City of Townsend announces partnership with Maryville College to study health of the Little River
Sept. 20, 2023
It comes tumbling out of the rocks on the north slope of Clingman’s Dome, the highest mountain in Tennessee on the state’s border with North Carolina, gathering strength as it descends into the valley, rolling through the old logging camp-turned-resort at Elkmont and into Blount County.
As the Little River enters the city of Townsend, a mountain community that bills itself as the “Peaceful Side of the Smokies,” it runs clear and clean as far as rivers go — and with the assistance of faculty members and students at Maryville College, along with a little help from Arconic Foundation and the Little River Watershed Association, city officials want to do their part to help support the quality of water for residents and visitors alike.
On Tuesday evening, Sept. 19, the members of the Townsend City Council — Mayor Don Prater, Vice-Mayor Rindi Martin and Commissioners Ted Godfrey, Becky Headrick and Kelsey Satterfield — announced a partnership with Maryville College, which will conduct a four-year water quality study to assess the health of the Little River adjacent to the city limits of Townsend.
“They’re interested in helping maintain the quality of the water so it’s as close to what’s coming in as possible,” said Dr. Jay Clark, director of environmental and sustainability initiatives at MC. “For a town as near as Townsend is to the crown jewel of the National Park Service and upstream of most of Blount County’s drinking water, I think that’s a lofty and admirable goal.”
A hot spot for biodiversity
In addition to providing drinking water for most residents of Blount County, the Little River is “a biodiversity hot spot for fish and other species,” according to the Little River Watershed Association’s website. “We know that the Little River is a clean habitat because some of the most sensitive fish species, darters for example, are able to survive there. In fact, (in 2017) a new species was discovered, the Percina apina, which literally means ‘clean’ or ‘without dirt.’”
“There will always be some water quality issues that have to do with atmospheric deposition in the (Great Smoky Mountains National) Park, where rain washes things into the stream and lowers the pH, or heavy metal accumulations that we don’t have control over, but as water goes, it’s going to be hard to beat the quality of the Little River as it comes out of the Smokies,” Clark added. “The state, as well as Townsend, recognizes it as such, and they also recognize that it’s important for all of us to take an interest in Little River’s water quality as it pertains to our environment, and especially as it relates to our drinking water in Blount County.”
The more it travels through populated areas, however, the more the river is potentially impacted by pollutants. As a haven for outdoor recreational activities and a community focused on protecting and preserving the natural environment and cultural heritage, Townsend has “skin in the game,” Prater said.
“Safeguarding the health of the Little River is important to our citizens and neighbors in the greater Tuckaleechee Cove,” he added. “The river restores us, inspires our visitors and creates opportunities for our businesses.”
Last year, the City of Townsend approved partial funding for the multi-year, water quality monitoring program of the Little River adjacent to the city limits, conducted by a partnership between the watershed association and the Maryville College Division of Natural Sciences. After securing funding from the Little River Watershed Association and Arconic Foundation, preliminary work began this summer, with MC student Isabella Wright ’25 working with Dr. Nathan Duncan, associate professor of chemistry, to collect water samples.
“One of the things we’re looking at, and it’s data that’s really interesting, is to what extent acid rain is impacting the ion concentrations in the water and having an effect on aquatic species and the health of the river,” Duncan said. “We’re looking at bacterial count, such as E. coli, and examining whether the levels are likely to be naturally occurring or potentially from a source like a leaking septic tank.
“While everything is very preliminary and we’re using very narrow parameters, right now we’re seeing a river that looks like it’s pretty healthy. Of course, we’ll need to do some other testing to get a bigger picture of the trends and effects ongoing and new development are having on the river.”
“Townsend’s aim is to work with partners to help support the quality of the water through monitoring, evaluation of city policies and education and outreach,” Prater added.
Ongoing through 2027
The objective, according to the proposed study, is “to establish a baseline of stream health and continue to evaluate stream health and impacts of development, recreation, and seasonal weather on the long-term health of Little River by analyzing and determining the chemical and physical parameters of the water, performing microbiological testing to detect the presence and concentration of E. coli (Escherichia coli) and coliform bacteria, and assessing the macroinvertebrate community adjacent to the city limits of Townsend.”
To do that, Maryville College students and faculty supervisors will identify data logging monitoring stations along the river that will record temperature, stream gauge height, dissolved oxygen, and conductivity daily and at frequent intervals throughout the day. Other stations will track and measure pH, and water quality assessments will be conducted through the collection of samples that will be analyzed via ion chromatography to detect the presence of pesticides, petroleum and other potential contaminants.
In addition, Clark said, Dr. Dave Unger, associate professor of biology, will look at macroinvertebrate samples along the five-mile stretch adjacent to the city limits to assess the presence and prevalence of species that are both pollution tolerant and intolerant. Sample collection and analysis will continue through September 2024, after which an initial progress report will be submitted to the City of Townsend and the project’s funders. From late 2024 through September 2027, monitoring will continue, with a final report delivered to all invested parties in October 2027.
In addition to providing preliminary data, the work accomplished this summer is already paying educational dividends: Wright said her work will form the basis of her Senior Study, a distinctive feature of a Maryville College education conducted under the guidance of a faculty supervisor that can take a variety of forms, including conventional research, case studies and creative projects.
“This is an incredible opportunity to explore the opportunities my education and major provide me, to solidify my area of study for graduate school prospects, and to take part in a project that will benefit my community for years to come,” said Wright, a Biochemistry major and Environmental Science minor who lives in Townsend and graduated from Heritage High School.
As an institution committed to environmental stewardship and sustainability, the opportunity to provide the study to Townsend aligns with MC’s commitment to serve as an entity that advocates for the region of which it’s been a part for more than 200 years.
“Our job is strictly to collect the data, to provide a scientifically sound assessment, and to report those results to Townsend,” Clark said. “We’re providing the information for them to potentially make policy, and we’re grateful to the city for choosing to work with us, as well as to the citizens of Townsend and the private landowners that are providing us access to the river so we can study it.”