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Beech Reservoir

Ecological health rating

The overall ecological health score for Beech Reservoir has been poor each year of sampling since 1994. The score of 42 in 2000 was the lowest recorded for Beech Reservoir. This was the result of three indicators concurrently scoring at the low end of their historical range rather than a substantial change in any one indicator. Consistent problems are high chlorophyll concentrations and low dissolved oxygen levels near bottom.

TVA monitors one location on Beech Reservoir — the deep, still water near the dam — usually on a two-year cycle.

Beech Reservoir Ecological Health Ratings, 1994-2008

reservoir ratings chart
Click chart for raw data.

 

The table below shows the ratings for individual ecological health indicators at Beech in 2008. These ratings are briefly explained in the paragraphs that follow.

Ecological Health Indicators for
Beech Reservoir, 2008

Monitoring location

Dissolved oxygen

Chlorophyll

Fish

Bottom life

Sediment
Forebay

Dissolved oxygen

As in previous years, dissolved oxygen rated poor. Dissolved oxygen levels were low near the reservoir bottom from mid-May through August, with extended periods of time when the bottom water was completely devoid of oxygen.

Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll levels were high throughout the study period, causing this indicator to rate poor. High chlorophyll levels are a consistent problem in Beech Reservoir.

Fish

The fish community rated fair. As in previous years, lack of species diversity — particularly the absence or low numbers of intolerant species — lowered the overall fish community score. The predominant species were bluegill, longear sunfish, gizzard shad, and largemouth bass.

Bottom life

Bottom life rated good. Bottom life in Beech usually rates good compared to other reservoirs in the Tennessee Valley’s Interior Plateau ecoregion.

Sediment

Sediment quality rated fair because samples contained slightly more arsenic than would be expected to occur naturally, the same as in 2000, 2004, and 2006. Sediment quality rated good in 1996 and 2002, when no problems were detected, and fair in 1998 because low levels of chlordane, a pesticide previously used to control termites and crop pests, were detected.

 

See definitions of ecological health indicators and monitoring locations.

 

Fish consumption advisories

Currently, there are no fish consumption advisories for Beech Reservoir. TVA collected channel catfish and largemouth bass from the reservoir for tissue analysis in the autumn of 2006. With the exception of mercury concentrations in largemouth bass, contaminant concentrations were either below detectable levels or below the levels used by the state of Tennessee to issue fish consumption advisories. TVA will collect fish from Beech again in autumn 2010.

 

lake photo

Beech Reservoir is located on the Beech River in west Tennessee. Beech is one of a cluster of eight small reservoirs located on the Beech River and its tributaries.

 

More about Beech

General Information

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

 

 

 

 

 

           
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