Southern Appalachia waterways ranked #3 on ‘America's Most Endangered Rivers' list

Yahoo

16-04-2025

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – A national non-profit organization that tracks rivers all over the country has announced the rivers of Southern Appalachia are now among the most endangered in the nation, according to their analysis.
The report by American Rivers cited five problems that 'need to be addressed' in Southern Appalachia waterways, including unsafe dams, environmentally damaging debris, the prevalence of infrastructure on floodplains, erosion and economic development.
The report found that 44 dams in the Southern Appalachian portion of America 'failed or were severely damaged', and that storm debris is compromising the water quality throughout the region.
'That's why we're shining a light on the rivers of Southern Appalachia,' Erin McCombs, director of the southeast conservation division for American Rivers, said. 'To make sure that we have the federal resources to remove storm debris, to make sure that we can remove unsafe dams that were damaged during the storm and that people can be ready for when the next storm comes.'
TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said, luckily, the Nolichucky Dam was not one of those 44.
'The Nolichucky Dam had a record amount of water go over that dam, and the dam performed as expected. It's still standing. No major damage to the dam itself.'
In fact, Brooks told News Channel 11 that the entire integrated river system his area did exactly what it was supposed to do during Helene's flooding.
'We started the week or two before the storm when we saw it was coming,' Brooks said. 'We reduced some of those reservoirs even further to maximize the storage. So it's an integrated river system that we manage so that no one reservoir has to take more of the brunt of a storm, like Helene, than others.'
'Overall, I think we can certainly tell the public that the integrated system performed as it was supposed to and we were able to alleviate, if not mitigate, a lot of the damage. The damage could have been much worse, had we not had this system in place.'
The report also mentioned compromised water quality as a result of debris. ETSU Associate Professor of Geosciences Ingrid Luffman said that's a real concern, considering how much infrastructure has been built along the rivers.
'The concern [is], there is pathogens, particularly E. coli in the water,' Luffman said. 'Some of it can stay resident on the soil. It can absorb into the soil. When the stream floods, then all that sediment deposited on the floodplain can retain some of those chemicals or some of those pathogens.'
Luffman told News Channel 11 that her concern moving forward lies with the cleanup process itself.
'The woody debris that's been trapped on the stream banks is important to remove,' Luffman said. 'But what they're observing is the trees that are still alive are also being cut down. And worse yet, the root balls are being removed. So now the banks have become even more destabilized in those areas. And I yeah, I don't know if that's a need to, you know, a need for education, that this is not the right way to clean up from the flood, really.'
McCombs said the organization she serves hopes the report will continue to raise awareness for flood relief, not just in our area, but for all of Southern Appalachia.
'We all need clean, safe water for our families, no matter where we live or what we look like,' McCombs said. 'And most of our water comes from rivers, which also provides crucial habitat for fish and wildlife. You know, our economy, farms, and cities all depend on rivers for growth, and rivers give us ways to connect with nature and each other.'
The full report can be found below:
RiversofSouthernAppalachiaMER2025Download
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.