Apalachia Reservoir

Ecological health rating

Apalachia Reservoir received a good rating in 2010, the fifth consecutive monitoring year to do so. Apalachia received its highest score in 2008. This was the result of three indicators (chlorophyll, bottom life, and sediment) concurrently scoring at the upper end of their historical range rather than of a substantial change in any indicator. The reservoir has scored either good or fair since monitoring began.

TVA monitors one location on Apalachia Reservoir — the forebay, near the dam — usually on a two-year cycle.

Apalachia Reservoir Ecological Health Ratings, 1997-2010

Click chart for raw data.

The table below shows the ratings for individual ecological health indicators at Apalachia in 2010. These ratings are briefly explained in the paragraphs that follow.

Monitoring location	Dissolved oxygen	Chlorophyll	Fish	Bottom life	Sediment
Ecological Health Indicators for Apalachia Reservoir, 2010
Forebay	Fair	Fair	Fair	Good	Good
Dissolved oxygen Dissolved oxygen rated fair at Apalachia because levels were low in a small area along the bottom in late summer. TVA has found low levels of dissolved oxygen in this same area each year of sampling. Chlorophyll Chlorophyll concentrations were slightly elevated, resulting in a fair rating. Chlorophyll ratings have fluctuated between poor, fair, and good, with no specific trend through time. Fish The fish community in Apalachia rated fair because relatively few fish were collected. That meant lower ratings for several of the characteristics used to evaluate the fish community, particularly fish density and diversity. This indicator has rated fair in all previous years. Bottom life Bottom life has rated good since 2000. This compares to poor and fair ratings in earlier years. The improvement resulted from an increase in the density and diversity of organisms in the samples collected from the reservoir bottom. Sediment Sediment quality rated good. No PCBs or pesticides were detected, and the concentrations of metals were within expected background levels. Sediment quality typically rates good, although it rated fair in 2000 due to slightly elevated concentrations of copper, probably related to the area’s geology. See definitions of ecological health indicators and monitoring locations.

Fish consumption advisories

Apalachia – 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 Apalachia Reservoir, visit the Epidemiology Division of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ web page. http://www.epi.state.nc.us/epi/fish/

Apalachia Reservoir is located in western North Carolina in Cherokee County, which borders Tennessee.

More about Apalachia

Sport fishing ratings

General information

To see monitoring results for other TVA reservoirs, choose from the list below.

View general information on Apalachia Reservoir.

Environmental Stewardship

Apalachia Reservoir

Ecological health rating