Pond Creek
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Chuck Denney
Pond Creek twists its way from Sweetwater north to the Tennessee River - more than 30 miles of stream. It travels thru woods and some of East Tennessee’s prettiest farmland. But over the years, the creek has become contaminated with waste from cattle and people.
Lena Beth Carmichael
“So this project was established to try to improve the water quality in this stream.”
Chuck Denney
Lena Beth Carmichael with UT Extension coordinates the Pond Creek Watershed project.
A watershed is an area of land that all drains to a common point. In this case, this waterway. UT Extension tests eight different sites monthly along the creek.
Lena Beth Carmichael
“The state has, I guess we might say it’s the bad water list. It’s called the 303D list, and this stream was placed on that list.”
Chuck Denney
The watershed drains more than 23-thousand acres in Loudon, Monroe and McMinn counties. This site was chosen based on tests that showed water quality was impaired because of sediment and bacteria.” UT researchers want to get those things out of the creek, or at least limit how much more goes in. Among the projects, they helped a campground install a new septic system so it won’t pollute the creek. Another way ro protect the water - grow more grass along its banks. Carmichael says thick vegetation prevents erosion.
Lena Beth Carmichael
“Because grass is like a living filter, and it will catch the soil. It will catch the manure.”
Chuck Denney
This is a big area for beef and dairy, and cattle need the creek to drink and cool off.
They’ll trample the area around the banks and their waste goes into the stream.
UT researchers have built buffer zones of vegetation to limit access by cattle.
Lena Beth Carmichael
“There’s no law in Tennessee that says cattle can’t go in the creek. However, if we limit them going in the creek, it improves the water quality because it reduces the manure going directly in the stream, and it reduces stirring up the sediment in the bottom and breaking down the bank.”
Chuck Denney
A recent TVA test upgraded Pond Creek’s condition from poor to fair. New species of fish and wildlife have been found here recently, and the water just looks clearer in many spots.
Carmichael says we need to be patient with Pond Creek, but it can and should be saved.
Lena Beth Carmichael
“It takes a long time for problems in the stream to occur, and it takes a long time for nature to come back and correct after that
END
NOTE: UT Extension teams with TVA, the Department of Agriculture, the EPA, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service in this project.
You can learn more about it at http://pondcreek.ag.utk.edu
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