Parksville
(Ocoee No. 1) Reservoir
Ecological
health rating
Parksville Reservoir rated good in 2009 and its ecological health score was the highest to date. In all previous years, Parksville Reservoir has rated fair, except for 1999 and 2006 when it rated poor and good, respectively. Ratings for bottom life have improved in recent years, contributing to higher overall reservoir scores in 2006 and 2007. The lower reservoir score in 1999 was due to concurrent low scores for bottom life and fish.
TVA monitors one location on Parksville Reservoir (the deep, still water near the dam), usually on a two-year cycle.
Parksville
Reservoir Ecological Health Ratings, 1994-2009
Click chart for raw
data.
The table below
shows the ratings for individual ecological health indicators at Parksville
in 2009. These ratings are briefly explained in the paragraphs that follow.
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Ecological
Health Indicators at
Parksville Reservoir, 2009
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Monitoring
location
|
Dissolved
oxygen
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Chlorophyll
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Fish
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Bottom
life
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Sediment
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| Forebay |
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Dissolved oxygen
Dissolved oxygen rated good, the same as in all previous years except in 2005 and 2006 when it rated fair due to a small area of low dissolved oxygen (less than two milligrams per liter) near the reservoir bottom in late autumn.
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll concentrations were low, as expected given the nutrient-poor soils in the surrounding watershed. The result was a good rating for this indicator.
Fish
The fish community rated fair, similar to most previous years. Fish density and diversity have been relatively low in Parksville Reservoir. The fish assemblage rated poor (just below the breakpoint for fair) in 1999, primarily due to the collection of only a few fish.
Bottom life
Bottom life received a good rating in 2009. It also rated good in 2007 compared to rating at the high end of the fair range in 2005 and 2006. From 1994 to 2003, bottom life rated either poor or at the low end of the fair range. Improvements in ratings since 2005 have been the result of increases in the number and variety of organisms collected.
Sediment
Sediment quality remains the most important ecological health issue for Parksville Reservoir. Past mining practices in the Copper Basin left a legacy of very high concentrations of several metals: arsenic, copper, iron, lead, and zinc. In addition, historically, elevated amounts of PCBs have been found in the sediment. PCBs, arsenic, and lead concentrations appear to be decreasing through time, although concentrations remain above normal levels.
See definitions of ecological health indicators and monitoring locations. |
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Fish
consumption advisories
Parksville Reservoir - TVA maintains a program to examine contaminants in fish fillets from TVA reservoirs and their major tributary streams on a rotational basis. The data collected from this program is distributed to the state officials who are responsible for placing or removing fish tissue consumption advisories on those bodies of water. For information on advisories currently in effect for Parksville Reservoir, visit the Water Quality Division of Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation’s web page. http://www.tn.gov/environment/water.shtml
Tennessee Valley Authority
