New Smartphone App Makes Anyone a Muddy Water Cop

Muddy Water Watch Launches New App; Announces Volunteer Trainings

Asheville, N.C. – Now anyone with a smartphone can help report illegal muddy water runoff and sources of sediment pollution. Muddy Water Watch, a project of MountainTrue, the French Broad Riverkeeper and the North Carolina Waterkeepers, has teamed up with Shiny Creek, an Asheville-based enterprise-class web and mobile application development company, to create a new smartphone app that makes documenting sources of dirty water easier than ever.

The Muddy Water Watch app can be downloaded for free from Apple iTunes or the Google Play stores. Once installed on a smartphone or tablet, a user can easily snap a photo of the pollution source, provide notes and submit a report. The report is geotagged so that it goes to the appropriate authority.

“This is a powerful new tool for tracking and shutting down sources of illegal sediment pollution,” explains Hartwell Carson, MountainTrue’s French Broad Riverkeeper. “Identifying the right group or official to submit a report to has always been the biggest challenge for our Muddy Water Watch volunteers. This app solves that problem, makes the reporting process much easier and allows anyone to alert the proper authorities.”

“We are excited to partner with MountainTrue to deliver a mobile app that can really make a difference for the environment here in Asheville where we work and around the country. Hartwell Carson and the crew at MountainTrue have a great team working to protect the environment and we are glad to be a part of that mission,” says Brett Crossley, President, Shiny Creek.

Sediment is the number one pollution source in the French Broad River Watershed and nationwide. It smothers aquatic life, warms the water, reduces oxygen levels, destroys habitats, and clogs fish gills. Sediment pollution often comes from the runoff from construction sites, stream bank erosion, and runoff from agriculture.

New Muddy Water Watch Trainings Announced

With the launch of the new app, MountainTrue and the Riverkeeper have also announced the first three Muddy Water Watch trainings of the season: June 20 at the Public Library in Marshall, June 28 at Haywood Community College’s Regional High Technology Center in Waynesvill and June 30 at REI in Asheville.

June 20 – Marshall Public Library from 4 p.m to 7 p.m.
11 N. Main Street
Marshall, NC
June 28 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Haywood Community College, Regional High Technology Center 112 Industrial Park Drive – Room 3021
Waynesville, NC
June 30 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
REI Asheville, 31 Schenck Pkwy, Asheville
Asheville, NC>> Register for trainings.

Participants will get training on how to identify, document and report sources of sediment pollution. Each training session will also include a site visit to an active construction site.

The French Broad Riverkeeper and Riverkeepers around North Carolina previously held dozens of Muddy Water Watch trainings around the state, training over 150 volunteers and reporting hundreds of sediment runoff from construction sites. This program proved to a great example of how grassroots volunteers can stop our biggest pollution source and clean up our waterways.

“The Muddy Water Watch program is a great way for people to have an immediate impact that benefits our local environment and water quality,” explains Hartwell Carson, MountainTrue French Broad Riverkeeper. “Western North Carolina’s rivers are some of our greatest treasures and economic assets. Both locals and visitors paddle, fish and play in these waters and we need to protect them.”

About Shiny Creek
Shiny Creek designs and builds data-driven cloud-based mobile and web applications for enterprises and nonprofit organizations. Established in 2013, their consulting team includes designers and developers with decades of combined experience taking client ideas from concept to product quickly and efficiently. Shiny Creek has developed applications that range from sports statistics to enterprise data and environmental monitoring. For more information on Shiny Creek, visit www.shinycreek.com.

