The Ivy River Watershed

There are eight monitoring sites in the Ivy River watershed in Madison County and five sites in this watershed monitored by the Buncombe County VWIN program.

The most upstream site on Ivy Creek at Dillingham in Buncombe County rates excellent. The other two sites on the Ivy River in Buncombe County at Barnardsville and at Forks of Ivy rate good. Paint Fork, a tributary of the Ivy River in Buncombe County that flows into Ivy Creek at Barnardsville, rates average. The most downstream site monitored by the Buncombe County program (although technically in Madison County) is Little Ivy Creek at Forks of Ivy. This site rates poor. Little Ivy Creek receives the flow from California Creek, Middle Fork, and Paint Fork in Madison County. Paint Fork and Middle Fork receive average ratings and California Creek is rated poor. Continuing downstream, Gabriel Creek, which flows through Mars Hill, rates below average. Farther downstream, Bull Creek rates below average and its two tributaries, East Fork and Grapevine rate below average and average. Finally, the most downstream site on the Ivy River at NC 25/70 rates below average. Clearly, there are some very significant water quality differences from upstream to downstream in this watershed.

The Ivy River begins on the slopes of the Craggy Mountains. The headwaters are largely in National Forest land and the water quality is unaffected by human activities. Although there are residences and some farming in the upstream sections of Dillingham and down to the Forks of Ivy, water quality remains good. Once the river reaches the Forks of Ivy, however, water quality deteriorates. Little Ivy Creek and its tributaries, California Creek, Paint Fork, and Middle Fork, are significant contributors of pollutants to the Ivy River. All three carry large amounts of nutrients into the river and California Creek is a tremendous contributor of sediment.

There are currently a couple of projects in progress in the Little Ivy River watershed working on improving water quality by limiting cattle access to the streams and stabilizing eroding stream banks. Most of the work is being done on Paint Fork and Middle Fork. California Creek is still receiving large amounts of sediment from road construction on I-26, but this is not the only source of pollutants to this creek. As California Creek appears to be the major contributor of pollutants to Little Ivy Creek, once road construction is complete it will be important to work on some of the other sources of pollutants to this stream.

Gabriel Creek receives the effluent from the Mars Hill wastewater treatment plant and generally carries much higher than average concentrations of phosphorus. Nitrate concentrations and conductivity levels are also higher than average. Livestock waste may be another source of nutrients to this stream. Bull Creek and its tributaries, Grapevine and East Fork, show similar water quality problems with higher than average levels of nutrients, conductivity, and sediment. The most downstream site on the Ivy River at NC25/70, of course, shows similar problems as the upstream tributaries, although in many cases the median levels are somewhat lower. The Ivy River is dammed just upstream of this site and some of the pollutants are likely being collected in the sediment settling behind the dam. Although the larger particles may be settling behind the dam (median suspended solids concentrations are about average), the smaller particles are flowing through as turbidity levels are at there highest point here, with even median levels exceeding the trout standard.

The Ivy River watershed, particularly downstream from the Forks of Ivy, appears to be extremely vulnerable to surface runoff and the pollutants carried with it. The hilly terrain and extensively cleared land has led to a serious loss of topsoil in the area. The exposed clay soils turn the streams in this region red during every significant rain event. Improving water quality in this watershed will require extensive use of Best Management Practices (BMP's) in construction and agriculture as well as the restoration and protection of stream banks.