Davy
Crockett Lake
aka: Mud behind a cement wall
February 2, 2017
Davy Crockett Lake on the Nolichucky River is actually a reservoir and a classic representation of how we as a society can “muck up” the situation in a relatively short time. The lake is only a century old but extremely filled in with sediments, it is located about 7 miles south of Greeneville Tennessee and approximately 46 miles upstream from the mouth of the Nolichucky at Douglas Lake, also a reservoir. The Nolichucky Dam impounds Davy Crockett Lake and the waters of the lake extends 6 miles upstream, this dam is a concrete gravity overflow, 94 feet high and 482 feet long with an ogee-type spillway and a flashboard crest. The reservoir has roughly 800 acres of surface waters and named for the historic frontier personality born in 1786 not many miles upstream from the dam.
The Nolichucky
Dam built by the Tennessee Eastern Electric Company in 1913 for
hydroelectricity generation was initially equipped with two generators. In 1941, the East Tennessee Light & Power
Company obtained ownership of the dam and then the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) purchased it in 1945, its peak
capable production of electricity was 10,640 kilowatts. TVA used the dam
for power generation until 1972, when sediment buildup in Davy Crockett
Lake made continued electricity generation impractical. The dam and
reservoir are now used for flood control, recreation and wildlife
management. Boat access and camping are available at Kinser Park on the north side
of the lake and below the dam there is good smallmouth bass fishing. Kinser
Park is situated on federal property owned by the TVA. The park has campsites,
picnic pavilions, swimming pool, water-slide, ball fields and a boat ramp.
Although owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority, oversight
of the campground is the responsibility of the Greeneville and Greene County
governments but under terms of a 2014 contract, the park's management is now
private. This park is best for wildlife viewing from a canoe or kayak and still
water allow visitors to get up creeks and backwaters to view a wide variety of
bird species. A visitor may see little blue heron, white ibis, great egret,
green heron and many other species.
It is important
to understand TVA’s relationship on all the waters of the Tennessee Rivers. The TVA is federally owned and created by congress on May 18, 1933, to provide navigation, flood control,
electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development to
the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great
Depression and the need to modernize the region's economy. Land had been farmed hard
in the region for a long time causing erosion and
soil depletion. The best timber
had been cut throughout the region, laying soils bare furthering the poor
economy. Dramatic change in life came with TVA-generated electricity but with
that benefit, also came the displacement of more
than 15,000 families that lived and occupied the bottomlands.
Historically the development of the region with
white settlement and removal of the native Cherokee, there began immediate
erosion into the rivers from changed land use practices. With the construction
of the Nolichucky Dam problems of sand and silt accumulation into Davy Crockett
Lake was immediate and rapid. This sedimentation led to dramatic
reduction in the volume of the reservoir and its water volume has been reduced
by 80 percent. In 1938 the
volume of Davy Crockett Lake was 11,000 acre-feet of water, at present the
reservoir's volume is 2,200 acre-feet and 8,800 acre-feet of sediment.
The
following is representation to land use activities by Bumpass Cove mining and
later, landfill and superfund site. Bumpass
Cove is a small mountain community that lies between Rich and Embreeville
Mountain. Located in the southwest corner of Washington County and a small portion
of northern Unicoi County. The cove area is about four miles long and almost
two miles wide. It’s water shed drains Bumpass Cove Creek into the Nolichucky
River. The cove had been one of the richest mineralized areas in East Tennessee,
which helped establish the area’s long history of iron, lead, zinc, and manganese.
After mining of the cove for many years from the time of the
revolutionary war and into the twentieth century, mining became of little
economic interest and the area became the Bumpass Cove Sanitary Landfill, but problems
from misuse of the landfill and the reaction from the community resulted in its
closure. Years of illegal hazardous waste dumping wreaked havoc on the
environment and endangered area residents’ health. In the end, citizen protest
and the intervention of the Superfund Program would result in the closing of
the landfill and the restoration of the area.
Throughout the years the
cove’s mines experienced times of great productivity as well as stagnation. In
June 1972 Bumpass Cove’s history took a turn for the worse when the Bumpass
Cove Environmental Controls and Minerals Corporation obtained a permit from the
Tennessee Department of Public Health to operate a sanitary landfill located in
an old mining site near the head of the cove. For nearly eight years waste from
throughout East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia as well as countless other
areas was dumped into the landfill. Although many of the items buried in the
landfill were approved, numerous items were disposed of without proper
authorization. Individuals within the community began to notice the illegal practices
that were constantly occurring in the cove and became aggravated at the Tennessee
Department of Public Health’s lack of initiative in stopping these illegal practices.
