Bioassessment and Biocriteria Program Status for South Dakota: Streams and Wadeable Rivers
State Program Contact
South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Water Quality Standards
WQS Information
The link to South Dakota's WQS that are in effect for Clean Water Act purposes is provided. These are the WQS approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The state of South Dakota provided information and links to sections of their administrative code on designated aquatic life use, biological criteria, antidegradation as well as technical support documents and information on its bioassessment and biocriteria programs. These are included for your convenience and may or may not reflect the most recently EPA-approved WQS.
Designated Aquatic Life Uses
- Coldwater permanent fish life propagation
- Coldwater marginal fish life propagation
- Warmwater permanent fish life propagation
- Warmwater semipermanent fish life propagation
- Warmwater marginal fish life propagation
- Fish and wildlife propagation, recreation, and stock watering
Water quality standards and criteria associated with the designated ALUs use both a single grab sample threshold (acute) and a multiple sample threshold (chronic) for a suite of parameters intended to protect the ALUs.
Biological Criteria
__X__ Narrative statement
_____ Numeric
_____ No criteria
All waters of the state must be free from substances, whether attributable to human-induced point source discharges or nonpoint source activities, in concentrations or combinations which will adversely impact the structure and function of indigenous or intentionally introduced aquatic communities.
Antidegradation Policy
Use of biocriteria or bioassessment not included in antidegradation policy.
- Antidegradation of waters of the state
- Antidegradation of water quality review for existing point source discharges to waters of the state
- Antidegradation of water quality review for new, potential point source discharges to waters of the state
- Antidegradation of water quality review for nonpoint source discharges to waters of the state
Biological Assessment
What biological assemblages are used in the bioassessment program?
Benthic macroinvertebrates and fish
Are bioassessments used to support 303(d) listings?
Yes. Listing methodology: The 2024 South Dakota Integrated Report for Surface Water Quality Assessment (pdf)
How are assemblages used to make impairment decisions?
Currently limited to Level III Ecoregions 46 and 43. Based on IBI scores for fish and benthos. If both IBI scores are ≤ 50 then listed as impaired. If one of the IBI scores is > 50 then include a Habitat Condition score. If 2 out of 3 scores are not meeting the thresholds then it is considered impaired. Further monitoring may be required to determine the cause of impairment.
Other uses of biocriteria or bioassessment within the water quality program:
BMP evaluation
Technical Support Information and Documents
Reference condition
Stream reference sites represent least impacted condition for the population of streams in a region. Reference sites are identified and validated based on an assessment of chemical, physical, and biological condition and landscape disturbance factors. A regional approach (ecoregion) is used to characterize reference site networks. South Dakota is in the process of building regional stream reference site networks through ecological and landscape condition assessments.
Technical reference material
Biocriteria
Not available.
Stressor identification/causal analysis approach
Biological samples are usually accompanied by a suite of chemical/physical analyses but more extensive monitoring may be required to establish stressor identifications, casual relationships, etc.
