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Protecting the French Broad Together

Protecting the French Broad Together

Protecting the French Broad Together

I’m your French Broad Riverkeeper, Hartwell Carson, and I want to tell you why it’s going to take all of us working together to clean up the French Broad River.

 

Let me introduce you to Jim Clark (pictured below with MountainTrue’s French Broad Watershed Science & Policy Manager, Anna Alsobrook), a MountainTrue member who volunteers through our Swim Guide bacteria pollution monitoring program. The samples that Jim collects provide MountainTrue with the data we need to find the sources of pollution and fight for real solutions to stop water pollution. Jim’s volunteer work helped MountainTrue create one of the only real-time E. coli monitoring sites in the country.

“I started collecting Swim Guide samples on Hominy Creek and Pearson Bridge in 2014 and recently started taking microplastic samples. I feel like I’m part of a team that’s gathering data to build a case for improving the river’s health. I feel like I’m contributing to a bigger cause and helping to improve the quality of our river.”

-Jim Clark

You can be like Jim and protect the French Broad. Donate today.

Much of the French Broad Watershed is regularly unsafe to swim in. If we want to clean up our river, we need your support today. Winning new laws and reforms to reduce bacteria pollution requires ongoing sampling, public education and organizing, and advocacy at the local, county, and state levels.

 

Your support helps us collect more than 600 samples from 38 popular swimming sites in the French Broad Watershed between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. Last year, 62% of the sites along the French Broad failed to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety standards for primary recreation — swimming or other activities where there is a risk of ingesting polluted water.

 

If we don’t act now, heavier and more frequent rains caused by climate change, coupled with increased development, could make our pollution problem worse.

Help me raise $5,000 by May 30 to fund this summer’s Swim Guide E. coli sampling program.

Each sample costs $30, which includes supplies, lab analysis, and travel expenses. Businesses or organizations can fully sponsor a site for $1,000/year with recognition on the Swim Guide platform and social media.

 

I want you and your family to be able to swim and paddle the French Broad River without having to worry about health risks.

 

Jim Clark is doing his part to ensure the French Broad is safe for you and me, but he can’t do it alone. Will you join Jim in supporting a cleaner, healthier French Broad now and for future generations? Take action today and help us reach our $5,000 goal.

 

Thank you for making this summer swim season the safest one yet!

A Plastic Bag Ban with a 10¢ Fee Is Best for the Environment with Limited Cost to Consumers

A Plastic Bag Ban with a 10¢ Fee Is Best for the Environment with Limited Cost to Consumers

A Plastic Bag Ban with a 10¢ Fee Is Best for the Environment with Limited Cost to Consumers

A plastic bag ban with a 10-cent fee on paper would dramatically decrease emissions of greenhouse gasses and sulfur dioxide, and the consumption of fossil fuels and fresh water at an annual cost of $3.33 per consumer — customers using EBT, SNAP, and WIC would be exempt.

Buncombe County, NC — A ban on single-use plastic grocery bags that includes a 10-cent fee on paper grocery bags would offer the highest environmental benefit to Buncombe County with limited costs for consumers, according to data assembled and analyzed by the local conservation organization MountainTrue.

Using environmental impact data provided by the American Chemistry Council — a group that lobbies and advocates on behalf of plastic bag manufacturers and the petrochemical industry — MountainTrue has calculated the environmental impacts of three scenarios: maintaining the status quo by doing nothing, adopting a plastic bag ban without a fee, and adopting a plastic bag ban that includes the 10-cent fee on paper.

 

Scenario 1 – Do Nothing: This scenario is based on current bag use multiplied by the per-bag environmental impacts as determined by the American Chemistry Council.

Scenario 2 – Post-Ban w/o Fee: This scenario assumes a conservative 50% increase in the use of paper bags after the passage of a plastic bag ban without a fee on paper bags. This is a high estimate based on data from cities that banned plastic bags without a fee on paper, which has shown increases in the range of 30%-50%.

Scenario 3 – Post-Ban w/ 10¢ Fee on Paper: This scenario assumes the passage of a plastic bag ban that includes a 10-cent fee on paper grocery bags and a corresponding 10% increase in the use of paper bags. 

While either bag ban scenario would be dramatically better for the environment than maintaining our current addiction to cheap, single-use plastic, adopting a plastic bag ban that is paired with a 10-cent fee on paper grocery bags would bring about the largest reductions in waste, pollution, and energy consumption. A bag ban with a 10-cent fee on paper bags would reduce Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 43%, fossil fuel consumption by 86%, solid waste by 66%, greenhouse gas emissions by 83%, fresh water consumption by 32%, and energy use by 73.3%. 

