3.3  Cape Fear River Subbasin 03-06-16
Includes the Cape Fear River, Harrison Creek and Turnbull Creek
Municipalities: City of Elizabethtown

LCFRP Station Codes (DWQ #):  BRN (66), HAM (67), NC11 (59)
DWQ/UNCW ambient monitoring site(s):  NC11
Waterbody:  Lower Cape Fear River
Location:  Within Bladen County, Browns and Hammonds Creeks are near Elizabethtown. 
NC11 is on the main stem of the Cape Fear River
Lat/Lon:  N  34.56853   W   78.55147 (BRN)  to 
                N  34.39663   W  78.26785 (NC11)

Use Support Ratings, from NCDENR, DWQ (2000 Basinwide Report): 
Fully Supporting:                   240.8 mi.
Partially Supporting:             0.0 mi.
Not Supporting:                     8.5 mi.
Not Rated:                              11.8 mi.

        The portion of the Cape Fear River within this subbasin is deep and slow moving.  There are several natural lakes and streams that are tannin-stained with low pH blackwaters.  Land use is mostly forest and marsh with some agriculture within the subbasin.  There are eight permitted dischargers, mostly near Elizabethtown.  Four of the largest dischargers, Veeder-Root, Smithfield Foods Incorporated in Tar Heel, Alamac Knit Fabrics in Elizabethtown, and Dupont of Fayetteville, discharge directly into the Cape Fear River.  (NCDENR, DWQ Cape Fear River Basinwide Water Quality Plan, July 2000)

        Portions of Turnbull Creek and Harrisons Creek were considered partially supporting (PS) in the 1996 Basinwide Plan.  Both are currently fully supporting (FS) and no longer on the state’s 303(d) list.  Browns Creek (8.5 miles from source to Cape Fear River) is non supporting (NS) according to recent DWQ monitoring because of an impaired biological community.  Urban nonpoint sources and sanitary sewer overflows from the City of Elizabethtown are possible sources of impairment.  This stream is on the state’s year 2000 303(d) list.  (NCDENR, DWQ Cape Fear River Basinwide Water Quality Plan, July 2000)

        Approximately 1% of the waters in this subbasin are impaired by nonpoint source pollution (mostly urban).  All of the waters in this subbasin are affected by nonpoint sources.  DENR, other state agencies and environmental groups have programs and initiatives underway to address water quality problems associated with nonpoint sources.  (NCDENR, DWQ Cape Fear River Basinwide Water Quality Plan, July 2000)

 

UNC-Wilmington – Center for Marine Science, LCFRP
Station Names:  BRN, HAM, NC11
Data collection:  NC11 since June 1995, BRN & HAM since February 1996
Sampling relevance:  NC11 represents water entering the Lower Cape Fear River watershed from the middle basin.  There are also several concentrated animal operations within the area.  

             BRN - representative of shallow
             creeks that enter the Cape Fear River  



              NC11 - main stem of Cape Fear
              River, deep channel, relatively slow
              moving, freshwater yet tidally influenced

 

        The sites at Browns Creek (BRN) and North Carolina Highway 11 (NC11) were found to have a good quality rating for dissolved oxygen, meeting the North Carolina State Standard of 5.0 mg/L in all sampled months.  Hammonds Creek (HAM), a small channelized tributary, was rated as poor, with dissolved oxygen levels falling below 5.0 mg/L in four of the twelve sampled months (33% of the time).  The lowest concentrations of dissolved oxygen at HAM were 1.4 mg/L, found in July 2002.  The dissolved oxygen concentrations for Hammonds Creek are represented graphically in Figure 3.3.1.

        All sites within this subbasin were found to have a good quality rating for chlorophyll a concentrations.  The North Carolina State Standard for chlorophyll a of 40 mg/L was not exceeded at HAM, BRN, or NC11 during the 2002-2003 monitoring period.

        Fecal coliform bacteria concentrations were low at NC11, receiving a good quality rating with no samples over the NC State Standard for human contact waters of 200 CFU/100mL in 2002-2003.  Browns Creek (BRN) received a fair quality rating for fecal coliform bacteria concentrations, exceeding the standard 25% of the time.  Hammonds Creek (HAM) was rated as poor quality for fecal coliform bacteria concentrations, due to exceeding the NC State Standard in 33% of samples.  Fecal coliform bacteria concentrations were greater than 4,000 CFU/100mL in March 2003 at HAM.  Also there were elevated turbidity concentrations noted during March sampling, reaching 125 NTU at HAM.  There was heavy rain previous to and during the March Cape Fear River sampling, and high water with flooded banks was noted at all sites within this subbasin.  Fecal coliform bacteria concentrations for Browns Creek and Hammonds Creek are represented graphically in Figure 3.3.2.

        Though there were elevated turbidity levels noted in the March 2003 sampling, all sites within this subbasin were rated as good quality for turbidity concentrations.  The March 2003 samples were the only ones to exceed the 50 NTU North Carolina State Standard for turbidity.  The concentrations for March 2003 were 85 NTU, 125 NTU, and 86 NTU for BRN, HAM, and NC11 respectively.  The means for the 2002-2003 sampling period were 12 NTU (BRN), 17 NTU (HAM) and 27 NTU (NC11).  

 


Figure 3.3.1  Dissolved oxygen concentrations (mg/L) for Hammonds Creek (HAM).  
The line shows the NC State Standard of 5.0 mg/L. 

 


Figure 3.3.2.  Fecal coliform bacteria concentrations (CFU/100mL) for Browns 
Creek (BRN) and Hammonds Creek (HAM).  The line shows the NC State 
Standard for human contact waters of 200 CFU/100mL.