A state water quality official told members of a regional river advocacy group that the Tuckasegee River is in “good” shape but is still suffering from the detrimental effects of sedimentation.

Callie Dobson is the North Carolina Division of Water Quality’s (DWQ) Basin Planner for the Little Tennessee River Basin, which includes the Tuckasegee River Watershed. Every five years, the DWQ revises its management plan for each watershed. This coming December, the draft of the new five-year management plan for the Little Tennessee Basin will be released, and the agency will hold a public hearing to get input and comments on their new plan.

In preparation for the hearing, Dobson came to Sylva Oct. 29 to give a preview of the report and take comments and feedback from people in the Tuckasegee Watershed. This meeting was called by the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee river (WATR) and the Tuckasegee Chapter of Trout Unlimited to focus specifically on issues on the Tuckasegee and to be sure that Tuckasegee Watershed residents had their say.

Dobson said that, compared to conditions in other watersheds in the state, “things on the Tuckasegee are good. There is a lot of good protection going on.”

Still, she said, there is good reason to continue working for improvements, especially in the area of sedimentation.

“The big story happening on the Tuckasegee River is habitat degradation” due sedimentation, Dobson said.

“You have to keep in mind that population in the watershed is growing, and that will inevitably cause impacts,” she said.

One of the problem streams in the watershed is Scotts Creek, where there are still straight pipes and failed septic systems that are contaminating the creek. Dobson spoke of the success of the Jackson County Health Department’s campaign to work with the residents to stop discharges into the creek.

Still, she said, “... on Scotts Creek we are in a Catch-22 position. We can’t bring it up to a good standard because it has a low Class C rating. In order to have higher standards, the creek has to be upgraded to a Class B. But we can’t upgrade the classification because it doesn’t meet the Class B standards.”

Straight piping is still a problem for the Tuckasegee, said Bob Ray, a retiring member of the state Environmental Management Commission from Cullowhee.

“Madison County showed the highest level of straight piping” in the state, said Ray. “But, the level in Jackson County is astounding.”

Savannah Creek is another area that is being watched because DWQ analyses showed a decline in the quality of stream life, said Dobson. Benthic invertebrate analyses rated good/fair in 1999, whereas they had been excellent previously. Dobson stressed that the stream was not impaired, but “any time stream life declines, that is cause for concern.”

She said that upstream development, stream straightening, and an eroding road grade were all contributing to the degradation of habitat.

“Although the stream is not yet officially impaired, this is the time to get the problems under control. It is when a stream becomes impaired that the state steps in, regulates activities, and starts telling people what to do to improve the situation,” she said.

She also pointed out another problem between N.C. 107 and the Dillsboro Dam, where a lack of overhanging trees and riverside vegetation is causing high water temperatures in the river.

Dobson also clarified what changes would result from proposed reclassification of the Tuckasegee from Dillsboro to Fontana Lake. Currently, that stretch of the river is rated as Class C water. The proposed change would raise the rating to Class B-Trout. Asked whether the new classification would necessitate a buffer rule like that currently in force on the Neuse River, Dobson said no. The Neuse buffers were the result of a state law passed in response to a specific problem. The new rating would require slightly stricter standards for dissolved oxygen, chlorine, turbidity (a measure of sedimentation), and temperature, she said.

Members of a property rights group in Macon County started some discussion when they spoke out against what they felt was overlapping enforcement of sedimentation laws. Most in the audience disagreed, saying that local and state enforcement would complement each other and would help to get more adequate erosion control. However, all present agreed that the best way to control the increasing sedimentation caused by development in the watershed was through education of the public, whether through the media or by neighbors talking to neighbors.

“People have the notion that only government can solve problems,” Dobson said. “This just isn’t so. The best way to solve problems is at the local level. And the best time to solve problems is before they start.”

(To contact the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River, call 631.1500. To reach the Tuckasegee Chapter of Trout Unlimited call president Jerry DeWeese at 586.2942.)

 

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The Smoky Mountain News