The Streams of the Etowah, Horseshoe, and Mills River Communities Seven sites including one site on Crab Creek, one site on Big Willow Creek, one site on Little Willow Creek, one site on Gash Creek, one site on Shaw Creek, one site on Boylston Creek, and one site on Mill Pond Creek

Crab Creek and Shaw Creek are the best rated sites in this group with both rating excellent. Big and Little Willow Creeks and Boylston Creek rate average, Mill Pond Creek rates below average, and Gash Creek rates poor. Crab Creek is largely a rural stream, but seems to escape most of the surface runoff sedimentation and nutrient problems often seen in agricultural areas. Shaw Creek is an even greater surprise as it is very much a suburban stream yet has not shown any of the problems often related to urban/suburban streams.

Big and Little Willow Creeks and Boylston Creek all rate only average because all suffer serious sedimentation problems during rain events. Heavy metals and nutrients also enter these streams attached to the sediment. These are all rural streams and agricultural practices may need some alteration to improve water quality. Buffer zones along these streams could help remove sediment before it reaches the stream. In some areas, livestock may also be a factor.

Mill Pond Creek exhibits one of the highest conductivity (chemical salts) levels in the entire region. Nutrient concentrations are also higher than average and the stream becomes heavily silted during rain storms. Construction of new developments in the watershed are a likely source of the sediment and nutrients may come from many sources, but on-site testing has shown that the high conductivity levels begin in or near the headwaters. In fact, conductivity levels are much greater near the headwaters than at the South Rugby Road testing site. The Hendersonville landfill and a DOT storage area are located in the headwaters region and either of these could be potential sources of chemical salts. Mill Pond Creek is also listed by the state of North Carolina as an impaired waterway.

The site with the poorest water quality in Henderson County is Gash Creek. This site exceeds average levels in almost every parameter analyzed. Water clarity is frequently poor, conductivity and heavy metals levels elevated, and nutrient concentrations are consistently well over average. Zinc and lead water quality standards were exceeded twice each at this site in the past year. It has the highest median orthophosphate concentration of any of the 167 sites analyzed in the VWIN project in Western North Carolina and the second highest median ammonia-nitrogen concentration. Clearly, a large amount of pollutants are entering this stream. The stream flows through agricultural land, suburban development, and a large golf course, and receives effluent from the Etowah wastewater treatment plant. The sources of pollution could be multiple. Gash Creek is also on the state list of impaired waterways.