MountainTrue supports a plastic bag ban with a 10-cent fee on paper bags at the checkout aisle and has provided model ordinances to Asheville City Council and Buncombe County Commissioners that would additionally mandate that grocers use paper bags with at least 40% recycled content. This would further reduce environmental impacts. According to the Environmental Paper Network’s calculator, using recycled paper bags would reduce fossil fuel consumption by an additional 6.7% and greenhouse gas emissions by 30% compared to virgin paper.

These environmental benefits take into account expected increases in the consumption of paper bags after either bag ban would go into effect.

Using data and case studies from hundreds of localities that have already passed similar laws, MountainTrue estimates a 30-50% increase in paper bag consumption from a bag ban without a 10-cent fee on paper bags. MountainTrue’s preferred policy option, a bag ban with the fee, would result in a much smaller increase in paper bag consumption — approximately 10%.  

Currently, Buncombe County residents use approximately 132.4 million plastic shopping bags and 8.23 million paper shopping bags each year. Passing a plastic bag ban with a 10-cent fee on paper bags would zero out the number of new plastic bags used and result in a minimal increase in the number of paper bags to 9.05 million used per year.  

Cost to Consumers: $3.33/year

MountainTrue and the broader Plastic-Free WNC coalition are committed to passing an economically equitable policy that is not unduly burdensome to residents with lower incomes and fewer resources. We are committed to reducing this cost by partnering with City and County staff, local businesses, civic groups, and area nonprofits to educate and distribute free reusable bags to the people and families that need them most.

Case studies from around that nation have shown that the 10-cent fee on paper bags is critical to changing behavior and encouraging people to remember to bring their reusable bags to the grocery store. Additionally, the environmental benefits accrued from the fee far outweigh the minimal costs to consumers.

Our proposed ordinance would exempt customers using EBT, SNAP, and WIC from paying the 10-cent fee on paper bags. Even without that exception, the average cost to Buncombe County consumers would only be $3.33 per year, and customers can reduce or eliminate those costs by bringing reusable bags to the store. To put this in perspective, the average North Carolina resident already pays $745 per year in sales tax. (https://taxfoundation.org/sales-tax-per-capita-2019/)

MountainTrue and the broader Plastic-Free WNC coalition are advocating for the passage of an ordinance in both Asheville and Buncombe County that would ban single-use plastic grocery bags and styrofoam containers and would include a 10-cent fee on paper grocery bags. On October 11, 2022, Asheville City Council voted to begin public engagement and is due to receive a recommendation from City Staff this year. The City fielded a public survey from March 20 to April 30. Data from this survey will inform final recommendations to the city council.

2023 Western North Carolina Conservation Legislative Priorities

2023 Western North Carolina Conservation Legislative Priorities

2023 Western North Carolina Conservation Legislative Priorities

Protect Public Health – and the Jobs and Businesses that Rely on Clean Water

A recent report conducted by economists at Western Carolina University commissioned by the French Broad River Partnership found the total economic impact of the French Broad River and its tributaries is $3.8 billion annually, and river-reliant businesses create or maintain 38,554 jobs each year. In 2015, more than 55,000 people used a commercial outfitter to enjoy the French Broad, and thousands more used the river without an outfitter. 

Unfortunately, bacteria pollution threatens this economic engine by making the watershed unsafe for the thousands of people who play in it every year. Contaminated water poses health problems, including gastrointestinal, skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurologic, and infections. 

Water quality testing in the heavily-used French Broad River watershed indicates the presence of E. coli and fecal coliform at levels that are unsafe for human exposure much of the time. One of the most popular areas for recreation, a 19-mile section of the French Broad River – from the Asheville Regional Airport,  through the Biltmore Estate and the River Arts District in downtown Asheville – was added to NC’s list of impaired waterways in 2022.