Yet it was not until a flash flood in July 1979 that the appropriate attention
was given to the problem. In response, the citizens of Bumpass Cove formed the
Bumpass Cove Citizens Group, which eventually played an integral part in the
closing of the landfill. In 1980 the landfill was finally closed but years of
mistreatment to the area’s environment had left a mark that could not easily be
erased.
Mining
in the upper-water shed of the Nolichucky is historic and continues today.
North Carolina mining and
mineral industry has over 800 active permitted mines and employs of over
100,000 an overall economic benefit to the state of nearly $11.3 billion
annually. There is a long history of mining in Western North Carolina and past
mining activity has occurred at more than 1,290 locations. Feldspar was first mined in North
Carolina in 1911 and is the primary feldspar-producing district in North
America. Other uses of
feldspar include the production of white-ware, tiles, glass and fiber
insulation. Nearly all the quartz for the making of silicon wafers
worldwide for the computer industry comes from this area. High-Purity Quartz and Glass
Sand in the Spruce Pine district is the
only producer of high-purity quartz in the world, amounting to 90% of all mined
and processed quartz for use in the electronics industries, to include
electronics for semiconductors, solar markets and photovoltaic cells.
The mines of this region also have provided much of the material for bridges,
roads and highways in the state and is used to make roofing felt, shingles, wallboard as well as composite manufacturers such as in
concrete aggregates, asphaltic concrete and more. Radioactive minerals are
found in these mines as a by-product and although not a source for the economy
this material migrates down stream. Other minerals also have been mined in the
area to include; olivine, talc, metallic
minerals of aluminum, chromium, copper, silver, iron, lead, zinc, manganese, tin, titanium, gold, copper,
and iron. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed a mine in Ashe
County on the national priorities list of Superfund sites due to contamination
to surface and groundwater by acid runoff.
Other land disturbing practices include
gravels operations, coal mining and other mineral extractions that disturb the
soil and with each rain the disturbed soils and other contaminants flow towards
Davy Crockett Lake settling to the bottom or over the spillway. Add to this
housing development, industry development, roads, parking lots, yard
contamination, trash, clandestine rubbish discharge and the authorized permits
of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) allowances and
the reservoir becomes ever more contaminated.
At the time of the construction of the dam,
mining operations in the mountains of North Carolina were causing an unusual
amount of silt and sedimentation down river. In addition to mining, the region
was also being extensively logged causing large areas of surface disturbance. TVA
estimated that the sediment addition will cause floodwaters in a "100-year
flood" to be 8 to 10 feet higher than they would have been when TVA
acquired the dam in 1945
Another concern besides sediment is river contamination by
radioactive materials. The presence of geologic radiation and by-product
radiation from mining and land disturbance is exasperated by the presence of
enriched uranium from Nuclear Fuels Services (NFS) and depleted uranium from
Aerojet Rocketdyne. Sampling by independent scientists has located in water and
sediment samples radioactive material clearly identifiable from these two
industries. The NFS-derived Uranium is present in water and sediments relatively
far downstream at Davy Crockett Lake and even past the Nolichucky Dam. Its not
possible to accurately estimate the total quantities of enriched uranium
present in Davy Crockett Lake however these quantities are likely to be considerable.
Results demonstrate that uranium contaminated water containing enriched uranium
is being discharged in violation of NPDES permit authorization from NFS. Mass
spectrometry is used to compare uranium found in the environment to the known
or expected isotopic composition in nature. This study has given an open-ended
scope and magnitude of the question. Additionally, the absence of publicly
available information regarding environmental contamination by the industry of
their releases during their 50 years of operation is troubling.
It is evident that 235U/238U ratios exceeding the naturally
occurring value are present. It is beyond any reasonable doubt that the water
in the Nolichucky River contain “enriched” uranium, a finding that could only
be produced by the mixing of naturally occurring and introduced “enriched” uranium.
The enriched uranium contaminated water is most likely entering waters through
multiple routes, including non-point source surface runoff and subterranean discharge.
Samples were taken from Davy Crockett Lake, the spillway below the Nolichucky
Dam, and an additional location several miles downstream of the dam. Enriched uranium
signature was also evident in Greeneville tap water as identified by this
independent report. No evidence to date indicates any uranium concentrations
exceeding 30 μg/L (drinking water standard set by US EPA) in any surface or tap
water samples however, there is no safe levels of radiation for human or
aquatic life.
This study demonstrated unequivocally and beyond any
reasonable doubt, that there is enriched uranium present in the environment.
