River and Stream Watch Program
By Bill Beazell
Our local trout waters require ongoing monitoring to ensure they are protected from pollution sources. Trout Unlimited’s mission is conserve, protect and restore our coldwater streams and watersheds. To fulfill this mission we need well informed and active grassroots advocates to be constantly vigilant for sources of pollution. This is where you, as a TU
member, can serve as a valuable resource. It is easy to develop support in response to a crisis that has caused damage to your favorite fishing waters.

But we need to develop an early warning system to catch crisis early and spread alarm so we can focus our efforts on resolving the problem. This early warning system is known as RIVER and STREAM WATCH.

Everyone in the chapter should be on at least one team. Points of contact for the rivers and streams currently assigned are shown at left. Please contact the Team Leader and volunteer your time to watch these streams.
To add additional waters to this list, contact a Board member or email: info@omtu.org.

Each “watch” team is responsible for regularly observing the water and reporting to Chapter leadership all irregularities in water quality.
For example: sources of sedimentation, unusually high water temperatures, low dissolved oxygen levels, abnormal point source discharges; in other words anything which should cause concern for the quality of the water. To volunteer for the RIVER and STREAM WATCH of your choice, please signup at the next Chapter meeting or E-mail: info@omtu.org.

The “how to become involved” is easy. This is where our River and Stream watch teams enter the picture. As each team becomes organized their first responsibility is to evaluate the condition of their assigned resource. Second, they need to conduct an inventory of the pollution sources that impact their resource and rank each source in order of degree of threat to water quality. Third, the river and stream watch teams must become involved in the protection of their assigned water. This involvement will mean reviewing the pollution sources in descending order of threat and evaluate each. Such a review includes:

1. Review TWRA’s annual Wild Trout Report for previous health indicators.
2. Contact TWRA biologists concerning your findings (800-332-0900).
3. Contact TDEC regarding silting or stream pollution (423-854-5400).
4. Discuss your views of the water quality conditions with other volunteer environmental organizations.
When this review is completed, document your findings and present them at a future Chapter meeting so a corrective strategy can be developed. Let us hear from you!