| Data | Details |
|---|---|
| Hydrologic Unit Codes | 17040207 |
| Size | 1,000 square miles (640,000 acres) |
| Water Bodies with EPA-Approved TMDLs (Category 4a) | Angus Creek; Bacon and Upper Bacon Creek; Bear Canyon; Bear Creek; Blackfoot River; Brush Creek; Cabin Creek; Campbell Canyon; Cedar Creek; Chicken Creek; Collett Creek; Corrailsen Creek; Corral Creek; Coyote Creek; Crooked Creek; Daves Creek; Deadman Creek; Diamond Creek; Dry Valley Creek; Goodheart Creek; Grave Creek; Grizzly Creek; Jones Creek; Lanes Creek; Little Blackfoot River; Lower, Middle, and Upper Diamond Creeks; Lower Chippy Creek; Lower Johnson Creek; Lower, Middle, and Upper Sheep Creeks; Maybe Creek; Meadow Creek; Poison Creek; Rasmussen Creek; Rawlins Creek; Sawmill Creek; Slug Creek; State Land Creek; Stewart Canyon; Sunday Creek; Thompson Creek; Timber Creek; Trail Creek and tributaries; Trail Creek side channel; Upper and Lower Angus Creeks; Upper and Lower Kendall Creek; Upper Trail Creek; Warbonnet Creek; Wolverine Creek; Wood Creek |
| Beneficial Uses Affected | Cold water aquatic life, salmonid spawning |
| Major Land Uses | Dryland and irrigated agriculture, livestock grazing, phosphate mining |
| Date Approved by EPA | May 2002 Approval Letter |
| Date Addendum Approved by EPA | December 2007 EPA Approval Letter |
| Date Addendum Approved by EPA | October 2013 EPA Approval Letter |
Subbasin Characteristics
The Blackfoot River subbasin is located in southeastern Idaho. Historically, these water bodies sustained several beneficial uses. All streams supported cold water aquatic life, agriculture water supply, and secondary contact recreation. The bigger streams also supported primary contact recreation and most streams maintained spawning populations of salmonids. Domestic water supply is a designated use in the Blackfoot River above the reservoir. Current information suggests that some beneficial uses, such as cold water aquatic life and salmonid spawning, are impaired and not fully supported in several streams in the subbasin.
Sources of pollutant input above natural levels have been identified from various reports. Sediment input has been caused by agricultural and livestock practices, changes in the natural hydrograph, roads, mining activities, and mass wasting (e.g., landslides). Agriculture, grazing, and recreation (human wastes linked to camping areas) have been associated with nutrient input into Blackfoot River subbasin streams.
2001 Subbasin Assessment and TMDL
TMDLs were developed for sediment and nutrients. The US Environmental Protection Agency considers certain unnatural conditions, including flow alteration, that are not the result of the discharge of a specific pollutant as “pollution.” Since a TMDL is not required for a water body impaired by pollution, but not a specific pollutant, a TMDL was not developed for flow alteration.
2001 TMDL: Streams and Pollutants for Which TMDLs Were Developed
| Stream | Pollutants |
|---|---|
| Blackfoot River | Sediment, nutrients |
| Wolverine Creek | Sediment, nutrients |
| Jones Creek | Sediment, nutrients |
| Brush Creek | Sediment |
| Slug Creek | Sediment |
| Dry Valley Creek | Sediment |
| Angus Creek | Sediment |
| Lanes Creek | Sediment |
| Diamond Creekk | Sediment |
2007 Addendum
This document addresses temperature impairment in Brush Creek. The Brush Creek watershed is in the northern portion of the Blackfoot River subbasin. Potential natural vegetation temperature TMDLs were developed for two assessment units of Brush Creek. The goal of these TMDLs is to restore riparian vegetation to natural levels, thereby increasing stream shading and lowering stream temperatures.
2007 Addendum: Streams and Pollutants for Which TMDLs Were Developed
| Stream | Pollutants |
|---|---|
| Brush Creek | Temperature |
2013 Addendum
In the Blackfoot River subbasin, 54 assessment units (AUs) were listed as impaired in Category 5 of the 2010 Integrated Report. The causes include sediment (23 AUs), bacteria (22 AUs), selenium (17 AUs), dissolved oxygen (2 AUs), temperature (11 AUs), and combined biota/habitat bioassessments (4 AUs). This document addresses all of those sediment, bacteria, dissolved oxygen, and combined biota/habitat bioassessments and two of the temperature listings on 44 of the AUs.
2013 Addendum: Streams and Pollutants for Which TMDLs Were Developed
| Stream | Pollutants |
|---|---|
| Deadman Creek | Sediment |
| Grave Creek | Sediment |
| Warbonnet Creek | Sediment, E. coli |
| Wood Creek | Sediment |
| Coyote Creek | Sediment |
| Sunday Creek | Sediment |
| Corral Creek | E. coli |
| Chicken Creek | Sediment |
| Bear Creek | Sediment |
| Sawmill Creek | E. coli |
| Thompson Creek | Sediment, E. coli |
| Collett Creek | Sediment, E. coli |
| Poison Creek | Sediment, E. coli |
| Little Blackfoot River | Sediment |
| State Land Creek | Sediment |
| Blackfoot River | Temperature |
| Lower Johnson Creek | Sediment |
| Goodheart Creek | Sediment |
| Diamond Creek | E. coli |
| Lower Chippy Creek | Temperature |
| Angus Creek | E. coli |
| Clarks Cut | Temperature |
| Crooked Creek | Sediment |
| Rawlins Creek | Sediment, E. coli |
| Cedar Creek | Sediment, E. coli |
| Jones Creek | Sediment |
Subbasin Documents
- Blackfoot River TMDL Waterbody Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Load (December 2001)
- Blackfoot River TMDL Implementation Plan (February 2006)
- Brush Creek Temperature Total Maximum Daily Load: Addendum to the Blackfoot River Subbasin Assessment and TMDL (November 2007)
- Blackfoot River Subbasin Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Loads: 2013 Addendum (May 2013)
- Blackfoot River Subbasin: TMDL Five-Year Review (August 2015)
This accordion will not appear on the screen