About MountainTrue
MountainTrue fosters and empowers communities throughout the region and engages in policy and project advocacy, outreach and education, and on the ground projects. To achieve our goals, MountainTrue focuses on a core set of issues across 23 counties of Western North Carolina: sensible land use, restoring public forests, protecting water quality and promoting clean energy – all of which have a high impact on the environmental health and long-term prosperity of our residents. MountainTrue is the home of the Watauga Riverkeeper, the primary watchdog and spokesperson for the Elk and Watauga Rivers; the French Broad Riverkeeper, the primary protector and defender of the French Broad River watershed; and Broad River Alliance, a Waterkeeper Affiliate working to promote fishable, swimmable, drinkable waters in the Broad River Basin. For more information: mountaintrue.org

What The Heck Is Going On In Raleigh Re: Coal Ash? Some Answers

Action Expired

After approving comprehensive coal ash legislation in 2014, a Supreme Court battle in 2015 and an abrupt end to the state’s Coal Ash Commission in 2016, the North Carolina General Assembly took up SB 71 this week to revise the state’s coal ash clean up laws. The bill would reconstitute the state’s Coal Ash Management Commission, extend the timeline for making final classifications of Duke Energy’s coal ash pits and require Duke Energy to provide a permanent drinking water supply for some residents living near coal ash pits.

The bill’s chief sponsor is Representative Chuck McGrady of Henderson County.

The GOP-controlled House passed SB 71 on Wednesday, May 25 by a vote of 86 to 25 and sent it to the Senate, after speeding the bill through several committees. The Senate could take up the bill as soon as next week. Senate leaders, including Hendersonville Republican Sen. Tom Apodaca, appear to support the legislation but want to fix a largely technical issue with some of the bill’s language.

You can read the current text of SB71 (version 3) here.

Here’s a summary of the major parts of the bill and MountainTrue’s take on each part:

1. Clean Drinking Water. The bill requires Duke Energy to provide a permanent source of clean drinking water to homes where wells are already or will potentially be contaminated by coal ash. Residents whose drinking water is threatened by coal ash contamination will be connected to public water supply, or, where doing so cost is prohibitive, Duke will be required to provide and maintain water filtration systems.

MountainTrue’s Take:
We support the legislature’s efforts to provide a safe, permanent drinking water supply to all residents who are or will be affected by coal ash. (It’s this section of the bill, by the way, that needs fixing in the Senate. An amendment approved during the House debate of the bill inadvertently disqualifies some people from receiving requirement of clean drinking water. Clearly, this mistake must be corrected.) While we support piping in clean water to these residents, requiring Duke Energy to do so does not take the company off the hook for thoroughly cleaning up North Carolina’s coal ash pits; nor should it be used to justify downgrading the risk classification for any coal ash pond.

2. Beneficial Use of Coal Ash. SB 71 requires that Duke Energy find safe, beneficial reuse of 2.5 million tons of coal ash annually, with at least 50 percent coming from existing coal ash pits.

MountainTrue’s Take:
We support a legal requirement that Duke Energy find a safe reuse of coal ash to reduce the amount that must be excavated and stored away from our rivers and drinking water sources. SB 71 specifically and correctly dictates that this coal ash be used to make concrete – a relatively safe application – instead of other less safe products, such as agricultural fertilizer or landscaping infill.

3. Reviving the Coal Ash Commission. The overriding goal of SB 71 is to reconstitute the Coal Ash Management Commission, which was disbanded when the state Supreme Court agreed with Governor McCrory that the commission created under the 2014 legislation violated the state constitution’s separation of powers requirement. In response to the court decision, SB 71 gives the executive branch more oversight of the Coal Ash Management Commission. Under the new bill, the governor would appoint five of the commission’s seven appointees, who would be subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. The previous commission included three members appointed by the Senate, three by the House, and three by the Governor.

MountainTrue’s Take:
MountainTrue supports oversight and review of the Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) coal ash cleanup efforts, which have not inspired confidence in the agency’s leadership. The problem is that under SB 71, reconstituting the commission would also provide an opportunity to change DEQ’s recently announced classifications for most coal ash pits in the state. These classifications dictate the level of clean up at each coal ash pit, including whether a pit must be emptied and the coal ash moved offsite or simply capped in place. Many in the legislature believe these classifications are a political stunt by the McCrory administration to appear tough on Duke Energy – and that Duke will find a way around them. Others believe Duke’s claims that the DEQ classifications will require clean-up efforts that are unnecessarily and prohibitively expensive – and will drive up utility costs for consumers and businesses. We believe these concerns are exaggerated and that, if they prove to be accurate, they can be addressed more narrowly, without revising all of the DEQ classifications.

