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Tanner Harris

Rhetoric and Composition

Professor Jones

April 25, 2018

Autobiographical Research

The stream monitoring project was a very successful and eye opening experience for me.

As an avid hunter and outdoorsman, I strive to protect and clean up the environment so future

wildlife species will prosper and continue to undergo natural reproduction cycles. In order to

provide these species with appropriate habitat conditions, we as humans need to control the

amount of pollution we are introducing in to our rivers, streams, and lakes. Many species such as

waterfowl, fish, and birds of prey rely upon these bodies of water to obtain the food sources they

require for survival. In order to preserve the wildlife dwelling within the Tennessee River

Watershed, the city of Chattanooga needs to construct more stream monitoring groups to obtain

appropriate data and information upon the numerous items being dumped into local streams and

rivers.

The Tennessee River Watershed is a highly polluted water system with many different

species of fish and waterfowl thriving within it’s waters. These fish and waterfowl are suffering

due to a lack of concern, awareness, and support from both government officials and the public.

Pollution is overpowering the Tennessee River by destroying the benthic communities, bait fish,

and aquatic plants species within the river. Bacteria, caused by pollution, is transmitted to larger

species of fish by smaller bait fish when they are consumed. Predatory fish, such as the spotted

bass, rely on these smaller species of fish as a main source of food and can receive any bacteria

or toxins they have consumed. This trash and toxic waste will continue to spread and pollute
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every aquatic form of life with in the Tennessee River until a proper solution is formed. Many

fish such as the pallid sturgeon and the paddlefish are threatened by pollution and continue to

suffer as a result of careless acts of destruction by both industries and the public. Sturgeon and

Paddlefish are bottom dwellers and feed heavily upon benthic organisms thriving within the

sediment lines located at the bottom of rivers. Settled toxic material and industrial waste lying

within the sediment line, pollute both benthic communities and the fish feeding upon them. For

this reason Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency limits the amount of catfish fisherman

consume due to the high levels of toxins in their body. Instead of allowing these fish to suffer as

a result of poor judgement and a lack of concern by both the public and government officials,

people should strive to preserve, save, and protect the fastly depleting water quality of major

streams and rivers throughout the Tennessee Watershed..

In Rhetoric and Composition II, a beyond the classroom course, we learned the

importance of maintaining water systems and collecting data for scientists and researchers. Every

item of trash we collected was entered into a data list with a brief description of the item and the

location where it was collected. The majority of the trash we collected was located around

heavily traveled roads, sidewalks, and walking trails. Every monitoring location consisted of a

large amount of alcoholic beverages, wrappers, shopping bags, and tin cans. Streams in more

urban areas mostly consisted of clothing items and tin cans. By focusing more effort upon

cleaning the smaller streams and runoff areas, the larger rivers will receive a significantly

smaller amount of pollution. By appropriately disposing trash and containing the amount of

pollution within many smaller streams and run-off ditches, rivers will receive less contamination.

The first stream monitoring at Mountain Creek, consisted mainly of alcoholic beverages,

plastic bags, paper, and child toys. Two days prior to this monitor, the city of Chattanooga
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received less than an inch of rainfall which did not significantly impact the flow of this stream.

Mountain Creek is located in a suburban area with few buildings directly surrounding the stream,

other than an elementary school and a church. All of the child toys we collected were located

directly behind Red Bank Elementary School and seemed relatively old with faint colors and

markings on them. Most of the trash our group collected during this monitor was located directly

below the overpass, which presents the high amount of roadway litter this stream obtains.

Mountain Creek displayed the problems associated with roadway drainage systems and runoff

ditches due to the insufficient buffers between road systems and streams. When this stream

floods most of the trash overflows and runs in to the high weeds and winter rye grass

approximately ten feet from the creek. The ryegrass collected the majority of the trash floating

out of the banks during high flood waters and heavy rainfalls. These weeds prevented the

majority of the trash from escaping into the Tennessee River, which is less than four miles from

Mountain Creek. I also noticed a large amount of trash along side a beaver dam which greatly

reduced the flow of water and built a natural back flow to prevent trash from floating further

downstream. Barriers such as dams and thick brush proved to be very efficient in collecting the

lightweight floatable trash items. I believe the use of small dams will greatly reduce the amount

of trash entering streams from both roadways and sidewalk across the Tennessee River

Watershed.

