19990974 Ver 1_Monitoring Report Review_20060720

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MEMORANDUM
TO: John Dorney
FROM: Larry Eaton
DATE: July 20, 2006
Michael F. Easley, Governor
William G. Ross Jr., Secretary
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Alan W. Klimek, P.E. Director
Division of Water Quality
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RE: T.C. Robertson High School stream restoration (Buncombe Co) 2005 yr lpost-construction
(DWQ# 99-0974)
This project involves daylighting and creating pattern dimension and profile to 1200 feet of an unnamed
tributary to Lake Julian. While construction was finished in 2003, there were problems with the project
that took unti12004 to correct, when post-construction monitoring started. In 2002, sewage smell was
noted in the area to be restored. There was no mention of sewage odors in 2005. The upper section of
this restoration is a B channel and the lower section was designed to be an E channel.
Monitoring for this project has been plagued by a variety of problems over the last few years. The
watershed for this project is only 0.2 sq miles and the reference site is 0.3 sq miles, making for no water
in some stream segments and so little water in others that the kick net could not be used for sampling
during the dry year that was 2002. The year 2004, while problems were being fixed, went the other way
with large rains and several floods scouring out the bugs in the new channel. Given the list of
problems, the restoration couldn't help but look better. The number of EPT taxa rose from 0 to 5 and
the total number of taxa rose from 19 to 28 while the Biotic Index improved from 8.01 to 6.63. The fact
that the reference reach declined in water quality during that same period (8 EPT taxa down to 3, 21
total taxa down to 5) suggests that both streams may be recovering from scour due to flooding and that
the restoration site has the potential to get even better. Barbara Wiggins noted that the largest difference
between the two sites was the near absence of shredders in the restoration due to the lack of trees of any
size at the restoration. Trees may eventually grow to the point of providing shade and leaves to the
restoration, but experience from other projects suggests that this will not happen until after the
monitoring period is over.
No e hCarolina
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401 Oversight/Express Review Permitting Unit
1650 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1650
2321 Crabtree Boulevard, Suite 250, Raleigh, North Carolina 27604
Phone [phone] / Fax [phone]
Internet: http://www.ncwaterquality.org
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