4. Extended Comment Period. SB 71 reopens the public comment period for the proposed risk classifications for the state’s coal ash ponds until August 1, 2016. Under the proposed bill, DEQ will have until September 1, 2016 to submit new proposed classifications for review by the Coal Ash Management Commission, which is reformed under the legislation. The Commission will have up to 240 days to make a final classification.

MountainTrue’s Take:
We strongly oppose unnecessary delays to the approval of the risk classifications for the state’s coal ash ponds. Under SB 71, final decisions about classifications might not occur until March 2017. That is an unacceptable delay. Duke Energy and the state have been collecting data on coal ash lagoons for years. Earlier this month, DEQ issued its recommended classifications, as required by the 2014 Coal Ash Management Act. The Governor, DEQ and the legislature should accept these classifications. If there is concern about Duke’s ability to meet statutory deadlines for excavation, those concerns can and should be addressed without revising the 2014 legislation altogether.

Bottom Line:

We understand and agree with the motivations of Representative McGrady and other legislators who support this bill, and their desire to help the people of North Carolina who are most directly impacted by coal ash pollution. However, we believe that risks of SB 71 outweigh its benefits. We are concerned that in the process of revising the state’s coal ash laws, the legislature may provide an avenue for the reclassification of many of Duke Energy’s coal ash pits and substantially decrease the quality of their clean up, including the number that are required to be excavated rather than simply capped in place. If there is concern about Duke’s ability to meet statutory deadlines for excavation or other requirements of the Act, those concerns can and should be addressed without running the risk of revising the entire classification process for most of Duke Energy’s coal ash pits.

Making Your Voice Heard

The legislature’s review of SB 71 is ongoing but moving quite quickly. North Carolinians who want to have their voices heard on this important legislation should act now.

We encourage you to contact your legislators and ask them to reject any changes to the state’s coal ash laws that would allow the current classification recommendations submitted by the DEQ to be revised.

> Click here to take action.

If you have questions about this issue or MountainTrue’s coal ash work, please contact Joan Walker, Campaigns Director at joan@mountaintrue.org or 828.258.8737 x205.

French Broad Ranks 11th in Outside’s Best Trips of 2016

Outside magazine has released its annual list of the Best Trips of 2016 and the French Broad River is ranked #11 … in the world. The magazine states that these vanguard destinations are the favorites of its editors and writers. Western North Carolina’s French Broad River gets accolades for its access to some of the world’s best craft breweries and access to the amazing camping available along the French Broad Paddle Trail — a collaborative project of MountainTrue and Riverlink.

“The beauty of traveling by canoe is that you can carry a lot of beer. There’s probably no better place in the country to test out this theory than the mild 45-mile stretch of the French Broad that flows past the Southern outposts of three of America’s most cherished craft breweries.”

2016 French Broad Riverkeeper Paddle Trip – Reservations Now Open!

July 12-15, join us for a four-day float.

Now is the time to start planning your French Broad River adventure! Every year, MountainTrue and our French Broad Riverkeeper take participants on a guided trip down the French Broad River, camping out along the French Broad River Paddle Trail℠ — a recreational watercraft trail created and operated by MountainTrue and Riverlink (proudly sponsored by Oskar Blues Brewery). Leave the shuttle and logistics to us and enjoy the river’s beauty from the water!

We take care of all the logistics and camp sites so you can enjoy this beautiful river with some of the top craft breweries in the entire world along the way. We’ll put in at Hap Simpson River Park and take out in time to hit Oskar Blues. We’ll float down to Sierra Nevada from there, and then hit New Belgium once we get into Asheville. It’s our very own Brew Paddle. We’ll also highlight the work of the Riverkeeper program and take water samples, but we’ll be sure to leave enough time for cornhole and s’mores at the campsites. For reservations and more info, click here.

