Evaluating Standards for Protecting Aquatic Life in Washington's

197 Pages·2002·1.16 MB·English

Evaluating Standards for Protecting Aquatic Life in
Washington's Surface Water Quality Standards

Temperature Criteria

Draft Discussion Paper and
Literature Summary

Revised December 2002
Publication Number 00-10-070

Evaluating Standards for Protecting Aquatic Life
in Washington's Surface Water Quality Standards

Temperature Criteria

Draft Discussion Paper and
Literature Summary

Prepared by:
Water Quality Program
Washington State Department of Ecology
Watershed Management Section
Olympia, Washington 98504

Revised December 2002
Publication Number 00-10-070
For additional copies of this document contact:

Department of Ecology
Publications Distribution Center
P.O. Box 47600
Olympia, WA 98504-7600

Telephone: [phone]

If you have special accommodation needs or require this document in an alternative format,
please call Mark Hicks at [phone]. The TTY number is 711 or 1-800-833-6388.
Email can be sent to [email protected].
Table of Contents
Part I:
Background and Project History.....................................................................................................1
1. Background............................................................................................................................1
2. Current Temperature Requirements.......................................................................................1
3. Organization of this Review Document.................................................................................2
Part II:
The Effect of Temperature on the...................................................................................................3
Freshwater Aquatic Life of Washington.........................................................................................3
1. The Goal of this Technical Review........................................................................................3
2. Summary of Thermal Requirements and Recommended Threshold Values..........................3
a) Native Char (Bull Trout and Dolly Varden)......................................................................4
b) Salmon and Trout..............................................................................................................4
c) Warm Water Aquatic Life..................................................................................................5
d) Special Provisions to Prevent Acute Effects......................................................................6
3. Methodology and Considerations in Establishing Temperature Recommendations..............6
a) The Multiple Lines of Evidence (MLE) Methodology......................................................6
b) General Thoughts and Observations................................................................................10
i) Adjusting Laboratory Data for Application to Natural Waters........................................10
ii) Minimum Temperature Thresholds.................................................................................15
iii) Protection of Untested Species.......................................................................................16
4. Temperature Requirements of Char, Salmon, and Trout Species........................................17
a) Native Char Temperature Requirements..........................................................................17
i) General Life History Information:....................................................................................17
ii) Spawning Requirements..................................................................................................19
iii) Juvenile Rearing.............................................................................................................23
iv) Migratory Adult and Sub-Adult Char Populations.........................................................28
v) Lethality to Adults and Juveniles....................................................................................30
b) Salmon and Trout............................................................................................................33
i) General Life History Information.....................................................................................33
ii) Spawning Requirements..................................................................................................38
iii) Juvenile Rearing.............................................................................................................52
iv) Juvenile Winter Holding.................................................................................................80
v) Adult Migration...............................................................................................................81
vi) Lethality to Adults and Juveniles...................................................................................91
c) Temperature Influenced Fish Diseases..........................................................................108
d) Smoltification and Sea Water Adaptation.....................................................................115
e) Miscellaneous Indigenous Species................................................................................120
i) Sensitive Amphibians.....................................................................................................121
ii) Other Sensitive Fish Species.........................................................................................123
iii) Stream Macroinvertebrates...........................................................................................125
f) Miscellaneous Indigenous Fish Species.........................................................................128
g) Summary of Temperature Requirements for Indigenous Aquatic Life.........................131
i) Cold Water Species........................................................................................................131
ii) Warm water Species......................................................................................................133
5. References Reviewed.........................................................................................................138
Part III:
Ambient Temperatures of Washington’s Streams and Rivers.....................................................175
Proposal for Applying Char Protection.......................................................................................183
Evaluating Standards for Protecting Aquatic Life in Page i
Washington's Surface Water quality Standards
Abstract

Maintaining proper temperatures in our natural waterways is vital to the long-term health of
fish and other aquatic life. In response to critiques over the adequacy of Washington’s
existing temperature criteria for freshwaters, the Washington State Department of Ecology
performed a comprehensive review of the available technical literature on the temperature
requirements of our native fish and aquatic life. This document summarizes the findings of
that review.

