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Field Monitoring of Knox County Streams
We are monitoring water depth, temperature, and other physical and biological characteristics at many urban streams to assess a variety of questions around stream health and watershed management. Currently we are obtaining manual flow measurements, surveying, and creating HEC-RAS models to convert continuous water stage to flow data.
Stay tuned for information on our Second Creek station, right here on campus! We are planning to implement water quality and flow sensors that automatically and autonomously upload real-time data to an open access server. We encourage those at UT to use these data to supplement class field trips/laboratories, create capstone projects, promote extension/engagement with local MS4s, test new monitoring devices, and encourage research!
Updates to the TN Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Handbook
We have partnered with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation- Division of Water Resources to update the state’s Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control (EPSC) handbook. The handbook has been developed to provide comprehensive and standardized EPSC measures for use on construction sites to limit the export of sediment to surface waters in Tennessee during storm events. We have thoroughly revised technical specifications on all existing EPSC measures as well as incorporating more novel measures that have been conceptualized and tested since the 2012 edition of the manual. This work will be continuously updated as new research and regulations come out. This work was performed with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as well as an established working group including state employees, engineers, and UT specialists. Click the first icon below to view the updated manual! Click the second icon to download Sed-Emmett, an excel-based sediment basin modeling tool that was developed on behalf of this funding and some additional funding from Tennessee Department of Transportation (will be available shortly). Sed-Emmett uses particle size distributions and a user-input sediment reduction percentage to size the basin and all associated components.
Urban Waters Report Card
This project is where science meets policy! The TNWRRC teamed with various Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) communities across the state to develop a scientific yet applicable grading scheme for a plethora of parameters. All parameters fall into four main categories: water quality, watershed hydrology, stream corridor, and community engagement. The goal of this project is to provide MS4s a means to track improvements in streams from their stormwater management and stream rehabilitation efforts. The intent is for this to be a simple tool, such that most of the data required to calculate grades are already obtained by MS4s per National Pollutant Discharge Eliminate System (NPDES) permits. Few parameters require marginal, additional data collection efforts. A link will soon be provided to learn about the health of a watershed local to you or compare grades between watersheds (website under construction and not yet complete)!
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government
We have partnered with LFUCG Division of Water Quality on a multi-year project to analyze data collected by (and for) their Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) to help improve their stormwater management efforts. As part of their Watershed-Focused Monitoring Program, we analyzed wet and dry water quality sampling from major outfalls, wet and dry water quality sampling from streams, macroinvertebrate and fish bioassessment data, and stream habitat assessment data from the seven urban watersheds: Cane Run, South Elkhorn, West Hickman, East Hickman, Town Branch, North Elkhorn, and Wolf Run. The objectives in the first year were to: (I) understand if pollutant concentrations correlate with other pollutants and to other stream or stormwater assessments, (II) quantify typical concentrations of pollutants and specify if stream pollution is of greater concern during wet or dry weather, and (III) identify watersheds with excessive stormwater pollution and locate hotspots within the watershed.
2025: Report, Interactive Maps