2016 French Broad Riverkeeper Paddle

Get your paddle on and enjoy some of the best beer in the world.

Reserve Now!

DEQ Puts Cliffside Area Residents at Risk of Coal Ash Contamination

photo: courtesy of Duke Energy

The Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) risk classification for North Carolina’s coal ash pits puts the health of residents who live downstream from the Cliffside coal ash impoundments, including those who live in Shelby and Gaffney, SC, at risk from contaminated drinking water.

Feb. 3. 2016

The DEQ issued its Coal Combustion Residual Impoundment Risk Classifications report on the afternoon of Friday, January 29. The DEQ has classified two of the Cliffside coal ash pits as low and one as “low/intermediate” priority despite testing that shows high levels of arsenic, chromium, cobalt, hexavalent chromium, thallium and vanadium contaminating groundwater and flowing into the Broad River. A classification of high or even intermediate priority would require Duke Energy excavate the sites, while a low rating means coal ash will be left on the banks of the Broad river to pollute a public drinking water source in perpetuity.

David Caldwell, coordinator of the Broad River Alliance — a Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliate, states:

“We know there are toxic chemicals in these ash ponds, and we know that they’re spilling into the Broad River and seeping into our drinking water. On every criteria set out by legislature in the Coal Ash Management Act, these three sites deserve a failing grade. If we don’t push the DEQ, all they’ll require for these pits it that they be covered and left in place to continue polluting our water in perpetuity. We are asking DEQ to show us the same respect given to 13 other communities across NC, and have the ash ponds permanently removed.”

DEQ is required to rate the ponds high, intermediate or low based on three criteria: the impact to surface water, the impact to groundwater and dam safety. According to the DEQ’s own Corrective Action Plan for the Cliffside Steam Station Ash Basin (November 16, 2015) all three of the Cliffside sites deserve a failing grade.

Pollution of Groundwater:
All three Cliffside coal ash ponds pollute the groundwater with high levels of toxic metals, including arsenic at over 468 times the state’s safety standard, vanadium at 690 times the standard, hexavalent chromium at 185 times the standard and cobalt at 119 times the standard. The polluted groundwater from all three pits flows into the Broad River and Suck Creek, which are drinking water sources for Shelby NC, Gaffney SC and other downstream municipalities.

Pollution of Surface Water:
All three coal ash ponds pollute the Broad River and Suck Creek with 28 illegal discharges that dump millions of gallons of toxic heavy metals each day, including chromium at 51 times the limit, arsenic at 37 times the state’s safety, and cobalt at 19 times the state’s safety standard.

Deficiency of Dam Infrastructure:
DEQ has rated the dams as low priority despite the fact that the three Cliffside coal ash ponds received 5 notices of deficiency for dam structural integrity in 2014. DEQ has justified its ratings based on the outcome of future renovations to the dams’ structure that have yet to be completed. The Coal Ash Management Act was designed to rate the dams on their current risk and currently all the dams have received recent notice of deficiencies for many of the same problems that caused the Dan River spill.

The heavy metals and toxic chemicals seeping from the Cliffside coal ash pits are present at levels that are harmful to humans and wildlife. Arsenic poisoning can lead to heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases and diabetes. Cobalt has been linked to cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders, blood poisoning, liver injury and thyroid problems. Chromium is a carcinogen and hexavalent chromium was the subject of the movie Erin Brockovich, which was based on the true story of groundwater contamination in Hinkley, California by Pacific Gas Electric Company.

MountainTrue, a conservation organizations that is active on issues affecting the Broad River watershed, encourages residents to attend one of two DEQ public hearings on the Cliffside plants scheduled for March 14.

Cleveland County Hearing on Cliffside Coal Ash Classification
Monday March 14 at 6:00 PM
114 E. College Ave, Shelby, NC 28152

Rutherford County Hearing on Cliffside Coal Ash Classification
Monday March 14 at 6:00 PM
Isothermal Community College Auditorium, 286 ICC Loop Rd, Spindale, NC 28160

For more information on the public hearings and DEQ coal ash classifications, visit https://mountaintrue.org.

