have been provided with fullest possible array of manure containment facilities. Secondly, even with full implementation, some fecal coliform bacteria may escape. Finally, the BMP's must be diligently operated and maintained to provide the most effective capture and die-off of fecal coliform bacteria. When the BMP's are correctly installed and well managed, they will provide the maximum manure containment protection for the streams.