This study determined that the mixing between naturally occurring uranium and
enriched uranium from the NFS facility is present and impacting the silt and sediment of the river, impacting
wildlife and the need for legislation to control are among issues that should
be explored. This study conducted by Michael Ketterer, a professor of chemistry and
biochemistry of the
Northern Arizona University concluded that sediments collected upstream of the NFS facility did not
show any uranium signatures that are significantly different than from Nature.
Another source of uranium contamination is also revealed
near Jonesborough. Where depleted uranium from Aerojet Rocketdyne, shown by
soil samples tested by Northern Arizona University revealed that the presence
of Depleted Uranium (DU), originating from Aerojet in water, soil and sediment
samples. This study also headed by Michael Ketterer once again revealed that DU
was found in water in Little Limestone Creek downstream from the facility,
sediments in the creek, and from soils from off-site locations near the
facility. DU is a heavy metal that is both radioactive and chemically toxic,
according to the Institute for Energy & Environmental Research. Depleted
uranium is a by-product of the enrichment process of enriched uranium. It has
been used by the U.S. Military to make armor-piercing weapons and tank armor
plating due to its high density. Aerojet Rocketdyne is contracted to make 30-mm ammunition for the A-10 Thunderbolt
II at their Jonesborough plant. This plant facility is about
600 feet from Little Limestone Creek a tributary that discharges into the
Nolichucky and subsequently Davy Crockett Lake.
In recent years the public-concern for this
lost reservoir has been argued and debated. One community meeting resulted in
numerous recommendations for remedy; to include reducing the height of
the dam, removing sediment from the reservoir and building levees along the
river to slow the flow of water. On April 13, 2007, TVA issued a Record
of Decision for a project to evaluate alternatives to address flooding
effects of Nolichucky Dam and the accumulated sediment in the reservoir as well
as land and property not owned by the TVA. Although there were four
alternatives considered TVA selected the No Action Alternative in the Record of
Decision. The federal government owns approximately 54 percent of the area
within the present 500-year floodplain and approximately 63 percent of the area
within the 100-year floodplain around Davy Crockett Lake. Most of the remaining
1,125 acres in the 500-year floodplain is in private ownership. Sediment
accumulation in the reservoir has raised the 100-year flood level by as much as
10 feet above what it probably was when TVA acquired the project in 1945. Four alternatives were evaluated
in detail in the Final EIS; A- No action; B-Acquire the affected land or land
rights; C-Lower the spillway in the dam; D-Remove Nolichucky Dam. Because of
the limited potential for flooding and associated flood damages, TVA selected
the No-Action Alternative. No alternative alleviated sediment accumulation and
flooding while protecting water quality, wetlands, and associated aquatic life
and habitat.
Davy Crockett Lake is not unusual and the concern seen in
the lake sediments and its contamination can be seen in many other locations of
our nation, however it is an excellent example of how we can in a short amount
time “muck up” the natural aquatics of a river. There are many old and out
dated reservoirs being removed from waterways in the U.S. and to return streams
and rivers to a more natural flow and condition hopefully to a natural aquatic
environment. But it is costly to initiate development only to remove it in the
future. 100 years isn’t that long of a time and Davy Crockett Lake has no
simple answers. The natural habitat for mussels, native fish species and more
is now gone and covered with sediments and contamination. These failures by
shortsighted legislators, executives, developers and administrators isn’t
easily fixed and what of the radioactive material? Does it become released into
the river system again only to cause cancer in an unsuspecting child at play,
who pays the price for this removal and are we wise enough not to repeat
ourselves. Above was mentioned at a Greene County meeting; to develop Levees,
really is that our only known ability but to alter, change, develop and
disturb? Yes the economy of the region had its pluses, but it also has its
expenses and many of our citizens that love and cherish a natural world are now
without because of short and narrow minded thinking, will the development that
occurred impacting the river continue and additional permits such as Nuclear Fuels
Services and U.S. Nitrogen LLC add to the degradation of this river. The
preambles of the Clean Water Act … to restore and maintain the chemical, physical,
and biological integrity of the nation's waters by preventing point and
nonpoint pollution. … “Our nation’s waters should be swimmable and
fishable” and the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act … ”the waters of the state are held in public
trust for the use of the people of the state”…“is to abate existing pollution
of the waters of Tennessee, to reclaim polluted waters, to prevent the future pollution
of the waters”… These preambles of law are very hopeful but each of the Acts
has compromising language that continues damage to a precious environment. It
is the Civil Right of our citizenry to have pristine and clean waters and we
expect our government to act accordingly. “Mud
behind a cement wall”
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