To protect public health and the jobs and businesses that rely on safe recreational waters, MountainTrue supports the following initiatives to reduce bacterial pollution:

  • Increase local WNC funding to help farmers improve water quality. Agricultural waste is a significant source of E. coli and other bacterial pollution in WNC rivers and streams, especially the French Broad River which, as mentioned above, was recently listed as impaired for fecal coliform. Unfortunately, demand for state funding to help WNC farmers afford improvements that would reduce this pollution far outstrips the current budget. Expanding state funding for local Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) to meet this demand is critical to improving recreational water quality in WNC. We would like to request a $2 million nonrecurring allocation to SWCDs in the French Broad Watershed, allocated through the existing Agricultural Cost-Share Program, specifically for livestock operation improvement projects.  
  • Help property owners reduce stormwater pollution. The Community Conservation Assistance Program (CCAP) allows WNC’s SWCDs to help property owners reduce stormwater pollution in impaired waters.  Like the cost share program for farmers, funding for CCAP assistance is insufficient to meet demand. Providing WNC SWCD’s with an additional $500,000 for the CCAP program will significantly reduce stormwater pollution in rivers and streams already impacted by bacterial pollution. 


Other policy and funding initiatives that MountainTrue supports:

  • Abundant Housing Legislation – Opportunities for dense, energy-efficient housing located close to jobs reduce energy demand and transportation emissions. We support legislation to address housing availability and affordability.
  • Dam Removal Fund Implementation – The NCGA previously allocated $7.5 million to remove antiquated dams on waterways across WNC. MountainTrue is committed to advancing policies that give state agencies the support they need to advance dam removal projects efficiently.
  • Expand Transportation Funding – NC’s transportation funding relies on the gas tax, which is diminishing as people drive less and vehicles become more efficient. We support legislation that creates new sources of funding and expands the use to include stand-alone bike-ped projects.
  • Stormwater management reform for redevelopment projects – Recent amendments to G.S. 143‑214.7 deny local governments the option of requiring stormwater mitigation on redevelopment projects. We support legislation to repeal those changes.
  • Safe Passage Fund – As roadway construction creates new barriers to long-established wildlife corridors, inevitably, animals are increasingly encountering humans and their vehicles. We are joining a coalition of organizations seeking $10 million to support wildlife crossing projects.
  • Agency staffing needs and pay equity – State agencies across the board are struggling to hire and retain staff due to budget constraints and competition with the private sector. MountainTrue supports maximizing investments in state agency staff positions and salaries.

WNC Public Access and Recreation Investments:

  • Expand the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail to include one publicly-accessible site in each WNC county, along with educational materials ($150,000 nonrecurring to Mainspring Conservation Trust).
  • Improve River Walk in downtown Murphy by building a boardwalk for Fisherman’s Loop, and extending the path to a housing development ($250,000 nonrecurring to the Town of Murphy).
  • Improve public access to the Watauga River Paddle Trail by purchasing an additional access point in Watauga County ($500,000 nonrecurring to Watauga County).
  • Expand access to the Green River and adjacent lands by developing a new access point at South Wilson Hill Road ($150,000 nonrecurring to Polk County Community Foundation).
  • Enhance Chestnut Mountain Nature Park by expanding paths and trails and improving the playground and creekside park ($450,000 nonrecurring to the Town of Canton).

2022 Volunteer of the Year and Esther Cunningham Award Winners

2022 Volunteer of the Year and Esther Cunningham Award Winners

2022 Volunteer of the Year and Esther Cunningham Award Winners

Every year, MountainTrue recognizes five individuals from across the Southern Blue Ridge as our regional Volunteer of the Year and Esther Cunningham award winners. We look forward to celebrating these exceptional MountainTrue volunteers at our 40th Anniversary Celebration on October 12, 2022:

High Country Volunteer of the Year: Hayden Cheek

Hayden (pictured above) works at a local fly shop in Boone, NC. He’s an excellent angler and guide, and he often goes above and beyond to take care of his local waterways. His practice of giving back and leaving our rivers and woods better than he finds them permeates his friendships, work relationships, and his career. He’s a consistent water quality volunteer with our High Country water quality team and his impact is being passed on to those fortunate enough to spend time with him on the trail or in the river. Thanks so much for all you do, Hayden!

Central Region Volunteer of the Year: Jim Clark

Jim Clark has been helping us clean up the French Broad River for years. He’s been a Swim Guide volunteer for nearly ten years and has been a part of our microplastics sampling team from the very beginning. The data he’s gathered at Pearson Bridge has helped to get the new Real-Time E. coli Estimator (created in partnership with NCDEQ) up and running. He’s gone out of his way to keep trash out of the river, including lugging dozens of heavy, muddy tires out of its reach. Thanks for all your hard work to make the river a better place, Jim!

