Water Quality

The water quality of a trout stream is largely determined by land use activities in the watershed. Industrial point source runoff and agricultural non-point source runoff can result in significant adverse impacts to aquatic ecosystems. Important water quality parameters such as nutrients, pH, concentrations of certain metals, and dissolved oxygen can be affected by how the watershed is used.

The Clinch tailwater watershed is heavily forested and lies in the Ridge and Valley and Cumberland Mountain physiographic regions. A significant portion of the watershed is rural residential. There are a number of small farms in the watershed, and most of the farmland is in pasture; very few acres are cultivated. There are a number of abandoned underground and contour surface coal mines in the Coal Creek watershed, and these mines are the source of significant silt loading and metals runoff into the Clinch during major rain events. Fortunately, this runoff is alkaline and not acidic.

State and federal agencies conduct water quality monitoring in most watersheds. Due to budget constraints, their efforts are sometimes limited. Volunteer efforts to help monitor water quality have become more and more commonplace around the country in recent years. Volunteers from organizations like Trout Unlimited, working in cooperation with the natural resource agencies, can help in these monitoring efforts.

For example, we are monitoring water discharging from abandoned  deep mines to qualify for  grants from such agencies as the Office of Surface Mining and the Environmental Protection Agency. These grants would be used to install passive water treatment systems ( i.e.  wetlands ). For more details click here.

The Clinch River Chapter has worked closely with TVA, the U. S. Office of Surface Mining, and the State of Tennessee in conducting water chemistry and aquatic benthos monitoring activities in the Clinch and its tributaries.

Water with high iron concentration discharging from an abandoned deep mine in Coal Creek.

Monitoring water quality near the point where the water discharges from an
abandoned deep mine.

Iron concentration from  an abandoned deep mine in excess of 10 parts per million.

Monitoring downstream of the point where water from an abandoned deep mine mixes with a natural stream.

Discharge from an abandoned deep mine entering stream not inpacted by coal mine drainage.

Since 1977, coal mining in Coal Creek must meet the stringent environmental standards of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). Water quality monitoring is performed by the operator and state and federal agencies to verify compliance with SMCRA discharge standards. Fees paid by mining companies are used by OSM and EPA to fund abatement projects at mine sites abandoned before enactment of SMCRA in 1977.