Duck River placed on America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2024 list
COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Duck River has been named one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2024. The threat has been listed as excessive water withdrawal.
There are seven new permits in process which would allow 16 million gallons of water to be taken from the Duck River daily, according to the Harpeth Conservancy. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has issued three of the permits already but they still have time to be appealed.
The Duck River is the most biodiverse river in North America and in the top three most biodiverse in the world.
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“Twenty-two aquatic snail species, 56 mussel species, and around 151 fish species” can be found in the Duck River, according to Grace Stranch, CEO of Harpeth Conservancy.
The biodiversity makes the river special, but it also makes the water cleaner for the 150,000 people who visit the river recreationally and the 250,000 people—about half the population of Wyoming—who rely on it for drinking water.
“When you have healthy biodiversity of a river you have better water quality. So, when we talk about all of these weird mussel species, they’re not like the polar bears that people get really excited about but what they do ecologically is massive. They pull out all of these heavy metals, and nutrients and things that shouldn’t be in the river and they clean the water naturally” said Stranch.
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Stranch is concerned that if the water levels get too low mussel stranding will happen. That’s when mussels are out of the water, and they don’t have a way to get back into the main streamline. It would affect the cleanliness of the water.
The permits are not final yet. There is still time for an appeal.
“There are conditions that can be put into these permits that are really common sense. Making sure that utilities aren’t leaking a large amount of the water that they do pull from the river through old pipes. You know, asking that, during low periods of river flow and drought, that utilities really bump up their conservation measures. Asking utilities to work together during times of low flow and drought…so there are a lot of ways that utilities along the Duck [River] can make sure that every gallon of water that they pull from the river is really used well and efficiently.”
The CEO and President of Columbia Power and Water Systems, Jonathan Hardin, previously told News 2 they have done research to ensure the Duck River will not be affected negatively by the withdrawal.
“We did an ecological model that showed that in times of drought, we would only be drawing the Duck River down by about two inches more than what Mother Nature would be doing on its own. This is to show that the Duck River and the ecology that is around it will not be artificially impacted by our withdrawals,” said Hardin.
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The Harpeth Conservancy and other local groups are trying to conserve the river by getting people to sign a petition that can be viewed here.
If you want to learn more about America’s Endangered Rivers of 2024, click here.
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