The Tennessean,  May 13, 2006
135 Midstate streams miss the boat on quality


Section: Main News
Page: 1A

Fertilizer, chemicals, silt keep gains at a trickle since report 2 years ago

By ANNE PAINE

Staff Writer

LEBANON -- John McFadden likes to take his 5-year-old son Elijah to Don Fox Community Park here, but he won't let him take off his shoes and socks and wade in the creek.

He knows better.

Sinking Creek seems pleasant enough with its riffling waters and purple stonecrop wildflowers on the bank, but E. coli bacteria and other problems have landed 17.4 miles of the waterway on the state's list of ailing streams.

About 135 streams in Davidson and six surrounding counties are in the same boat. Pollution from livestock grazing, sewer-pipe failures, urban runoff, land development or road construction means they don't meet water quality standards. Such conditions can restrict wading, swimming and boating as well as destroy the stream and what lives in it.

The waterways are listed in a just-released draft state report, and there are few significant changes from the list issued two years ago, according to Tisha Calabrese-Benton, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

That's because, for a stream to get off the list, pollution and its sources must be removed -- an enormous challenge in a fast-growing region with continual development.

Additionally, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of Tennessee's river and stream impairment, according to a separate 2006 state overview. And farming is not regulated when it comes to water runoff from typical activities. That includes runoff from pastures where livestock graze and cattle wander into the state's waterways because farmers aren't required to put up fences.

Agriculture has been the leading cause of water pollution for years.

Changes to streambeds and channels are responsible for 19% of stream impairments, municipalities 18%, construction 6% and industry 2%. The other sources include habitat changes and landfills.

Rhedona Rose, a lobbyist for the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, said it's no surprise that farming plays a major role.

"Considering agriculture takes up over half the land mass, we're doing pretty good and getting better all the time," she said.

Some water-quality advocates promote regulation of farming and timber activities and the providing of more inspectors to police existing rules.

Joe McCaleb, an environmental attorney who lives in Hendersonville, said the state needs more water-pollution control regulators to watch over streams.

His mail is loaded with an increasing number of notices of requests from companies and others for permits to discharge storm water or otherwise affect streams.

While the number of permits and the need for oversight has skyrocketed in recent years, staffing has not, he said. "They need more bodies to do the job," he said of the state.

McFadden, a director for the Harpeth River Watershed Association as well as an environmental consultant, said citizens need to help more, by monitoring streams and by working with planners to make sure building is done with streams in mind.

Options include permeable concrete that allows water to seep into the ground rather than run off into a waterway.

Heloise Shilstat, who worked for a construction company before retiring, sees up close what pollution has done. She spends a lot of time paddling her kayak on the state's streams, including the East Fork of the Stones River that flows beside her Rutherford County home.

She sees streams with denuded banks where cows walk and muddy the waters with their hooves and excrement. On Thursday, she looked over Lytle Creek, where one cow stretched out its neck and ripped a couple of oak leaves from a tree. Another chomped on a weedy plant nearby. Three others ambled away from the partially dry creek.

Landowners should be better stewards, and farmers need more regulation, Shilstat said.

"On the rivers, I see where homeowners have cut all the trees down along the banks," she said. "The next thing you know, their bank caves in and they bring in great big, old ugly, gray rock."

"Still, we can't do anything about cows," she said. "The regs don't cover agriculture. It's voluntary. If they want to let the cows maul the banks, they can."

Several programs are available through the state or federal government to pay much of the cost of assisting a farmer in establishing good practices, including putting vegetation buffers along streams and fencing cattle out of them.

But requiring farmers to do these things could get "very costly and might not correct the problems sometimes," Rose said.

The EPA recognized three streams that came off the list of impaired streams two years ago for having made progress in reducing agricultural runoff.

"We're moving in the right direction, and it's very positive for the waters of the state," Rose said.

Calabrese-Benton, the state spokeswoman, also said progress was evident. Although the overall trends haven't changed much, water-quality improvements have been documented in some streams and parts of them have been removed from the list of impaired waters.

"And we sample more and more sites every year, so the lists are more and more detailed, giving a more accurate picture of the water quality in any given watershed."

Others would like to see more improvement.

At Sinking Creek, McFadden pulled what looked like long ropey mats of green hair from the water. "That's a lot of algae for a stream," he said.

The presence of algae strongly indicates that sewage or animal waste is contaminating a stream. Both can carry several types of disease-causing organisms, such as E. coli. The waste and lawn and farm fertilizers that wash into waterways feed the algae. The algae choke out other aquatic life, changing the habitat and robbing the water's oxygen that supports fish and life.

Silt eroding off banks has some similar effects, blanketing the stream bottom, changing the flow and carrying other pollutants with it.

McFadden kept a careful eye on his son.

"Eli, don't walk through that water," he said. "Kids are going to get in a creek, they just are. It's unfortunate because it's such a great recreational resource." o

Anne Paine can be contacted at 259-8071 or apaine@Tennessean.com.

MAKE VOICE HEARD

o Public comment is being taken until June 2 on the state's proposed list of impaired rivers and waterbodies. Public meetings on the list will include one in the Midstate at 1:30 p.m., May 17, Ruth Neff Conference Room, 17th Floor, L&C Tower, 401 Church St., Nashville. For more information, call 532-0625.

o You may wish to cc your comments to politics@tennessean.com

GRAPHIC; AND MAPS BY STAFF: TROUBLED WATERS IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE; PHOTOS, CREDIT: JAE S. LEE / STAFF: CAPTION: Aquatic biologist John McFadden carries algae from Sinking Creek where it flows through Don Fox Community Park in Lebanon. He is joined by his son Eli, whom he has cautioned against playing in the water. --- CREDIT: SHELLEY MAYS / STAFF: CAPTION: Erosion undercuts a bank of the West Harpeth River behind a home In Williamson County.

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Record Number: nsh2006051609480649