Streams located around city sidewalks and streets with a high amount of pedestrian traffic

and roadway activity contained a significant amount clothing items and personal belongings.

While monitoring at Renaissance Park, in downtown Chattanooga, we located a variety of

clothing items such as, pants, jackets, socks, and shoes. This stream also contained multiple

construction items, such as grinders, sanders, and plastic tarping from a construction site half a
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mile upstream. During this monitor we also located numerous dead shad washed up in to the

flood line along the banks of the stream from a shad kill on the Tennessee River. Streams in

urban areas appear to be highly polluted with few signs of wildlife in and around the water

systems. Pollution with in these streams have greatly altered the habit for crawfish, minnows,

and the aquatic plants these organisms rely on for food. This pollution is destroying many of the

urban streams and rivers around the city of Chattanooga by modifying the amount of oxygen

benthic communities, aquatic plants, and fish require to survive. Over accumulations of trash in

run-off ditches and streams prevents oxygen from reaching river beds which destroys the

vegetation required to support the life of smaller organisms. Larger fish species also suffer from

this oxygen deficiency due to their inability to prey upon the smaller fish population with in the

river systems. The pollution and waste material being dumped into streams and rivers across the

Tennessee Valley altering the life cycle of many aquatic species. Improper control over pollution

will eventually prove detrimental to both the wildlife and human across the state of Tennessee.

The use of floating dams in small streams will greatly reduce the amount of trash entering

the Tennessee River. A floating dam prevents any floating trash items from entering major

waterways such as rivers, lakes, and oceans (Wang). I believe floating dams should be placed in

every stream or runoff ditch around any the city of Chattanooga. These dams allow fish and

other wildlife to safely pass below the floating barriers without being harmed. All of the trash

collected by these dams can be simply removed by nets or by hand. Floating dams are a simple

and safe way to monitor and protect the Tennessee River Watershed.

The main focus of river pollution should be centered around downtown Chattanooga due

to the heavily polluted stream segments this area contained. The floating dams will not be very

helpful to downtown Chattanooga because there was not many floatables present in any of those
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streams. In order to reduce the amount of trash items washing into streams and runoff ditches,

barriers, such as chicken wire, should be placed along the entire stream segments. A four foot tall

barrier of chicken wire would greatly reduce the amount of both floatable and non floatable trash

items reaching the Tennessee River. Since there is not much wildlife downtown, these barriers

will not present any threats or hazards for animals. The barriers should not be built directly on

the water due to the high possibility of flooding and high water levels. I believe the use of

chicken wire will greatly prevent litter from entering in to city streams by serving as a barrier to

block and collect the trash items.

By introducing floatable dams and chicken wire to the many streams around

Chattanooga, I believe the Tennessee River will become a more stable environment for both fish

and aquatic plant species. The river will become a cleaner and clearer environment for many

species of wildlife across the Tennessee River Watershed. By eliminating all of the hazards

associated with both floatable and non floatable garbage the Tennessee River will become a

more supportive and safer environment for future generations of wildlife. Floating dams and

chicken wire barriers are easy ways to correct and solve the many problems pollution is

introducing to the Tennessee River.

These monitoring projects displayed the importance of managing small streams and

waterways due to the overpowering impact pollution is introducing into our environment. The

amount of pollution throughout the Tennessee River continues to grow with little concern for the

wildlife in and around the river. I believe the city of Chattanooga needs to make the public more

aware of this problem and introduce more methods to help contain and control the high amounts

of pollution in the Tennessee River Watershed. Creatures inhabiting this river should not suffer
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because of unrecognized careless behavior. The city of Chattanooga displays little concern

towards the trash and garbage collecting in their streams, storm drains, and river. Instead of

recognizing the problems associated with pollution, the city continuously overlooks them with

little regard for future generations. Pollution is terrorizing many species of wildlife by altering

their habitats and the food sources they rely on for survival. Both the public and government

officials should seek to provide a stable environment for every form of wildlife within the

Tennessee River Watershed. This Rhetoric and Composition class revealed the true value behind

maintaining streams and rivers due to the many different species of wildlife, people, and

landscapes that are affected by this river everyday.

Works Cited

ArcGIS

Wang, Amy X. “A Free-Standing, Waste-Trapping Floating Dam Could Revolutionize Ocean

Clean-Up.” Quartz, Quartz, 31 Dec. 2015