DWQ Brett Laverty on Protecting Water Quality

Partial Transcript: Brett gives a brief history of his watershed coordinator job in Southern Ohio. It was a watershed restoration project. Many volunteers were used to monitor the project. Brett believes in the power of local citizens reconnecting with their watershed is the best way to educate the public.

Keywords: monitor; watershed; Southern Ohio

Subjects: Watershed; volunteers; Southern Ohio

Partial Transcript: Brett talks about the Mills River area in NC and how they can benefit from local citizens following the water restoration program. In 2007 there was a large fish kill in Mills River which is why Brett is in the area. No one knows what caused the kill. He arrived too late to determine what caused the problem. Volunteer monitoring could have helped to determine the issues. It has been 3 years and they still struggle to identify the problem.

Keywords: large fish kill; volunteer monitoring; Mills River NC

Subjects: 2007 large fish kill; water restoration; Mills River NC

Partial Transcript: Brett discusses what has caused the problems in the watershed. He feels it is the development of the area. Aquatic habitats will suffer unless we can figure out how to be more mindful during development projects and the impact they bring.

Keywords: aquatic habitat; Watershed

Subjects: aquatic habitat

Partial Transcript: Brett talks about growing up in a steel mill town. As a kid, he was told to stay out of the rivers and streams. This led him to his career of working on watershed issues. For him, everything revolves around the watersheds.

Keywords: Steel town

Subjects: childhood experience; Steel town

Partial Transcript: Brett talks about the quality of the water in WNC, Western North Carolina. WNC has the best water in the country and maybe the world. He explains how the environment helps to protect the water quality and touches on issues that could impact the water quality.

Keywords: Water quality; Western North Carolina

Subjects: Water quality

Partial Transcript: Brett goes back to talking about Mills River, its headwaters, and the quantity of the species living in the water. Brett explains it is the water downstream that is being affected by development and agriculture. But he does point out that the area around him has children swimming and playing. People are camping and fishing in and on the river. He explains the growth of the number of people in and on the river helps to grow the local economy.

Keywords: local economy; headwaters

Subjects: local economy; Mills River headwaters

Partial Transcript: Brett describes what he knows of the upper part of Mills River, the headwaters. He talks about the many species living in the river. He talks about what the right conditions are for good water quality.

Keywords: trout; Upper Mills River

Subjects: Indicators of good water quality in the Mills River headwaters.

Partial Transcript: Brett talks about the chemical testing they did along the river. The bugs along the river are good indicators of a problem in the river. They tested the water early in the spring before agricultural activity began and later in the year, after the growing season. They have noticed a change in the condition of the Mills River.

Keywords: Chemical testing

Subjects: Testing the Mills River

Partial Transcript: Brett expands on what brought him to the area and the issues that affected the river. They have determined what caused the problems that led to the 2007 fish kill but not sure how it happened. Hundreds of trout were killed and many bug species were missing. He explains what action was taken to determine the cause of the problems and how it can be prevented from happening again.

Keywords: prevention; 2007 fish kill

Subjects: 2007 fish kill in Mills River

Partial Transcript: Brett talks about what he observes as he drives around looking at the fields along the river and while he is out sampling the river. They try hard to work with the farmers in the area. Brett feels it is sediment that is a big factor in the changing quality of the river. During big rainfalls, they have been documenting the problems of runoff. He feels with better sediment BMPs, best management practices, there could be improvements made.
The fields need to drain fast after heavy rain and this is a pathway for sediment and pesticides entering the river.

Keywords: BMPs; best management practices; pesticides; sampling

Subjects: Brett's observations

Partial Transcript: Brett talks about the many crops grown in Mills River. Mills River is both a high-quality water source but also a drinking source for surrounding counties. Brett wants to ensure there are no issues. It is possible that pesticides got into the water in 2007 contributing to the large fish kill. The fields need to drain quickly and sometimes shortcuts are made to help the fields drain. Brett is trying to find out what conditions allow the runoff to affect the water quality.

Keywords: agriculture; crops; drain quickly

Subjects: Possible reasons for the issues in the river

Partial Transcript: Brett outlines what he thinks the possible solutions could be. There needs to be a better implementation of sediment BMP in place. He has made a presentation to the Hendersonville, NC Soil and Water Board of supervisors who he feels are best suited to take on the issue of correcting the issues. Heavy rain and runoff bring sediment into the river along with chemicals. Allowing the sediment to stay on the fields could improve the habitat.

Keywords: Hendersonville NC; sediment BMP; Soil and Water board of supervisors

Subjects: Possible solutions

Partial Transcript: Brett tried to do a study in 2008 but there was a record draught so it was not a good time. In 2010 they were successful in sampling stormwater runoff as the storm is happening and the soil is running off. Trout streams struggle when turbidity levels rise above 20. In 2010 the NTU, Nephelometric Turbidity Unit, was 700. Also showing up are legacy pesticides, DDT, and Dieldrin. They are not seen leaching into the drinking water but they are in the sediment.

Keywords: Nephelometric Turbidity Unit; legacy pesticides; sediment; 2008 draught

Subjects: Results of 2010 sampling of the storm water runoff

Partial Transcript: Brett talks about the issues of monitoring the rivers and streams. There is a need for people to volunteer to monitor the area. People who live in the area can respond quickly. Brett is concerned that pesticides are starting to show up in the watershed. Volunteers can help document runoff and activity during and after storms.

Keywords: volunteers; Monitoring

Subjects: Issues monitoring the storm water runoff

Partial Transcript: Brett talks about why it is important for everyone to care about the rivers and streams. Children should feel safe in the rivers. We need to protect all sections of the river and streams for coming generations. It is very important that children are safe to play and fish in all rivers and streams.

Keywords: Children

Subjects: why we should protect the watershed