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
Two sites within this
subbasin, Little Rockfish Creek (LRC) and Rockfish Creek (ROC) were found to be
good quality in terms of dissolved oxygen concentrations.
Two sites, Panther Branch (PB) and Sarecta (SAR) were found to be fair
quality, not meeting the 5.0 mg/L standard 25% of the time.
PB was found to be fair quality if measured by the swampwater standard of
4.0.mg/L, not meeting the standard 25% of the time.
SAR was considered good quality if measured by the 4.0 mg/L swampwater
standard. One site, Goshen Swamp
(GS) was found to be poor quality for dissolved oxygen, not meeting the standard
of 5.0 mg/L 42% of the time. Even
when considering this site with the swampwater standard of 4.0 mg/L, it is found
to be poor quality, not meeting the standard 33% of the time.
Samples for GS from July - October 2002 were all less than 3.0 mg/L, with
the lowest concentration reported in October of 0.7 mg/L.
The dissolved oxygen concentrations for GS are shown graphically in
Figure 3.9.1.
Most sites within this
subbasin were found to be good quality for chlorophyll a concentrations.
The exception is Panther Branch (PB), which was found to be fair quality,
exceeding the NC State Standard of 40 mg/L
17% of the time.
For fecal coliform bacteria
concentrations, all sites within this subbasin were found to be fair quality.
PB, SAR and ROC all exceeded the NC State Standard for human contact of
200 CFU/100mL in 17% of sampled months. GS
and LRC were also rated as fair quality, both exceeded the standard 25% of the
time. The highest levels for most
sites were found in September and December 2002.
Fecal coliform bacteria concentrations are shown graphically for GS and
LRC in Figure 3.9.2.
All sites were found to be
good quality for turbidity concentrations.
Mean turbidity levels were less than 20 NTU for all sites within this
subbasin for the 2002-2003 monitoring period.
Stations PB and ROC both
displayed high total phosphorus concentrations (Figure 3.9.3).
High phosphorus levels are known to significantly increase bacterial
concentration and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels.
Stations PB, SAR and ROC had elevated levels of nitrate+nitrite at times
(Figure 3.9.4). High nitrate levels
have been known to lead to algal bloom formation (Mallin et al. 2001, Mallin et
al. 2002).
Figure 3.9.1 Dissolved
oxygen concentrations (mg/L) for the 2002-2003 monitoring
period.
The line shows the NC State Standard for dissolved oxygen of 5.0 mg/L and
the dashed line shows the swampwater standard of 4.0 mg/L.
Figure 3.9.2 Fecal
coliform bacteria concentrations (CFU/100mL) for the 2002-2003
monitoring
period. The line shows the NC State
Standard for human contact waters
of 200 CFU/100mL.
Figure 3.9.3 Total
phosphorus concentrations (mg/L)
for the 2002-2003 monitoring period.
Figure 3.9.4 Nitrate-Nitrite
concentrations (mg/L)
for the 2002-2003 monitoring period.