FLG has recently formed a collaboration with the Environmental Health Program at Western Carolina University (WCU). Under this partnership, WCU collects and tests the lake water and provides us with a more informed scientific evaluation of the results. These quarterly reports will be posted as they are available and can be found on our website under Our Work > Water Testing.
The first report focuses on the Evaluation of Pollution Sources to Lake Glenville and was performed by Dr. Kimberlee K Hall. Click through to read the Conclusions of this report and to read the report in full.
Conclusions (Excerpt)
Chemical analysis of water samples collected at Lake Glenville area sites will help to further characterize water quality in relation to potential sources of water pollution. Elevated pH in Mills, Norton, Hurricane, and Cedar Creeks may be influenced by a combination of discharges and low alkalinity. Relatively low turbidity and TSS concentrations are likely the result of undisturbed forested land use patterns and riparian buffers long the creeks. The lack of correlation between turbidity or TSS with nutrients suggests that the introduction of livestock wastes, not soil erosion or surface runoff, is contributing to elevated nutrient concentrations. The next quarterly monitoring event will take place in July 2017. Results from that monitoring event will be evaluated individually and in relation to the results presented in this report to evaluate temporal changes in water quality and evaluate sources of pollution.