Fontana Reservoir

Ecological health rating

Fontana Reservoir rated fair in 2008, a similar rating to previous years in which the full complement of indicators was measured.

In 1994, 1995, and 2000 the overall health score was slightly higher. This was partly because bottom life was not sampled at all locations in these years. Bottom life usually rates poor on Fontana and probably would have reduced the overall score by several points.

Fontana Reservoir Ecological Health Ratings, 1994-2008

Click chart for raw data.

The table below shows the ratings for individual ecological health indicators at Fontana in 2008. These ratings are briefly explained in the paragraphs that follow.

Monitoring locations	Dissolved oxygen	Chlorophyll	Fish	Bottom life	Sediment
Ecological Health Indicators for Fontana Reservoir, 2008
Forebay	Fair	Good	Fair	Poor	Good
Mid-reservoir: Little Tennessee River arm	Fair	Good	Fair	Poor	Fair
Mid-reservoir: Tuckasegee River arm	Poor	Fair	Good	Poor	Good
Dissolved oxygen Dissolved oxygen rated fair at the forebay and Little Tennessee mid-reservoir locations because concentrations were low in a small area along the reservoir bottom in late summer. A greater area of water with low dissolved oxygen was present at the Tuckasegee location and resulted in a poor rating. In previous years, dissolved oxygen has rated good or fair at the forebay and Little Tennessee mid-reservoir locations and fair or poor at the Tuckasegee location. However, the area with low dissolved oxygen was substantially smaller at the Tuckasegee location in 2004 than in other years, resulting in the only good rating for dissolved oxygen at this location. Chlorophyll Chlorophyll rated good at the forebay and Little Tennessee mid-reservoir monitoring locations and fair at the Tuckasegee location. Chlorophyll has rated good at the forebay all years monitored. Chlorophyll ratings have fluctuated between good, fair, and poor at the Little Tennessee mid-reservoir location with no specific trend over time. At the Tuckasegee mid-reservoir location, annual average chlorophyll concentrations have indicated a trend of increasing, with good ratings during the early 1990s, followed by fair and poor ratings since 1995. Fish The fish community rated at the upper end of the fair range or good at all monitoring locations, similar to previous years. Bottom life Bottom life rated poor at all monitoring locations. Bottom life has rated poor or at the low end of the fair range at these locations in past years. Each year, relatively few organisms, mainly those capable of tolerating poor conditions, are collected from the reservoir bottom. Sediment Sediment quality rated good at the forebay and Tuckasegee mid-reservoir locations because no PCBs or pesticides were detected and all metal concentrations were within the expected range. Chromium exceeded expected background levels at the Little Tennessee mid-reservoir location, resulting in a fair rating. This was the first year that chromium was above background levels. In previous years, sediment ratings have fluctuated between good and fair at all locations depending on whether or not chlordane was detected. See definitions of ecological health indicators and monitoring locations.

Fish consumption advisories

Fontana Reservoir - TVA maintains a program to examine contaminants in fish fillets from TVA reservoirs and their major tributary streams on a rotational basis. The data collected from this program is distributed to the state officials who are responsible for placing or removing fish tissue consumption advisories on those bodies of water. For information on advisories currently in effect for Fontana Reservoir, visit the Epidemiology Division of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ web page. http://www.epi.state.nc.us/epi/fish/