The State of Knoxville’s Creeks

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Here’s what’s being done currently to clean up some of Knoxville’s creeks:

Third Creek

Knoxville stormwater management director David Hagerman says some of the most dramatic water quality improvements in recent years have happened in Third Creek. That’s partly because some major industrial sources of pollution, such as Rohm and Haas (now Dow Chemical) and Robertshaw have cleaned up or shut down. Robertshaw, which plated metal in a building that hung out over the creek for 70 years before the Clean Water Act, has been replaced by University Commons. In the process, pipes underneath the site were sealed off. The new development used many green design elements.

The stream has benefited from a project in which the city paid $100,000 and the state contributed $1 million to restore Third Creek’s meanders and natural appearance between Sutherland Avenue and Concord, Hagerman says. The biological health of that section has since rebounded, he says.

However, Third Creek has also suffered damage from fuel spills from tank farms along its shores, and several large plumes from mid-1990s spills remain.

Beaver Creek

The Knoxville/Knox County Water Quality Forum (a partnership of many local agencies) developed the Beaver Creek Restoration Plan in 2006, which has served as a guide to improving stream health. Knox County conducted detailed sampling to better identify pollution sources in different segments, then worked with partner agencies to address them.

For example, county stormwater officials worked with farmers at 30 sites to use best management practices (mostly related to keeping livestock from eroding banks and contributing to waste in the creek). Hallsdale-Powell Utility District restored stream banks in one section. County stormwater director Chris Granju says the middle section of the stream, which feeds the lower Clinch River, has improved as a result.

Knox County has built new demonstration projects that allow more storm water to seep into the ground, such as a permeable parking lot at the Powell Public Library. It also reduced chronic flooding near the Painter Farms subdivision in Karns by creating a Stormwater Park with rain gardens and ponds on Harrell Road. No flooding has occurred there since the improvements, Granju says.

Public education about septic systems and further work with farmers along a tributary Cox Creek led to its being removed from the state’s list of impaired waters in 2012.

Williams Creek

Williams Creek has been receiving some long-needed TLC thanks to a partnership between the Tennessee Clean Water Network and the city. The network helped the city acquire land or easements along an undeveloped part of the creek that used to be a dumping ground, and the network has been importing goats every summer for the last three years to eat kudzu. The area has become the city’s first urban forest.

Knoxville is expanding that effort further by buying houses in the creek’s floodway; they will be torn down and connected with the urban forest. An unnamed tributary of the creek will be restored from a straight ditch to a meandering stream set back from the road. This stream branch crosses land the Knoxville Community Development Corporation is redeveloping on Cavalier Avenue, and KCDC designed its project to accommodate the city’s creek goals, Hagerman says.

Old connections from private homes to the KUB sewer system are probably a significant source of pollution into Williams Creek, Hagerman says. (Among them are some pipes made of wood fibers bound together with adhesive and liquefied coal tar pitch.) Those lines are the responsibility of the homeowner, but KUB has been requiring that such connections be upgraded as they are improved or property is redeveloped. That could take a while to have an impact.

Stock Creek

Knox County teamed with the University of Tennessee’s biosystems engineering department to use DNA testing to identify the source of bacteria in Stock Creek, which feeds into the Little River. When livestock turned out to be a factor, the county worked with farmers to improve management of animals at creeks. Another effort, this time with the Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District, helped homeowners complete repairs on failing septic systems, Granju says.

Goose Creek

Renee Hoyos, executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network, says the non-profit has assessed pollution impacts in Goose Creek, then coordinated with Knoxville to correct blockages such as a collapsed driveway and deteriorated docks.

Plus: Fort Loudoun Lake Fishing Advisory

Fort Loudoun Lake has a TMDL for polychlorinated byphenyls. The state has issued a warning that no one should eat any catfish from it, or largemouth bass weighing more than two pounds. In fact, we are warned not to sink our teeth into any largemouth bass from U.S. Highway 129 to the river’s confluence with the Holston and French Broad rivers. Those fish carry unsafe amounts of mercury, which can cause developmental problems. None of these types of pollution can be effectively removed without doing further environmental damage.

More Stories:

• Knoxville’s Creeks Are a Polluted Mess. Will They Ever Be Clean Enough to Enjoy?

• What the Heck Is a TMDL? And What Does it Matter?

S. Heather Duncan has won numerous awards for her feature writing and coverage of the environment, government, education, business and local history during her 15-year reporting career. Originally from Western North Carolina, Heather has worked for Radio Free Europe, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London, and several daily newspapers. Heather spent almost a dozen years at The Telegraph in Macon, Ga., where she spent most of her time covering the environment or writing project-investigations that provoked changes such as new laws related to day care and the protection of environmentally-sensitive lands. You can reach Heather at heather@knoxmercury.com

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