About MountainTrue
MountainTrue fosters and empowers communities throughout the region and engages in policy and project advocacy, outreach and education, and on the ground projects. To achieve our goals, MountainTrue focuses on a core set of issues across 23 counties of Western North Carolina: sensible land use, restoring public forests, protecting water quality and promoting clean energy – all of which have a high impact on the environmental health and long-term prosperity of our residents. MountainTrue is the home of the Watauga Riverkeeper, the primary watchdog and spokesperson for the Elk and Watauga Rivers; the French Broad Riverkeeper, the primary protector and defender of the French Broad River watershed; and Broad River Alliance, a Waterkeeper Affiliate working to promote fishable, swimmable, drinkable waters in the Broad River Basin. For more information: mountaintrue.org

Media Contacts:

Karim Olaechea
Communications Director, MountainTrue
E: karim@mountiantrue.org; C: 415.535.9004

David Caldwell
Coordinator, Broad River Alliance – A Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliate
E: broadriveralliance@gmail.com C: 704.300.5069

Swimguide – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

For seven months, from April 1 to October 31, over 25 volunteers took more than 575 E. coli water samples to ensure the waterways of the French Broad River are safe for swimming. This data was collected from 22 sites throughout the watershed, from Rosman in Transylvania County to Hot Springs in Madison County.

Overall, the data shows the French Broad River is in good shape, with 86% of our sites testing safe for recreation use a majority of the time. However, there is still a lot of work to make sure all the sites meet the goals of the Clean Water Act to be fishable and swimmable.

We chose testing sites where we people frequently use the river for recreation purposes. While most of our testing sites are on the French Broad River itself, we also collected samples from tributaries, including the Mills and Swannanoa Rivers, and Cane, Hominy and Big Laurel Creeks. Our volunteers test their sites for E. coli once a week and publish the results on the swimguide.org website and the smartphone app. E. coli is a bacteria found in the waste (feces) of warm-blooded animals, including humans and cattle, and high levels of E. coli in our waters can be a risk to human health and the environment.

MountainTrue volunteers have been trained to sample, incubate and interpret their results using a standard set by the EPA. Waters with less than 235 colony forming units per 100 mL are safe for recreating, those above are not. Swim Guide uses a simple red-light, green-light system to depict whether a certain swimming hole or access point is safe for swimming or boating.

Each sampling site is different and pollution problems vary throughout the watershed, but, fairly consistently across almost all sites, E. coli levels tend to spike in the river right after rain events. The reasons for this vary from site to site, but often include things like runoff from agriculture operations, sewer and septic overflows or leaks, and runoff from urban sources of bacteria, such as dog waste. However, there is another source that most people don’t consider and that is legacy bacteria that remains in the river sediments. This bacteria is stirred up by rain and contributes to the high levels in the river after rain events. If you don’t have the Swim Guide data handy, a general rule is that bacteria levels are low when the river is clear and spike when the river runs muddy.

Despite the overall positive results, our data has shown there are still some problematic locations. Hominy Creek and Cane Creek are often much higher in E. coli than is recommended by the EPA. MountainTrue is using this data to target these streams for additional monitoring in order to track pollution sources.

Below is a quick breakdown of our testing season this year.

The Good

Top 5 Sites and percentage green

Mills River – 100%
Pisgah Forest Access – 96.3%
Swannanoa River at Azalea Park – 92.59%
Pearson Bridge – 89.29%
Champion Park – 88.46%

Why are these sites good?

