Cedar
Creek Reservoir
Ecological
health rating
Cedar Creek Reservoir rated fair in 2011. The overall ecological health score for the reservoir has been in the fair range all years monitored.
TVA monitors one location on Cedar Creek—the deep, still water near the dam—usually on a two-year cycle.
Cedar
Creek Reservoir Ecological Health Ratings, 1994-2011
Click chart for
raw data.
The table below
shows the ratings for individual ecological health indicators at Cedar
Creek in 2011. These ratings are briefly explained in the paragraphs that
follow.
|
Ecological
Health Indicators at
Cedar Creek Reservoir, 2011
|
|
Monitoring
location
|
Dissolved
oxygen
|
Chlorophyll
|
Fish
|
Bottom
life
|
Sediment
|
| Forebay |
|
|
|
|
|
Dissolved oxygen
As in previous years, dissolved oxygen rated poor. The lower half of the water column had low dissolved oxygen concentrations during the summer months, with some areas completely devoid of oxygen.
Chlorophyll
Consistent with previous years, average summer chlorophyll concentrations were low, resulting in a good rating for this indicator.
Fish
The fish community rated good. This indicator has rated either good or at the high end of the fair range over the years.
Bottom life
Bottom life rated fair, primarily because of the low number and low variety of animals found in samples collected from the reservoir bottom. Ratings for bottom life in Cedar Creek tend to fluctuate from year to year. Because there are so few bottom-dwelling animals due to low dissolved oxygen, the ratings are easily influenced by the presence or absence of a few species.
Sediment
Sediment quality rated fair. Low levels of PCBs were detected in the sediment sample, and the concentration of arsenic was slightly above suggested background levels. Sediment quality typically rates good in Cedar Creek Reservoir.
See definitions of
ecological health indicators and monitoring locations.
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Fish
consumption advisories
Cedar Creek Reservoir - 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 Cedar Creek Reservoir, visit the Epidemiology Division of Alabama Department of Public Health’s web page. http://www.adph.org/tox/index.asp?ID=1360
Tennessee Valley Authority