Western Region Volunteer of the Year: Stacey Cassedy

This year, Stacey has volunteered with both of our Adopt-A-Stream water quality monitoring programs (water chemistry and E. coli) and our Swim Guide program. Stacey’s unwavering dedication to our weekly Swim Guide sampling program helped many folks from across the Western Region know where it was safe to swim this summer! When her sampling site failed for the first time in August, she returned to resample and continued to check and photograph the beach for several additional days to monitor the source of the pollution: goose droppings! Stacey has offered to help with festival tabling events and is interested in doing anything needed to help with MountainTrue’s mission, particularly in the water quality program area. She’s a true super volunteer!

Southern Region Volunteer of the Year: Don Cooper

When Don learned about high bacteria levels in his community’s local waterways, he sprung to action and rallied the support of his fellow Rotarians. With his leadership, dozens of volunteers collected hundreds of water samples from streams in and around Hendersonville over the last several years. The data generated from his efforts helped us isolate the sources of bacteria pollution and direct our advocacy resources in the right direction to make meaningful change for water quality and public health. Thank you so much for your leadership, Don!

The 2022 Esther Cunningham Award Winner: Grady Nance

This award is given each year in honor of one of our organization’s founders, Esther Cunningham. Esther bravely stood in the face of opposition, rallied her community to stand with her, and tirelessly fought to protect and defend the forests of Western North Carolina. 

Grady and his wife, Kathleen, have been MountainTrue members since 2015. In that time, Grady has repeatedly stepped up to support MountainTrue and our region in a number of ways.  Grady spent his career in the electric utility industry and has been a crucial resource to our energy-focused work, especially as we were working both in opposition to and in partnership with Duke Energy. Grady also served on the Henderson County Environmental Advisory Committee for several years, pushing the county to do more in terms of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Grady has served on MountainTrue’s board as our treasurer since 2019. He has acted more like a CFO than just a board member and has been enormously helpful as our budget and the complexity of our budgeting have grown. Grady also says yes to every request we make of him. He has been a thoughtful, conscientious, and diligent board member and treasurer, and we will miss him terribly when he rolls off the board at the end of this year. Because of his commitment and service to MountainTrue and his dedication to the environment, we are pleased to award him with the 2022 Esther Cunningham Award.

Real-Time E. coli estimates for the French Broad River at Pearson Bridge available on new website from MountainTrue and NC DEQ

Real-Time E. coli estimates for the French Broad River at Pearson Bridge available on new website from MountainTrue and NC DEQ

Real-Time E. coli estimates for the French Broad River at Pearson Bridge available on new website from MountainTrue and NC DEQ

MountainTrue has partnered with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Pigeon River Fund to create a new website that provides the public with real-time water quality estimates at Pearson Bridge on the French Broad River in Asheville, NC. The website combines existing technology and new mathematical modeling to estimate E. coli conditions in real time. 

The modeling correlates water turbidity data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey with MountainTrue’s and DEQ’s E. coli data at Pearson Bridge. The French Broad River at Pearson Bridge is now one of the few places in the country to have a real-time E. coli estimate modeling system.

“The goals of the WNC Recreational Monitoring program are to empower and enhance the existing community of environmental organizations already monitoring water quality in WNC, while expanding the Department of Environmental Quality’s analytical abilities to shorten the turnaround time in E. coli analyses and further refine risks associated with elevated bacteria levels,” said Landon Davidson, Division of Water Resources Regional Manager. “Near real-time calculations of bacteria levels are valuable to users because rapid changes in river conditions can increase bacteria levels significantly.” For more information on the State’s WNC Recreational Water Quality program, visit the DEQ website.

French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson explains, “Summer is when river recreation is most popular, but it’s also when afternoon thunderstorms can roll in, cause significant runoff and drastically change water quality. This new technology helps eliminate that uncertainty by providing the public with real-time estimated bacteria levels so that they can make informed decisions about whether or how to spend time on the river.”

The French Broad River Watershed is one of the most popular water-based recreation areas in North Carolina. On any given warm day, the French Broad Watershed hosts thousands of tubers, swimmers, canoers, kayakers, anglers, and whitewater boaters. Recreators frequently wonder how clean the river is and if it’s safe to swim or paddle. 

As part of its existing Swim Guide program, MountainTrue publishes E. coli data each week from May to September on the Swim Guide platform. MountainTrue utilizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved IDEXX method for collecting and analyzing water samples and compares the results against the safe standard for health determined by the EPA. 

