/©% Section 319
^*2/ NONPIINT SOURCE PRIGUM SUCCESS STORY
PRO^
Tennessee-
Installing Best ManagemeEit Practices Abates Acid Mine Drainage in
Crab Orchard Creek
WatPrhnrk/ lmnrn\/prl Acid mine draina9e (AMD) significantly diminished aquatic life in
vvdiui uuuy 1111 pi uvuu Morgan County, Tennessee's Crab Orchard Creek., As a result,
the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) added Crab Orchard
Creek to the state's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 1998 for pH
and siltation due to pollution from abandoned mines. Best management practices (BMPs) were
installed in the watershed, including intensive restoration activities to abandoned mines. These
abatement activities led to the attainment of water quality standards in a 2.3-mile segment of
Crab Orchard Creek. The segment was removed from the state's CWA section 303(d) list of
impaired waters in 2010.
Problem
Crab Orchard Creek, a 28.9-miie-long tributary to
the Emory River in upper east Tennessee drains
a 47.3-square mile area that includes portions of
Morgan and Cumberland counties (Figure 1). The
watershed is mostly forested with areas of agricul-
ture, pine plantations, and abandoned mines. Crab
Orchard Creek's designated uses include support of
fish and aquatic life, recreation, iivestock watering/
wildlife, and irrigation. It is listed on the Nationwide
Rivers Inventory for exceptional scenic, recreational,
geologic, and fish/wildlife values.
Coal mining operations in the Crab Orchard Creek
watershed left open pits and acid-forming materi-
als that created pockets of standing and flowing
surface water with depressed pH, elevated mineral
content, and minimal aquatic habitat The main
sources of these impairments were resource
extraction and AMD.
Biological reconnaissance (biorecon) is one tool
used to recognize stream impairment using species
richness measures. The biorecon index is scored
on a scale from 1 to 15, where 5 is considered very
poor, and 10 is considered good. The principal met-
rics used are the total number of macroinvertebrate
families found in a stream. In 1998, Crab Orchard
Creek failed a biorecon study. At that time, the
entire 28.9 miles of Crab Orchard Creek (Waterbody
ID: TN06010208020-2000) was put on the 1998
CWA section 303(d) list for pH and siltation due
to pollution from abandoned mines, in 1999 and
2000, a TMDL study confirmed that pH levels in
Figure 1. The Crab Orchard Creek watershed is in northeast
Tennessee. Partners installed BMPs to address mining and
agricultural runoff in several watershed locations.
the creek were low and failed to meet water quality
standards.
Project Highlights
To improve water quality within the Crab Orchard
Creek watershed, 44 acres of land have been
reclaimed. AMD treatments were installed and
other remedial management measures were used to
achieve nonpoint source pollution load reductions.
Measures included limestone treatment ponds and
systems, a constructed wetland, a settling pond,
a backfill sediment pond and land revegetation
(Figures 2 and 3). The Crab Orchard Creek Project
Crab Orchard Creek Watershed - Best Management Practices
(BMPs for 2002-2010)
-Crab Orchard!
Creek -1000
_ segment
Cumberland
Crab Orchard
Creek - 3000
segment -
Best Management Practices
Crab Orchard Creek - 2000 segment (delisted for pollutants)
Fully Supporting
Not Assessed
Not Supporting
! Tennessee Counties

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Figure 2.
Golliher Creek
site, excavated
cell, October
2008.
Figure 3,
Golliher Creek
site, post-
reclamation,
August 2009,
also involved constructing AMD treatment systems
and reclaiming abandoned coal mines to improve
the water quality in Mill, Golliher, and Little Laurel
Creeks (the three tributaries to Crab Orchard Creek).
Four abandoned mine sites where AMD was signifi-
cantly impacting receiving streams were prioritized
and included approximately 185 acres of abandoned
surface mines with two sediment ponds, 1,500 feet
of highwalls, six identified seeps, and approximately
2,000 feet of exposed and eroding creek bank.
TDEC's Division of Water Pollution Control per-
formed remedial management measures to help
treat the creek with BMPs including land reclama-
tion, toxic discharge control, limestone treatment
ponds, constructed wetland, settling pond, backfii!
sediment pond, and stabilization with revegetation.
From 2002 through 2010, the Agricultural Resources
Conservation Fund (ARCF) funded the installation of
agricultural BMPs including laying 969 feet of fenc-
ing, planting 16.5 acres of pasture and hay, 42 acres
of cropland conservation, laying 1,905 feet of
pipeline, construction of a pumping plant, creating
two heavy-use areas, construction of four watering
facilities, and the construction of a well.
In order to raise awareness among local citizens and
recreational users about nonpoint source pollution,
impacts from abandoned mines, and this restoration
project, a series of four articles were written and
submitted to the Morgan County News. This project
was also highlighted in the newsletters for the Emory
River Watershed Association and Chota Canoe Club.
Additionally, a series of public meetings were held
to share information and updates about the project
over the course of the implementation period. An
informational brochure was developed as well as a
display developed in 2006 showing the watershed.
The display was used for special events such as the
annual Morgan County Discovery Festival.
Results
In 2006 TDEC collected a Semi-Quantitative Single
Habitat Assessment (SQSH) test at mile 3.1 of Crab
Orchard Creek. The habitat score indicated that this
segment was in compliance with water quality stan-
dards and that the stream was of beneficial use for
fish and aquatic life. In 2007, a biorecon survey at
this same station yielded a perfect score of 15, doc-
umenting 17 EPT families, 11 intolerant, and 31 totai
families. During a sampling in 2006, the stream
met pH criteria and the biology had significantly
improved. The CWA section 303(d) assessment for
the 2010 list, now states that Crab Orchard Creek
(TN06010208020-2000) fully supports its desig-
nated uses. The upstream section of Crab Orchard
Creek remains on the 303(d) list for manganese and
pH problems due to mining.
Partners and Funding
Many federal and state agencies, local organiza-
tions, and individual landowners worked together
to improve water quality in the Crab Orchard Creek
watershed. The principle project partners were the
Emory River Watershed Association, the Morgan
County Soil Conservation District (SCD), TDEC,
Marcum Excavating, the community of Oneida,
and the Tennessee Valley Authority. In 2006, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, through the
Tennessee Department of Agriculture, awarded
a CWA section 319 grant of $409,200 to TDEC's
Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation program for the
Crab Orchard Creek Watershed Plan. The grant's
state project number was ID-06-08123-00 for the
Crab Orchard Creek Watershed Plan. It began on
March 1, 2006 and was completed on February 28,
2011. TDEC also provided $290,800 in matching
funds. The Agricultural Resources Conservation
Fund (ARCF) spent $15,293.35 through the Morgan
County Soil Conservation District. U.S. Department
of Agriculture Farm Bill funds also supported instal-
lation of practices from 2007 to 2011.
$
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-14-001DD
May 2014
For additional information contact:
Sam Marshall
Tennessee Department of Agriculture
615-837-5306 • Sam.Marshall@tn.gov

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