• The water starts at the highest area on the terrain (headwaters), flowing downhill moving through a network of drainage pathways. It is relatively easy to delineate watersheds using a topographic map that shows stream channels. Watershed boundaries follow major ridge lines around channels and meet at the bottom, where water flows out of the watershed, a point commonly referred to as a stream or river.
• The rain water flows creating small streams called tributaries, and grows progressively larger as the water moves on downstream, filling streams and rivers and eventually reaching lakes, reservoirs, and eventually the ocean. In Tennessee, streams flow into larger basins and then into the Mississippi River, which then drains into the ocean at the Gulf of Mexico.
• Other terms used interchangeably with watershed include drainage basin and catchment basin. Watersheds can be large or small. Every stream, tributary, or river has an associated watershed, and small watersheds join to become larger watersheds. For example, the Stones River is one of 14 watersheds that make up the Cumberland River Basin.
• Water can travel both underground (groundwater) and on the surface (surface water). These are connected. Rain flows into sinkholes and karst windows, flowing as groundwater below the surface eventually coming out at a spring.
• Rain also picks up pollutants as it washes through the community and landscape. Pollutants include fertilizers, pesticides, animal waste, septic leaks, automobile fluids, brake dust, and many others. As citizens, we can do a lot to prevent pollution through easy daily actions to protect water quality.

The Stones River Watershed Association works diligently to try and provide a variety of education and outreach resources to the community.

The Division of Natural Heritage listed 69 rare plant and animal species as part of the important biodiversity we are trying to protect and many other species you find in our watershed.

There are numerous species that also call out watershed home. From birds to otters to various fish and dragonflies. Even beautiful flowers. Our region is very unique in habitat and underlying rock features which promote the diversity of wildlife and the streams that flow here.

There are 12 designated State Natural Areas in the Stones River Watershed.

PUBLIC INPUT NEEDED: COMMENT DUE before March 19, 2021

REGARDING: Proposed Clinch River Nuclear (CRN) Site

Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technology Park in Oak Ridge

Roane County, Tennessee

The public is asked to provide input on the intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the proposed Clinch River Nuclear (CRN) Site Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technology Park in Oak Ridge, Roane County, Tennessee.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is asking the public to provide input on the intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the proposed Clinch River Nuclear (CRN) Site AdvancedNuclear Reactor Technology Park in Oak Ridge, Roane County, Tennessee. This site was previously approved for an Early Site Permit for small modular nuclear reactors. For more details, click here

TVA encouraged citizens to attend the virtual public meeting on Monday, March 1st from 5-7 pm (CT) and then comment before March 19th. Submit comments by email to nepa@tva.gov or by mail to:

Attn: J. Taylor Cates 

NEPACompliance Specialist 

1101 Market Street, BR 2C-C 

Chattanooga, TN 37402

Water is a valuable resource. Clean water is essential to healthy living. The following explains how you can be engaged to help your local waterways and be a partner with us.

1. What is a watershed? 

We live in the Stones River watershed. A watershed is the area of land drained by the Stones River. Everything done in a watershed affects the soils, water, plants, and animals living there. A watershed stores precipitation and gradually releases water back into the Stones River waterways. Portions of watershed land area are covered by impermeable surfaces. Without management, more water runoff will occur which may lead to degraded surfaces and groundwater.  

2. Why is it important? 

Fresh water is important to you and me. Life could not exist without water, so, we all must be good stewards of our water resources. We need clean water because it is found in both healthy and diseased biological cells.  Up to 60% of the human body is water. Water content ranges from 80% in the lungs to 30% in bones and  

we need to consume it every day to replenish what we lose. To ensure an adequate supply and high quality of water, we need to be involved in working towards water stewardship.

The goal of the Stones River Watershed Association is to demonstrate water resource stewardship and to identify where waterways can be preserved. We must take care of our water resources because the population of Rutherford County has dramatically increased since 1990. From 1990 to 2019, US Census Bureau figures show an average population increase of approximately 7,400 people per year in Rutherford Co, while Cannon County’s population increased by only 145 people per year during the same time.

3. How can we improve and maintain our watershed? 

A definition of stewardship is the careful and responsible management of the watershed.

Preservation is the activity or process of keeping the watershed alive, intact, or free from damage or decay.

Conservation is the prevention of wasteful use of our valued resources. 

Watershed stewardship focuses on the overall health and management of the watershed. The watershed management approach takes into consideration all the activities that go on in the watershed and helps to organize and guide those activities in reaching clean water goals. One measure of this goal is monitoring the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program. It is an initial method to monitor water quality. The TMDL is the maximum amount of a pollutant [i.e., bacteria or suspended solids] allowed to enter a water body so that the waterbody continues to meet water quality standards.

Partners and tools help! For example, one tool the Natural Resource Conservation Service [NRCS] uses to manage sediment runoff into a waterway is the Universal Soil Loss Equation [USLE]. The USLE estimates sediment loss from rural or urban land settings and communicates to the public what may be done to minimize sediment loads moving into their waterways.

4. How can you help? 

Understand how our daily habits can contribute to water quality through pollution. Also, think about how certain behaviors improve and protect this resource for ourselves and our natural areas. Examples of this include water conservation, citizen engagement like participating in local meetings, and events such as litter cleanups and planting trees and streamside buffers.

Plants have been used through recorded history to clean low-level polluted water and soil. Some water pollutants are found in bagged lawn fertilizer or manure. Water cleaning can be done today by maintaining vegetative buffers along perennial waterway channels or rain gardens in intermittent waterways that drain into perennial waterways. Think of woody and herbaceous plants along perennial waterways and in rain gardens as solar-powered water treatment facilities. The big takeaway is water is used by everyone, and to protect it we need everyones help. Find other local partners such as city parks and stormwater staff, planning and zoning, county soil conservationist, extension agent, and even civic groups such as garden clubs, Rotary, scouts, and yes us! SRWA works to include all of these partners in our resources and calendar of events. We look forward to seeing you and value your contributions.

Riverine Landmarks of the Stones River Watershed

East Fork Through Percy Priest to the Cumberland

West and Middle Forks

Stewart Creek