Reedy Falls may face pollution warning: More people play in waterway labeled 'impaired'

Published in the Greenville News Online, Saturday, August 12, 2006 - 6:00 am

Nicole Hill had no way of knowing what pollution might have lurked in the water as her sons Ryan, 6, and Adam, 3, waded knee-deep in the Reedy River.

If they had been at more than 100 of the state's beaches, they could've rested assured that state health officials have been testing the water for bacteria and posting warning signs when it's dangerous.

But at Reedy River Falls, Hill had no signs or Web site to tell her whether it was safe enough for swimming, information she would've found helpful.

"You never know," Hill said.

State health officials are beginning to consider warning signs for downtown Greenville's Falls Park at the Reedy. Wading should be safe, but swimmers who immerse their heads in the brown water could be taking a chance, said Kathy Stecker, a community liaison for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

"This is something that's coming up often enough that I think we need to communicate that risk to people," she said.

Since the city finished its $13.2 million park in 2004, an increasing number of visitors have taken a dip in a river the state has declared an "impaired waterway" for its elevated levels of fecal coliform and phosphates.

The pollution has triggered a state study required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Fecal coliform, a bacteria that pollutes water through animal and human feces, can lead to upper respiratory and gastrointestinal problems.

Linked to fertilizers, phosphates in 1999 caused slimy algae blooms where the Reedy dumps into Lake Greenwood, a source of drinking water for more than 40,000 homes and businesses.

Several species of fish were found dead just upstream from the falls this week, although the exact number hasn't been disclosed, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

The fish probably suffocated when the city opened a floodgate, kicking up sediment that lowered dissolved oxygen levels, DHEC spokesman Thom Berry said.

The Reedy starts in Travelers Rest and almost immediately begins flowing through some of the Upstate's most urbanized areas.

Dozens of pipes from parking lots and roads dump untreated storm water in the river and its tributaries. When the Reedy overflows its banks during rainstorms, any trash sitting nearby is swept downstream.

Drawing on 29 monitors, DHEC's federally mandated study will help determine how much pollution the river can handle without violating the U.S. Clean Water Act.

It will focus on easily identified, or "point," sources, such as factories and waste treatment plants, and "nonpoint" sources that are tougher to nail down, such as runoff from parking lots and lawns, said Andy Miller, the DHEC watershed manager for the Saluda and Santee basins.

The amount the river can legally take is known as the "total maximum daily load."

DHEC will submit a plan for cleaning up the river to the EPA at the completion of the study, probably in fall 2007, Miller said.

But the actual cleaning will be left to a patchwork of state, city and county governments -- and there's no guarantee the various jurisdictions will be able to muster the political will to do anything, said Dan Trout, executive director of Friends of the Reedy River.

Trout said he doesn't know of any federal funding the region could lose for failing to clean the water, but it's possible the EPA could stop issuing permits that allow new businesses to discharge wastewater into the river.

"There is some potential economic impact if we don't do what we're supposed to do," he said.

An EPA spokesman couldn't be reached for comment.

If the state pushes forward with a cleanup plan, it could include a requirement that sewage plants do a better job of treating wastewater, Miller said.

Western Carolina Regional Sewer Authority already uses top-of-the-line ultraviolet treatments and sand-and-rock filters at its two plants on the Reedy, both downstream from the falls, said executive director Ray Orvin. The only step up would be "membrane technology" that would cost millions, he said.

"If the numbers become much more stringent than we are able to meet with our current technology, then you will probably be faced with some higher bills," he said. "We'll have to raise revenues to do improvements."

To Nick Wenning, the water seemed fine back at the bridge overlooking the falls. But all he had to go on was what it looked like the day after a light rain.

"You would think that it would look muddy," he said.