Water: Nonpoint Source Success Stories
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Pollution Prevention & ControlPolluted RunoffNonpoint Source Success StoriesTennessee: DeMoss Creek
Pollution Prevention & ControlPolluted RunoffNonpoint Source Success StoriesTennessee: DeMoss CreekTennessee: DeMoss Creek
Conservation Efforts Improve Water Quality
Waterbody | Problem | Project Highlights | Results | Partners & Funding
Waterbody Improved
Agricultural practices along DeMoss Creek contributed to silt runoff that degraded water quality. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) added the creek to the state's 2002 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters because of siltation. Landowners implemented numerous best management practices (BMPs), including sediment control basins and conservation plantings. Water quality improved, prompting TDEC to remove DeMoss Creek from Tennessee's list of impaired waters in 2008.
Problem
DeMoss Creek is part of the South Fork Obion River watershed. It flows west of the town of Trezevant in Carroll County, Tennessee. DeMoss Creek did not support its designated uses of fish and aquatic life, prompting TDEC to add a 24.2-mile segment of the creek to the state's 2002 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters for sedimentation and siltation. TDEC attributed the loss of biological integrity to sediment from eroding, non-irrigated cropland and riparian areas.