Public Meetings Slated to Discuss Water Quality Management Plans for Holston, Clinch and Powell River Watersheds

Nashville, Tenn. – The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will hold meetings in October to discuss the watershed water quality management plans for the Holston, Clinch and Powell River Watersheds. The public is invited to attend and provide input about the plans.

Watersheds are areas that drain to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, wetland or river. Diverse plant and animal species and geological features are linked in these areas. By focusing on the entire watershed, Environment and Conservation seeks to attain the best balance among efforts to control point-source pollution and polluted runoff, protect drinking water and safeguard wetlands and other sensitive natural resources. The Department utilizes water quality management plans as part of its Watershed Management Approach to meet water quality goals and preserve the ecological integrity of Tennessee watersheds.

Under the Watershed Management Approach, the state’s 55 watersheds are divided into five groups. Each group undergoes a different set of water quality management activities every year in a five-year cycle. Those activities include planning, monitoring and collecting data, gathering public input and developing water quality improvement strategies.

Environment and Conservation holds public meetings to discuss a watershed’s water quality management plan in the last year of the five-year cycle. These meetings provide water quality assessment summary results and an inventory of point and non-point sources of pollution in a watershed. Information also is shared about activities at the local, state and federal levels to reduce pollution sources. There will be opportunity to discuss water quality and for the public to make suggestions as to how it may be improved in the watershed.

The public meeting for the Holston River Watershed will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. October 29 at the Morristown Utilities Building, located at 441 W. Main Street.

The public meeting for the Clinch and Powell River Watersheds will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. October 30 at the New Tazewell City Hall, located at 413 First Avenue.

For more information about Environment and Conservation’s Watershed Management Approach, visit the Web site at

. The watershed water quality management plan may be viewed at