MountainTrue samples for E. coli because it’s the best indicator for the presence of microbes that pose threats to human health, such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Shigella, and norovirus. Heavy rains and storms often result in spikes in E. coli contamination, increasing the risk to human health. Contact with or consumption of contaminated water can cause gastrointestinal illness, skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurologic, and wound infections. The most commonly reported symptoms are stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and low-grade fever.

While the Swim Guide program provides high-quality data, it suffers from a time lag, as E. coli samples take 18-24 hours to incubate. Water quality can vary significantly from week to week or even day to day. E. coli levels can change quickly with heavy rains, as stormwater triggers runoff from agriculture, sewer overflows, and failed septic systems. Swim Guide data taken from MountainTrue’s Pearson Bridge sampling site over the past month illustrates this problem. During a relatively dry period in June, E. coli levels at Pearson Bridge were well below the safe standard set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). July’s heavy thunderstorms have caused E. coli levels at Pearson Bridge to spike significantly, including being over 25 times the EPA’s safe standard on July 13. 

As our mountain region experiences increased high-intensity rain events as a symptom of climate change, developing a model that provides E. coli estimates to the public is important. The French Broad Riverkeeper says MountainTrue and DEQ want folks to have the resources they need to make more informed decisions about when and how to recreate the French Broad River. Now, this will be possible thanks to the real-time E. coli estimator model and the USGS Pearson Bridge turbidity gage data on which it is based.  

These real-time estimates will also help the French Broad Riverkeeper and DEQ track sources of pollution as they continue working together to bring about a cleaner French Broad River. Visit frenchbroadwaterquality.com to view results in real time. Visit theswimguide.org/affiliates/french-broad-riverkeeper/ to view MountainTrue’s weekly Swim Guide results from across the French Broad River Watershed. 

What do Healthy Mountain Rivers Mean to You?

What do Healthy Mountain Rivers Mean to You?

Testing Sites

River Basins

Counties

States

Protecting our mountain waters wouldn’t be possible without the help of members, volunteers, and supporters like you.

Support our Swim Guide Program

With your help, we will maintain E. coli sampling at 85 popular swimming areas this summer. Samples will be taken, processed, analyzed, and published on the easy-to-use Swim Guide website and smartphone app before starting your weekends!

Will you help us monitor and report water quality conditions at popular swimming areas this summer? Consider making a donation today.

Our goal is to raise $20,000 by May 30 to help fund this summer’s Swim Guide E. coli sampling program. Each sample costs $30, which includes staff time, supplies, lab analysis, and travel expenses. Businesses or organizations can fully sponsor a site for $500/year with recognition on the Swim Guide platform and social media.   

“I like to paddleboard, so water quality is important to me. People need a tool like the Swim Guide app to know when the water is safe. My friends and I care about sharing these results and letting community members know about this amazing tool. MountainTrue addresses pollutants they find in the river and advocates for better policies that will protect it.” 
-Tiffany Narron, Swim Guide Volunteer
“I love getting outside and helping our Riverkeepers by taking water samples, and it’s especially rewarding to see the results posted within 24 hours so my friends and I know the water conditions before the weekend.” 
-Erica Shanks, MountainTrue Board Member and Swim Guide Volunteer
“I’m a hardcore river enthusiast, spending a lot of time canoeing and paddleboarding. I need to know if the water I’m playing in is safe. I appreciate how local this is to the High Country. It’s awesome to know where it’s safe and have that knowledge be current for my family and dogs. I love the sampling side because I get to feel like I’m contributing.” 
–Jordan Sellers, Swim Guide Volunteer
“The City of Hiawassee strives to have the best water quality. Being out on the lake and knowing it’s safe to boat, swim, and fish in is important. We really appreciate our relationship with MountainTrue.” 
–Liz Ordiales, Mayor of Hiawassee, GA

We want you and your family to be able to visit publicly accessible swimming areas without having to worry about health risks. Swim Guide makes it easy for people to know when their water is contaminated and when it is safe to swim, giving our community the information needed to prevent waterborne illnesses. Our sampling will also help us identify problem areas where work is needed to improve water quality for the future.

Will you stand with MountainTrue? We need you to take action today so our waters can be healthy today and for generations to come. Help us reach our $20,000 goal by donating today.

From all of us on the MountainTrue Clean Water Team, thank you for making this summer swim season the safest one yet!