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Biomonitoring for the BMAP was conducted in McCoy Branch, including Roger's Quarry, from 1989 to 1998. Biological assessments were conducted in the watershed to help address requirements mandated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). These requirements applied to McCoy Branch because the Y-12 Steam Plant discharged for many years a fly ash slurry to the creek, resulting in negative impacts to water quality. Various improvements in the plant's coal-fire operations occurred from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, with substantial decreases in the amount of fly ash discharged to the creek during this period. |
In 1993, the disposal of fly ash to McCoy Branch was discontinued. Remedial actions were implemented during this period in an effort to clean-up historical contamination in the watershed. The primary objective of the biological monitoring program was to evaluate the effects of the remedial actions on the environmental quality of the receiving stream.
The McCoy Branch watershed is located south of the Y-12 plant near the eastern boundary of the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation and has a drainage area of about 150 ha above Rogers Quarry. Biomonitoring has focused on the impacts of the fly ash discharge and any improvement in water quality as remedial actions were implemented. The major task-specific results for the McCoy Branch watershed follow.
Note: BMAP site designations refer to the kilometer distance upstream of the stream's mouth (e.g., MCK 1.3 is located near the mouth of McCoy Branch, MCK 1.9 is located above Rogers Quarry).
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Last Modified: April 17, 2001