3.9  Cape Fear River Subbasin 03-06-22
Includes the Northeast Cape Fear River and Rockfish Creek
Municipalities: Beulaville, Kenansville, Rose Hill and Wallace

LCFRP Station Codes (DWQ #):  PB (77), GS (78), SAR (79), LRC (80), ROC (81)
DWQ/UNCW ambient monitoring site(s):  none
Waterbody:  Northeast Cape Fear River
Location:  Duplin County
Lat/Lon:  N   35  08.067    W   78  08.178   (PB) to
                N   34  43.035     W   77  58.763   (ROC)

Use Support Ratings, from NCDENR, DWQ (Cape Fear River Basinwide Water Quality Plan, July 2000): 
Freshwater Streams
Fully Supporting:                   283.3 mi.
Partially Supporting:             22.7 mi.
Not Supporting:                     0.0 mi.
Not Rated:                              208.2 mi.

        This subbasin contains the towns of Beulaville, Kenansville, Rose Hill, and Wallace.  Most of the watershed is agricultural, including row crops and a dense concentration of animal operations (poultry and swine).  The largest discharger is Stevecoknit Fabrics.  Other large dischargers include Guilford Mills, Swift-Eckrich/Butterball and the town of Wallace.  (NCDENR, DWQ, Cape Fear River Basinwide Water Quality Plan, July 2000)

        Goshen Swamp and Panther Creek were not supporting (NS) in the 1996 plan because of high chloride discharge from Dean Pickle and Specialty Products.  Discharge flows into a low flow tributary of Panther Creek before entering Goshen Swamp.  Dean Pickle and Specialty Products was given a variance for chloride levels and has met that variance to date.  Goshen Swamp and Panther Creek were not sampled during recent DWQ monitoring because of low flow conditions.  These two streams are currently not rated (NR).  (NCDENR, DWQ, Cape Fear River Basinwide Water Quality Plan, July 2000) 

        Rockfish Creek (7.2 miles SR 1165 to Northeast Cape Fear River) was partially supporting (PS) in the 1996 plan.  Currently, 8.7 miles (from Swift-Eckrich to Little Rockfish Creek) are partially supporting (PS) because of habitat degradation.  The 3.8-mile segment from Little Rockfish Creek to the Northeast Cape Fear River is fully supporting (FS).  Desnagging operations after Hurricane Fran removed important habitat for macroinvertebrates and fish in these waters.  Point source dischargers may contribute to the habitat degradation.  These waters are on the state’s year 2000 303(d) list.  (NCDENR, DWQ, Cape Fear River Basinwide Water Quality Plan, July 2000)

        Muddy Creek (14.0 miles from the source to Northeast Cape Fear River) was not rated in 1993 because of its small size.  The stream is significantly larger due to changes associated with Hurricane Fran in 1996.  The stream is partially supporting (PS) according to recent DWQ monitoring due to nonpoint sources.  The watershed contains many hog operations.  This stream is on the state’s year 2000 303(d) list.   (NCDENR, DWQ, Cape Fear River Basinwide Water Quality Plan, July 2000)

UNC-Wilmington – Center for Marine Science, LCFRP
Station Names:  PB, GS, SAR, LRC, ROC
Data collection:  February 1996 to present
Sampling relevance:  Below point and nonpoint source discharges

   

              PB - Panther Branch, below               
            Dean Pickle and Specialty Products   

 
        ROC - Rockfish Creek, downstream of Wallace

        Three of the five sites within this subbasin were found by UNCW to be fully supporting (FS) for dissolved oxygen concentrations.  Sarecta (SAR), Little Rockfish Creek (LRC), and Rockfish Creek (ROC) all had relatively high concentrations of dissolved oxygen (DO).  Problems with low DO were found at the Panther Branch (PB) and Goshen Swamp (GS) sites (Figure 3.9.1).  Both of these sites were nonsupporting (NS) for dissolved oxygen, even when using the North Carolina State Standard for swampwater of 4.0 mg/L.  Panther Branch (PB) had DO levels below 1.0 mg/L in August and September 2001 and failed to meet the state standard in 33% of all sampled months.  Goshen Swamp (GS) also failed to meet the swampwater standard 33% of the time, with lowest levels in the summer months.

        All sites within this subbasin were found to be fully supporting (FS) for chlorophyll a concentrations, not exceeding the North Carolina State Standard of 40 mg/L except for one occasion at LRC.

        Three sites, PB, SAR, and ROC, were found to be fully supporting (FS) for fecal coliform bacteria concentrations.  GS was found to be partially supporting (PS), with samples exceeding 200 CFU/100 mL 17% of the time.  Little Rockfish Creek (LRC), was nonsupporting (NS) for fecal coliform bacteria concentrations, only meeting the North Carolina State Standard for human contact 50% of the time, with a mean of 327 CFU/100 mL for the 2001-2002 monitoring period (Figure 3.9.2).

        All sites within this subbasin were found to be fully supporting (FS) for turbidity concentrations.  The mean for all stations for the entire monitoring period was 5.6 NTU, and the North Carolina State Standard for turbidity is 50 NTU.

        Stations PB and ROC both displayed high nitrate and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations at times (Figures 3.9.3 and 3.9.4).  The nitrate levels were well above those that can lead to downstream algal blooms, and TP levels were at or near concentrations known to significantly increase bacterial concentration and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels.  (Mallin et al. 2001, Mallin et al. 2002)

Figure 3.9.1  Dissolved oxygen concentrations (mg/L) for PB and GS.  The line shows the
NC State Standard for dissolved oxygen of 5.0 mg/L and the dashed line shows the NC State
Standard for Swampwater of 4.0 mg/L.

Figure 3.9.2  Fecal coliform concentrations (CFU/100 mL) for GS and LRC.  The line 
shows the NC State Standard for fecal coliform for human contact of 200 CFU/100 mL.

Figure 3.9.3  Nitrate + nitrite concentrations (mg/L) for PB and ROC.

Figure 3.9.4  Total phosphorus concentrations (mg/L) for PB and ROC.