BIOLOGICAL MONITORING PROGRAM FOR EAST FORK POPLAR CREEK

In May 1985, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit was issued for the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. As a condition of the permit, a Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) was developed to demonstrate that the effluent limitations established for the Y-12 Plant protect the classified uses of the receiving stream (East Fork Poplar Creek; EFPC), in particular, the growth and propagation of aquatic life (Lear et al. 1989). A second objective of the BMAP is to document the ecological effects resulting from the implementation of a water pollution control program designed to eliminate direct discharges of wastewaters to EFPC and to minimize the inadvertent release of pollutants to the environment. Because of the complex nature of the discharges to EFPC and the temporal and spatial variability in the composition of the discharges, a comprehensive, integrated approach to biological monitoring was developed. A new permit was issued to the Y-12 Plant on April 28, 1995 and became effective on July 1, 1995. Biological monitoring continues to be required under the new permit. The BMAP consists of four major tasks that reflect different but complementary approaches to evaluating the effects of the Y-12 Plant discharges on the aquatic integrity of EFPC. These tasks are (1) toxicity monitoring, (2) biological indicator studies, (3) bioaccumulation studies, and (4) ecological surveys of the periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrate, and fish communities