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KENTUCKY
Kentucky will continue to look at priority watershed demonstration projects
from a multiagency perspective. In addressing priority pollutants, Kentucky
prefers to deal with problems holistically, whether they stem from agriculture,
on-site septic disposal systems, or other sources. Kentucky is particularly
proud of the cooperation and coordination among federal, state, and local
agencies to reach a common goal.
Water Quality Improvements Protect Popular Tourist Attraction
The Mammoth Cave National Park is a major tourist site, attracting over two
million visitors annually. This natural wonder has created 2,250 jobs and adds
more than $70 million each year to the area's economy. In the past few years,
Kentucky has become concerned that water quality degradation from intensive
agriculture could seriously affect the area's economy, spoiling a natural
wonder and turning away the lucrative tourist industry. So the state used a
portion of its section 319 grants to support water quality monitoring,
technical assistance, demonstration farms, and educational outreach.
The unusual geology that attracts visitors to the park also makes it
particularly vulnerable to poor water quality. Instead of flowing into surface
streams, rain falling within the karst (limestone formation) sinkhole plain
flows into some 15,000 active sinkholes. The water travels through underground
streams and caves, including Mammoth Cave, before emerging as spring water in
the Green River. Activities within the sinkhole plain greatly affect the
quality of water flowing through the cave system.
In fact, a host of potential pollution sources were threatening the Mammoth
Cave area. Point source - discharges from domestic and industrial wastewater
treatment facilities, agricultural activities, and failing or improperly
installed on-site wastewater treatment systems outside the park were
contaminating surface and groundwater with high levels of bacteria and
nutrients. Monitored fecal coliform data, obtained from a tributary flowing
directly into the Green River within Mammoth Cave National Park, documented the
bacterial contamination problem.
Hundreds of livestock feedlots and dairy operations in the watershed drain
through the park's cave system. Therefore, nutrients and bacteria from
agricultural could potentially contaminate water quality. A 1990 report to
Congress identified agriculture as a source of sediment and pesticide pollution
in the Turnhole Spring ground- water basin, an underground tributary of the
Green River. Southcentral Kentucky includes 243,000 acres and 1,300 farms in
Barren, Edmonson, Hart, Metcalfe, and Warren counties. These counties rank in
the top 8 percent of the state for tobacco, alfalfa, milk, hay, wheat, and beef
production. Such intensive agriculture on karst topography could easily
contaminate the water.
The Mammoth Cave/Karst Area Water Quality Project was designed to reduce
pollution in the park area and the surrounding karst sinkhole plain. Kentucky
Division of Water (DOW) used part of its section 319 grant to support the
project's water quality monitoring, technical assistance, and demonstration
farms totaling $541,700 from FY 1991 through 1993.
The Mammoth Cave/Karst Area Water Quality Oversight Committee--sponsored by
the conservation districts and county governments--oversaw monitoring and water
quality improvements among citizens, land users, and government agencies.
Activities were coordinated among the committee, a technical advisory group
made up of - representatives from several agencies, and a project manager who
receives some section 319 funding. Five farms were selected--based on land
resource needs, accessible water quality monitoring locations, and farmer
cooperation--as demonstration sites. Appropriate BMPs were installed on each
farm to achieve water quality. The demonstration farms are currently being used
to educate other area farmers about the importance of clean water and the role
of BMPs and to gain feedback on the program's progress.
Monitoring on some demonstration farms, funded by section 319, is being
conducted before and after installing BMPs and constructing animal waste
management systems to determine water quality improvements. The data is also
being used to educate farmers about water quality impacts, current technologies
available to reduce those impacts, and the financial assistance available to
farmers who use BMPs.
To date, only pre-BMP data has been collected for the Mammoth Cave Project.
However, Kentucky is optimistic about water quality improvement being made on
two demonstrations farms.
On the Wilkerson farm, located in Edmonson County, two samples were
collected after storms from a ditch below the confined feedlot area before the
animal waste lagoon or storage pond BMP was installed. A third sample was also
collected from runoff leaving a previously constructed stack pad (a concrete
floor where manure is stored). The pre-BMP nitrogen and phosphorus -
concentrations are shown on Table 4-2. The animal waste lagoon is designed to
contain waste so that no runoff occurs. Therefore, no post-BMP sampling is
necessary. Occasional storm water samples have been collected from runoff in
the ditch below the animal waste lagoon. - Although these samples still show
that nutrients are present, they are a fraction of their pre-BMP levels. These
nutrients are probably caused by runoff from an adjacent area.
An animal waste facility has been installed and is being evaluated on the
Ballard farm in Hart County. In 1991, before the animal waste lagoon was
installed, wastewater from the feedlot/ milk parlor area flowed into a nearby
sinkhole. Data from two stormwater grab samples are shown in Table 4-2. As on
the Wilkerson farm, no runoff occurs so post-BMP samples cannot be collected.
The waste will be land applied according to an approved nutrient management
plan. The state believes that this measure has significantly reduced the
nutrient and bacteria levels.
Other agencies and projects involved with the Mammoth Cave/ Karst Area
Water Quality Project include ASCS, which provided Agriculture Conservation
Program cost-share funds totaling $960,000; SCS, which provided technical
assistance--design, planning, and implementation--to farmers; National Park
Service, which monitors water quality; Tennessee Valley Authority, which
conducted a low-altitude aerial photography survey; Kentucky Division of
Conservation, which provided technical assistance to demonstration farms; DOW,
which funded the American Cave and Karst Interpretive Program through section
319 funds; and many more.
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