Water Monitoring Plan

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:21:00 -0500

In the fall of 2008 Woodland staff, volunteers, community members, and water monitoring experts worked together to create a draft of a water monitoring plan.

Posted below is the current draft of the water monitoring plan. Please make comments and suggestions. This is a living document that needs everyone's input.

Clearfork Water Monitoring Plan

History

Woodland Community Land Trust (WCLT) is a grassroots community-based nonprofit located in the Clearfork Valley of Northeast Tennessee. The Clearfork Valley is a community made up of 12 unincorporated settlements nestled between Cumberland and Pine Mountains in the northeastern part of Campbell and Claiborne counties.

WCLT’s mission is to acquire a land base that will allow for diversified housing options, sustainable income production opportunities, social and educational services, and for a cohesive community development effort. Testing water quality was one of the many projects that community members voiced an interest in. Many Clearfork Valley Residents own land in the watershed and have a stake in the quality of the water. Some keep livestock, some grow gardens and others are interested in protecting the fisheries. Many people are connected to a public water supply, but others rely on spring and well water. Protecting these water sources is another interest of the community. The Clearfork Water Monitoring Plan was created as a result of these community concerns.

Challenges

The 9.65 miles of the Clear Fork River from Tackett Creek to the Kentucky Stateline is listed as impaired for fecal coliforms on the 303(d) list. The Laurel Fork is also impaired for sediment for 3.6 miles close to the headwaters according to the 303(d) list. Tennessee’s First Draft Year 2008 303d List compiled in January 2008 lists the Clear Fork and White Oak Creek as impaired by siltation and e-coli. This document lists Davis Creek and Hickory Creek as also impaired by e-coli.

High turbidity through sedimentation is one of the larger problems facing the watershed. Abandoned strip mines and timber practices have significantly increased sedimentation within the rivers. High sedimentation results in lower dissolved oxygen levels and reduced in stream habitat. This has negatively impacted the aquatic wildlife, resulting in the loss of biodiversity.

It can be difficult to maintain community interest about projects, especially as many of the efforts of the program focus on the long term and may not be visible for several years. Continually keeping stakeholders involved and informed about new projects can be difficult, as in many rural areas. Through education and continued outreach efforts, the monitoring program can grow at a rate that the community is comfortable with. As new samplers become involved in the water monitoring programs new sites can be established.

Purpose of Program

The purpose of the program is to identify and document the problems in the watershed and educate the public about the health of the streams. Only limited water monitoring of the Clear Fork River has been conducted in the past. The community is unsure about the extent of the pollution problems the river has and many are too afraid to eat the fish they catch. Understanding more clearly the extent of the problems in the river is the first goal. The second goal is to work to increase the health of the streams throughout the watershed with projects based on the results of the water monitoring. The projects will be identified through the results of the data accumulated from the monitoring programs. The third goal is to educate people not only about water quality problems within the watershed, but also about the process of water testing and the science behind collecting and interpreting data by involving volunteers in all aspects of the program.

Testing Parameters

The main testing parameters Upper Cumberland Watershed Watch includes are flow, rain gauges, turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Specific Conductance, Temperature, Total Coliforms and E. coli. UCWW also provides trainings and materials to test for benthic macroinvertibrates. We will encourage our volunteers to become trained in these protocols. We will use a LaMotte kit to test for iron. The data we collect will be used primarily for problem identification so the accuracy of the Hatch and LaMotte kits will be sufficient for the end use of the data. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has identified six sites for our volunteers to gather samples from which TDEC will test in the lab at their own cost for sedimentation and metals. This project is still under consideration.

Resources Needed

Trainings will be needed for all samplers to make sure they have the necessary skills to ensure the highest possible quality of data. WCLT will work with the Upper Cumberland Watershed Watch to schedule trainings at convenient times for volunteers. The Office of Surface Mining and the UCWW have both provided the WCLT water monitoring kits and in the past. UCWW has provided materials for benthic macroinvertebrate testing. TDEC has offered to pay the lab fees for sedimentation and metal tests of six sites they selected. The OSM field office in Knoxville has supplied maps, and continues to offer technical support.

Schedule of Events

Samples will be collected and submitted to the Upper Cumberland Watershed Watch (UCWW) three times per year. Water samples will be collected and submitted to UCWW each fall, spring and summer, as outlined in their standard procedures. In 2009 sample days will be May 2^nd, June 27^th, and September 26^th. Trainings will be sponsored by the UCWW as often as necessary to keep samplers up to date on training techniques.

Goals

Identify water quality concerns.
Address concerns based off of location.
Educate the public about water quality.

Objectives

Quarterly water monitoring to help rank problem areas
Implement projects in high priority areas to help increase water quality.
Present findings and distribute educational brochures informing the public.

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Water Monitoring Plan