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Publication

Twelvemile Creek Watershed Plan to Address E. coli Pollution, Pickens County, SC

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
Abstract
This Watershed Plan intends to address the consistent water use impairments of bacterial loading to the Twelvemile Creek watershed (the watershed) in addition to sedimentation issues and potential nutrient impairments. The watershed is completely within and comprises a third of Pickens County, a significant area of 154 square miles draining through agricultural and forested areas until it reaches Clemson, South Carolina, discharging to Lake Hartwell. This watershed highlights the features of what the project team values about land and water in the Southern Inner Piedmont: rolling green pastures, tablelands, isolated mountains, and bedrock outcroppings that create small series of rapids in upstream river reaches. This predominantly rural watershed has struggled with past fecal coliform and now Escherichia coliform, E. coli, impairments throughout several iterations of South Carolina’s 303(d) List of Impaired Waters and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) calculations dating back to 1998. While funding has benefited water quality by way of agricultural best management practices and more, this pollutant of concern persists and affects water quality, with the potential to put human health at risk. E. coli after all is an indicator of the presence of waste and the associated bacteria, pathogens, and viruses that threaten the recreational safety of those designated waters.
Issue Date
2024-05
Keywords
Watershed management--South Carolina, Watersheds--South Carolina, Escherichia coli--South Carolina
Type
Text
Rights
Records, documents, and information made available by the agencies of the South Carolina state government or its subdivisions are made accessible through the South Carolina State Library Depository and are protected under U.S. Copyright law (Title 17, U.S.C.) and South Carolina state law (Title 30 and 60, S.C.C.L.). Distribution rights are determined by the agency or author and users should contact the aforementioned for more information.
Digitization Specifications
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