Public Meetings Slated to Discuss Water Quality Management Plans

Nashville, Tenn. – The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will hold meetings in October to discuss the watershed water quality management plans for Old Hickory Lake and the Big South Fork, Obey and Clear Fork 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 54 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 Old Hickory Lake Watershed will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. October 2 at the Gallatin Department of Electricity, located at 135 Jones Street in Gallatin.

The public meeting for the Big South Fork, Obey, and Clear Fork River Watersheds will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. October 4 at the York Institute, located at 701 N. Main Street in Jamestown.

For more information about Environment and Conservation’s Watershed Management Approach, visit the Web site at www.tdec.net/wpc/watershed/#intro. The watershed water quality management plan may be viewed at www.tdec.net/wpc/watershed/wsmplans/.