Part I of this document provides a brief history of the review effort. Part II of this document
reviews the scientific literature and establishes technical recommendations for protecting the
state’s freshwater aquatic species. Based on previous reviews of the literature it was
determined that freshwater species can be reasonably placed into four groups having similar
sensitivity to temperature. These four groups, identified by key species, serve as the
foundation for this review:

1) Native Char (bull trout and Dolly Varden);
2) Salmon, Steelhead, Cutthroat Trout, and Coastal Rainbow Trout;
3) Interior non-Anadromous Redband Trout (eastern Washington species); and
4) Warm Water Fish Species (e.g., dace, shiner, sucker, etc.).

Technical evaluations provide recommendations for temperature thresholds that protect the
key life-stages of adult migration and holding, spawning, incubation, juvenile rearing, and
smoltification. Recommendations are also made to avoid significant increases in the risks of
warm water fish diseases and parasites.

Recommendations are also presented that may be instructive in trying to avoid detrimental
effects from discrete site-specific human actions that may cause:

1) Thermal blockages to migration,
2) Short-term (7-day duration) lethality, and
3) Near instantaneous (1-2 seconds) lethality.

The temperature thresholds identified in this paper are ones which Ecology has high
confidence represents the upper threshold temperatures that provide full protection for the
species. As temperatures rise above these values, negative impacts to the health of fish and
other aquatic life will rapidly escalate to levels detrimental to the health of aquatic
communities. The metric used to express the technical recommendations (a 7-day average of
the daily maximum temperatures) was chosen to better match the laboratory and field
research results to an exposure period that reflects the risk of harm to aquatic species. The
result of this process is the recommendation of temperature limits that better reflect the
thermal requirements and limitations of the state’s indigenous freshwater fish and aquatic
life. There are still some notable areas where more research would improve confidence in
specific recommendations (particularly for warm water species and for interior redband
trout). It is clear however, that implementation of the temperature thresholds identified in
Page ii Evaluating Standards for Protecting Aquatic Life in
Washington's Surface Water quality Standards
part II of this paper, wherever attainable would eliminate human warming of water
temperature as a source of impairment to our native aquatic communities.

Part III of this document examines temperature data from rivers and streams around
Washington. The information provided in this section can be used to assess the potential
implications of selecting specific temperature values for use as state criteria.

Evaluating Standards for Protecting Aquatic Life in Page iii
Washington's Surface Water quality Standards

Part I

Background and Project History

1. Background

The Washington State Department of Ecology administers the state’s surface water quality
standards (Chapter 173-201A WAC). These regulations establish minimum requirements for
the quality of water that must be maintained in lakes, rivers, streams, and marine waters.
This is done to ensure that all the beneficial uses associated with these waterbodies are
protected. Examples of protected beneficial uses include: aquatic life and wildlife habitat,
fishing, shellfish collection, swimming, boating, aesthetic enjoyment, and domestic and
industrial water supplies.

As part of a public review of its water quality standards, the Department of Ecology
convened a technical work-group to evaluate the water quality criteria established to protect
freshwater aquatic communities. One of the recommendations of the work-group was that
Ecology should re-evaluate the state’s existing temperature criteria.

2. Current Temperature Requirements

The existing state surface water quality standards contain three separate single daily
maximum temperature criteria limits that can be applied to rivers:

Class AA - 16°C
Class A - 18°C
Class B - 21°C
Lake Class - Temperatures are to be maintained at natural levels.

Class AA and Class A provide two different levels of protection for the same set of
beneficial uses, and are intended to protect salmonid spawning, rearing, and migration. Class
AA is predominately applied to forested upland areas, but Class A waters are designated
broadly throughout the state. Class B, is designed only to protect salmonid rearing and
migration, and was not intended to fully protect spawning. There are only a small number
waterbodies in the state that have been assigned the Class B designation. With each class,
the criteria are applied as the highest single daily maximum measurement of temperature
occurring in the waterbody.

Evaluating Standards for Protecting Aquatic Life in Page 1
Washington's Surface Water quality Standards
3. Organization of this Review Document

Part I: Provides a brief background discussion on the effort to revise the state’s existing
water quality criteria for temperature in freshwater systems.

Part II: Reviews available scientific research on the effects of temperature on aquatic life,
with a particular focus on species occurring in Washington.

Part III: Summarizes the patterns of temperature in Washington’s rivers using available
continuous monitoring data.

Page 2 Evaluating Standards for Protecting Aquatic Life in
Washington's Surface Water quality Standards