20190288 Ver 1_Correspondence_20200819

ROY COOPER
Governor
MICHAEL S. REGAN
Secretary
S. DANIEL SMITH
Director
Town of Beech Mountain
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NORTH CAROLINA
Environmental Quality
August 19, 2020
Attn: Daniel Davis, Public Utilities Director
510 Beech Mountain Pkwy
Beech Mountain NC 28604
Subject: RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
401 INDIVIDUAL CERTIFICATION #1756
Buckeye Lake Reservoir
Mr. Davis,
DWR # 20190288
Watauga County
This letter is in response to your letter emailed to me on June 10, 2020 regarding potential
compliance issues with the minimum releases from Buckeye Reservoir as described in the
associated 401 Certification issued Nov 20, 2019. In your letter you describe declining upstream
flow conditions recorded by the upstream gage and increased withdrawals from Buckeye
Reservoir for water supply purposes that have the potential to create difficulties for the Town
in meeting the required minimum releases. After reviewing the downstream flow data, it
appears that Buckeye Creek dropped below the minimum release flow on June 12, 2020 and
June 13, 2020. In a prudent response to this situation, the Town of Beech Mountain significantly
changed its pumping operations and reduced the pumping rate from 750 gpm to 480 gpm. To
do this and keep up with demand, the Town of Beech Mountain had to significantly increase
the length of pumping time. This resulted in daily pumping times increasing from 8 hours a day
to nearly 16 hours a day. This action significantly reduced the instantaneous pumping volume
and as a result the downstream flows have since remained above the minimum release values.
The resource agencies (NCDEQ, NCWRC, USFWS, USACE) involved with this project have
discussed the letter at length. It was determined that the Town of Beech Mountain acted
prudently, resolving the potential issue, albeit for the time being; therefore, no additional
immediate actions are recommended at this time. Long-term, the resource agencies
recommend that the Town of Beech Mountain install a means to "pump around" or "over the
spillway" to avoid use of the emergency gate valve, should inflows decrease and the flow
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality I Division of Water Resources
-4=E Q� Winston-Salem Regional Office 1450 West Hanes Mill Road, Suite 300 1 Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27105
NORTH CAROLINA
Department of Environmental Quality 336.776.9800

Town of Beech Mountain
DWR# 20190288
Page 2 of 2
requirement be in jeopardy. The agencies will continue to assess the data you provide in your
quarterly monitoring reports.
You requested clarification of the method of monitoring and responding to the minimum
release as indicated by the downstream gage. Although tracking gage data regularly will
provide the Town with valuable planning information, please note that minimum release flows
as required by the Individual Certification #1756 issued on November 20, 2019 are dependent
upon the Reservoir Water Surface Elevation, not inflow gage values, until the surface elevation
is reduced to 6.5 feet below the spillway. With regards to Condition #3 of the Individual
Certification, we suggest that you include records of daily withdrawal volumes, rate and the
beginning and ending times of withdrawal, and the downstream gage reading one hour prior
and one hour following cessation of the daily withdrawal in your quarterly report submitted to
the Division.
With regards to Condition #13 of the Individual Certification, the Division does not require
routine notification of minimum release flows that do not meet the flows identified in Table 1
as flows will be routinely reported to the Division in accordance with Condition #3. Deviations
from minimum release flow requirements as required by Condition #1 will be assessed for
compliance purposes upon review of the quarterly reports submitted.
Please contact me at 336-776-9693 or Sue. Homewood@ncdenrif you have any questions
or concerns.
Sincerely,
DocuSigned by:
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Sue Homewood
Winston-Salem Regional Office
cc: Amanda Jones-Fuemmeler, USACE Asheville Regulatory Field Office (via email)
Andrea Leslie, NCWRC (via email)
Chris Goudreau, NCWRC (via email)
Harold Brady, DWR Planning Section (via email)
Fred Tarver, DWR Planning Section (via email)
DWR WSRO 401 files
DWR 401 &Buffer Permitting Unit