Where Does York County Need to Reduce Nutrients and Sediment?

PA DEP’s Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report lists the polluted streams and the reasons for the pollution. Additionally, the Report identifies waters that have a developed total maximum daily load (TMDL) and waters that require a TMDL, including a target date for the development of the required TMDL. For this section of the York County WIP, the Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report is used to identify York County impaired waters, the pollutants that caused the impairments, and the source of the impairments. Likewise, the Report can be used to identify York County waters that need reductions in nutrients (nitrogen/phosphorus) and/or sediment to improve water quality.

The 2011 York County Integrated Water Resources Plan (IWRP) included information on all York County impaired waters from the PA DEP’s Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report. This Plan, however, focuses on the waters impaired by nutrients and/or sediment (see Map 1 and Appendix B). Map 1 also shows the York County large watersheds and municipal boundaries, in order to put the impaired waters in perspective. Map 2 shows the impaired sub-watersheds within each of the larger watersheds, which further demonstrates the extent of nutrient/sediment impairment in the County.

According to the 2012 Report, the impairment of 28% of the waters shown is due solely to an agricultural source and the cause in each case is siltation. Approximately 50% of the waters are impaired due to another source or sources in combination with agriculture, with urban runoff/storm sewers being the most prevalent. It is also interesting to note that siltation is a contributing cause of the impairment in 93% of the waters and it is the sole cause in 53% of the waters.

A listing of York County waters that are impaired to some extent due to nutrients and/or sediment can be found in Appendix B. Also included are the impaired use, source and specific cause for each water body listed.

It is essential to remember that US EPA’s, and therefore PA DEP’s, watershed restoration priorities are developed and implemented as a result of the Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report. Thus, this Report should be used as a tool to identify priority locations for watershed restoration projects in York County.

York County's Pollution Diet

How much pollution needs to be cleaned up by York County? The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) has distributed pollutant reduction targets to each county in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, including York County. Along with pollutant reduction numbers, a scenario by which York County could achieve these reductions through the establishment/construction of identified Best Management Practices (BMPs) was provided. Based on input from several local stakeholders with expertise in implementing agricultural, urban and other BMPs, the scenario provided with the Draft Targets would be difficult for the County to achieve. Thus, this Watershed Implementation Plan will establish another scenario that the York County Coalition for Clean Waters believes is the most efficient/practicable for York County to implement.

York County’s 2025 total maximum daily load pollution reduction targets are 3,860,342 pounds of Total Nitrogen, 56,408 pounds of Total Phosphorous, and 83,717,179 pounds of Total Sediment. Pollution load and reduction targets are displayed graphically in the WIP. For Nitrogen and Sediment, this number is about a 39% reduction from 2009; while, for Phosphorus, it’s about a 30% reduction. For the full York County draft planning targets as generated by PA DEP, see Appendix A.