Fifteen county lakes, streams listed as 'impaired'

UNION COUNTY, N.C.,None — Union County has 15 bodies of water, including streams that flow into Monroe's reservoirs, listed on the N.C. Department of Water Quality 2012 Catagory 5 impaired waters list.

Every two years, NCDWQ compiles a list of all water bodies in the worst condition. The state monitors these creeks, rivers and lakes for pollutants and other indicators. Healthy water bodies have certain characteristics that are missing in impaired waters, NCDWQ Public Information Officer Susan Massengale said.

Scientists establish what a healthy stream should look like by examining the charateristics of a stream near its source. Clean water is typically accompanied by a certain amount of bugs and other life in and around the water. Water bodies of similar type but varying quality are compared.

"Streams of a certain characteristic should have a certain number and array of bugs around it," Massengale said.

Most pollutants come from a collection of places like a storm drain carrying rainwater that fell on oil slicks, lawns treated with pesticides and animal feces, Massengale said. Companies, farms and the potential sources of large amounts of pollution are regulated, but it is harder to prevent the cumulated effects of everyday pollution.

Union County's waters suffer from several problems. Duck Creek, Goose Creek, Lanes Creek, north and south forks of Crooked Creek, Lake Lee, Six Mile Creek, Lake Twitty and Twelve Mile Creek suffer from low ecological and biological integrity for small animals living on or near the creek bed. That means that conditions are not beneficial for animal life.

Water in Rocky River, Richardson Creek and Beaverdam Creek has high levels of copper, according to the impaired list. Copper pollution comes from several potential sources, Massengale said. It is an ingredient in some algaecides and fungicides. It can come from certain poultry practices and soil erosion, she said.

"And some comes from vehicles," she said. "A car's brake lining is made of copper. As that wears off onto the road, stormwater washes it to the nearest stream."

Richardson Creek and Stewarts Creek at Lake Twitty both have high levels of chlorphyll a, indicating algae growth. A small amount of algae is beneficial, Massengale said, but too much indicates an imbalance in nutrients dissolved in the water.

Algae thrives in an environment high in nitrogen and phosphorus, she explained. Both are ingredients in fertilizer used on lawns and crops which get washed into streams after rainstorms, Massengale said.

Extra nutrients are removed during the treatment process. And while algae is not harmful to the drinking water supply, it causes

"A large amount of algae usually means additional treatment is needed to remove a bad taste and smell from drinking water," she said.

The nasty side effects of high algae content plague water treatment plant officials yearly, Monroe Water Resources Director Russ Colbath said.

"It is a huge problem for us and we spend a lot of money to fix it," Colbath said.

Though creeks leading to Lake Twitty and Lake Lee, used to store water until treated at Monroe's water treatment plant, the treatment process removes pollution that would otherwise be harmful to water customers, Colbath said.

"We've known for about a decade that we had some water quality issues, so we completely changed the way we treated the water back in 2002," he said.

Now pollutants are filtered out through a three-step process, which includes two stages of disinfection, Colbath said.

Water coming from the tap is safe for now, but there is still much that individuals can do to prevent more pollutants, Massengale said. Testing soil and adding only the nutrients it needs prevents unnecessary runoff. Landscaping with native plants will cut down on the amount of pesticides used.

"I think all of us should realize that our activities will have an impact on our waterways," Massengale said. "It's a lot of small steps, but they can make a big difference."

To view the NCDWQ 303(d) list of impaired waters, visit http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/wq/ps/mtu/assessment

WSOC