It is very hard to say with certainty why a specific site is rated high or low, but land use has a big impact on water quality. The land use that most of these sites have in common is a forested watershed. All these spots, with the exception of Pearson Bridge, are bordered by a good amount of forested land. Less development and less surrounding agriculture mean there are few sources for E. coli and a good stream buffer of trees to filter out any pollution that exists. Forests equal good land management and the Mills River site is a great example. It is completely surrounded by Pisgah National Forest and the data shows it is clean for 100% of our samples. Overall 13 of 15 sites on the main stem of the French Broad River are rated good over 70% of the time. Six of 15 sites on the French Broad River are rated good over 80% of the time. These sites include all four sites in Transylvania County as well at Pearson Bridge and Woodfin River Park. Over 50% of the land in Transylvania County is publicly owned and protected, which explain a lot the low levels of E. coli in our samples.

The Pearson Bridge site is not easy to explain as it sits in the middle of heavy land use, surrounded by the City of Asheville, but some of its success can be attributed to the millions of dollars the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) has put into improving their sewage collection over the years. A historically leaky system has been dramatically improved; this is one possible reason that this site in the middle of Asheville and along the very popular tube to the Bywater is so clean

The Bad

Worst 5 sites and percentage green

Hominy Creek Greenway – 44%
Hominy Creek at Buncombe County Sports Park – 44%
Cane Creek at Fletcher Park – 45%
French Broad at Bent Creek River Park – 56%
Big Laurel Creek – 68%

Why are these sites bad?

Again, it is hard to say exactly why a site is bad, but land use is the likely culprit. Hominy Creek sits in a rapidly growing valley that drains Enka, Candler and West Asheville. The valley is a network of septics systems and sewers that vary widely in the quality. Aging sewers can leak, back up and overflow during heavy rains, or discharge high amounts of E. coli if the system doesn’t function correctly. Septic systems only work when they are correctly maintained. Because these systems are usually “out of sight and out of mind,” routine maintenance is neglected. Instances of straight piping along some waterways still exist. This was a much more common practice years ago, as it refers to piping your sewage or wastewater directly into a creek or stream. The Hominy Valley is also home to numerous agricultural operations that could be contributing to the stream impairment problem along the creek. We are monitoring the creek more closely to track down the sources of this pollution and improve the water quality of the creek.

Cane Creek is a similar mix of land. The headwaters of the creek flow through Fairview, then the creek snakes through a mix of rural residential and agricultural lands before flowing through Fletcher on its way to the French Broad River. MountainTrue has documented several agricultural operations that are impacting the creek and we are working to improve those. Big Laurel is a largely agricultural, but MountainTrue has not yet done enough additional monitoring to determine the extent agriculture impacts the stream. The Bent Creek site is a bit of mystery, but there are some limitations in the sampling that make it hard to fully quantify the results.

The timing of our testing greatly impacts the bacteria counts. Our samples are taken once a week. Therefore, they are just a snapshot in time. It is possible that sometimes a volunteer’s sampling just happens to fall right after a rain event for multiple weeks in a row. In a place like Western North Carolina, rain is a big factor in the results of our work.

The Ugly

Highest E. Coli count – Hominy Creek Greenway 7500/100Ml. We don’t actually have a photo of this event, but the image at the top of this post is another ugly one from Hominy Creek Greenway coming in at over 1700.

Duke announcement to clean coal ash ponds excludes two of three Cliffside sites

June 25, 2015

On June 25, Duke Energy announced plans to excavate and close 12 additional coal ash ponds across the state.

Duke Energy’s announcement does not impact its Asheville site, where all the ash is already mandated to be moved, but it does include excavation of one of the three coal ash ponds at the Cliffside power plant in Rutherford County. We know that all three ponds are leaching contaminants into the groundwater and the river so, while it is a step forward that Duke is committing to excavate ash in one of those ponds, we believe they can and should do better. They have not yet decided what to do with the coal ash in the other ponds, nor has the state mandated a cleanup strategy there.

With this announcement, Duke has now committed to excavate coal ash at 7 of 14 sites (20 of 32 ash ponds) in NC. Again, while this is a good step, seven communities across the state still don’t know the extent to which they will be protected from ongoing coal ash contamination going forward. We will press on with our litigation in the Cliffside case until we reach a resolution that will protect the people of that region and the Broad River.