- hot-spots
- plastic pollution
- USA
- Plastic pollution in the Tennessee River, USA
Problems
Plastic pollution in the Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 1,049 km long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The Tennessee River is formed at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad Rivers in present-day Knoxville, Tennessee. From Knoxville, it flows southwest through East Tennessee into Chattanooga before crossing into Alabama. Tennessee's run is north through western Kentucky. It flows into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky. The Tennessee River is host to over 300 species of fish and 125 varieties of mussels, making it one of the most biodiverse habitats across all of North America. In total, a study by the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute and the University of Georgia found that there are over 1400 species within the river’s watershed. Even though a quarter of these fish species are found nowhere else in the entire world, some 28% of them have been listed as endangered or imperiled by environmental authorities. Mussel populations have declined drastically due to dam construction, water pollution. Under FDR’s New Deal and the Tennessee Valley Authority, the river became modernized for shipping, energy production, and flood controls. Yet the boom of economic activity along its shores has left Tennessee vulnerable to some of the worst plastic and chemical pollution in a riparian setting in the entire United States. Microplastics have been widely documented in ocean marine environments. They are thought to last for hundreds of years, they're hard to spot—and thus hard to clean up—and studies are increasingly showing how dangerous they are to marine life. As various fish and plankton consume microplastic, it builds up in the food chain after larger predators chomp down on smaller marine life. The pollutants may even show up on our dinner plate, in the bellies and meat of the fish we consume. In addition to microplastics found traces of pharmaceutical waste. Tennessee River found it is among the most plastic-polluted rivers in the world.
Solutions
Project Launched to Clean Up Polluted Tennessee River.
Author: Memphis Flyer
Plastic pollution in the river system was once the worst in the world. For cleaning up the polluted Tennessee River watershed, the future is now — with a new network of cutting-edge devices to remove litter, debris, oils, and more. The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTRB), and others launched a network of electric Seabin skimmer devices to clean the water. The project will launch 18 of the skimmers, making it the largest network of such devices in the world. The project was funded with grants from TDOT and Keep America Beautiful. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said nearly 70 percent of the trash found in rivers comes from inland sources, like litter left on streets that flows into storm drains, which flow into rivers. This is why TDOT said it got involved in the new Seabin clean-up system.
Initiatives to safeguard the river.
Author: Earth5r
The Tennessee Waterkeeper is one of the largest environmental advocacy organizations for wildlife and water quality on the river. The organization regularly works with scientists and marine biologists to monitor water pollution and investigate cases of illegal dumping.
Source: https://earth5r.org/sustainable-solutions-pollution-tennessee-river
Gallery
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Timelines
2021
Project Launched to Clean Up Polluted Tennessee River - launched a network of electric Seabin skimmer devices to clean the water. Plastic pollution in the river system was once the worst in the world.
2019
The Tennessee River was ranked as one of the most plastic-polluted rivers in the world. The river dumping 32 million microplastic particles into the Ohio River every second.
2017
Researchers called the Tennessee River “one of the most plastic-polluted rivers ever recorded in the world.” That year, scientist and endurance swimmer Dr. Andreas Fath swam the nearly 652-mile length of the river with sampling devices connected to his body. His results showed the Tennessee contained 16,000 cubic feet of micro plastics per cubic meter of water, nearly twice as much as China’s polluted Yangtze River, and 8,000 percent higher than levels found in the Rhine River.
2015
Obama administration Banned products like exfoliating cleansers with microscopic pieces of plastic.
2008
Horrifying environmental disaster - the one billion tons of toxic coal ash spills into waterways draining into the Tennessee River. More than a decade later, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is still storing coal ash in unlined pits and ponds that leach heavy metals into the groundwater and ultimately into the river.