basin 7 little tennessee
BASIN 7
LITTLE TENNESSEE
BASIN DESCRIPTION The Little Tennessee Basin is one of six basins in North Carolina that drain the western slope of the Eastern Continental Divide and flow into the Tennessee River System. The basin is divided into the Little Tennessee River and the Tuckasegee River sub-basins. The Little Tennessee River begins in the mountains of the Chattahoochee National Forest in Rabun County, Georgia and flows north into Macon County, NC. The river is impounded by Fontana Dam about seven miles upstream of the Tennessee state line. The Tuckasegee River drains 737 square miles beginning in Jackson County. The river flows northwest then west and merges with the Little Tennessee at Fontana Lake. Fontana Lake is a multipurpose TVA facility with hydropower production and flood control as important benefits. Fontana Dam controls 1571 square miles of the Little Tennessee Basin. Over 85% of the basin is forested. WATER USE Factors Affecting Water Demand This basin is relatively undeveloped. However, there has been significant population growth in communities in the region. Development of the casino on the Cherokee Indian Reservation is expected to expand the already successful tourism industry in the region. This basin is home to about 1% of the State’s residents and contains all or part of 8 municipalities in 6 counties. From 1990 to 1997 year-round population in three counties in this basin grew by 10% or more. Total Water Use in Basin The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) 1995 summary of water use estimated total water use in the basin at 84.5 million gallons per day (mgd), almost exclusively from surface water sources. USGS estimated total basin population at 73,520. Residential demand was estimated at 3.7 mgd with about 37% (1.4 mgd) of this demand being supplied by public water systems. Overall, public water systems supplied 2 mgd of surface water and 0.7 mgd of ground water for both residential and non-residential uses. The remaining residential water demand was met by 2.3 mgd of self-supplied ground water. In addition, there was about 2.7 mgd of self-supplied water withdrawn for non-residential water uses. Local Water Supply Plans (LWSPs) All units of local government that supply or plan to supply water to the public are required to develop a LWSP. The Division of Water Resources (DWR) reviews LWSPs and maintains a database of the LWSP information. LWSPs were submitted by 7 public water systems having service area in this basin or using water from this basin. These systems supplied 2.6 mgd of water from this basin to 17,122 persons. The following table summarizes the LWSP population served with water from this basin and their water use for 1992.
1992 LWSP System Water Use from Basin (mgd) LWSP Population
Sub-basin
Residential Use
Non-resid. Use
Total Use*
Little Tennessee R.
10,147
0.65
0.70
1.6
Tuckasegee R.
6,975
0.42
0.45
1.0
Total
17,122
1.1
1.1
2.6
*Total Use includes unaccounted-for water and sales to other systems.
. On average, residential and non-residential water use were nearly equal, with residential use accounting for 42% and non-residential use accounting for 45% basinwide. The remaining 13% was unaccounted-for water. LWSP systems expect to supply water to 32,810 persons by the year 2020, a 92% increase over 1992 levels. Their demand for water is projected to grow 110% to 5.4 mgd by 2020. In the 1992 LWSPs, 4 of the 7 systems using water from this basin reported that available supply was not adequate to meet estimated demand through 2002. DWR encourages systems to begin planning to manage and meet future water demands before average daily water use reaches 80% of a system’s available supply. In the 1992 LWSPs, five systems have plans to add an additional water supply totaling 3.6 mgd before demand exceeds 80% of the system’s supply. Self-supplied Use The USGS estimated that self-supplied users, excluding power generating facilities, accounted for 5 mgd of the mgd total of water used from this basin, as shown in the table below. Domestic use comprised 47% of the self-supplied uses, followed by irrigation (37%), commercial (7%), livestock (6%), and industrial (4%). USGS Estimated Self-supplied Water Use in mgd Sub-basin
Domestic
Livestock
Industrial
Commercial
Irrigation
Total
Little Tennessee
1.23
0.23
0.19
0.13
1.42
3.2
Tuckasegee R.
1.11
0.06
0.00
0.21
0.45
1.8
Basin Total
2.3
0.3
0.2
0.3
1.9
!5.0
Registered Water Withdrawals Before 1999, anyone withdrawing 1.0 mgd or more of surface or ground water was required to registered that withdrawal with DWR. In this basin there are 14 registered withdrawals other than LWSP systems or power generating facilities, with the cumulative capacity to withdraw 28 mgd. Ten of these registered withdrawals are for surface water. In 1999, the registration threshold for all water uses except agriculture was lowered to 100,000 gallons per day. March 1, 2000 is the deadline for registering 1999 withdrawals..
SUMMARY OF INFORMATION FROM 1992 LWSPs
WATER AVAILABILITY Surface water is the primary source of water for most of the residents of the basin. LWSPs indicate that 5 water systems in these sub-basins withdraw about 1.9 mgd of surface water. Local water supply plans show that 2 systems rely on reservoirs for all or part of their water supply. The combined demand on these reservoirs averaged about 0.33 mgd in 1992. The estimated available supply from these reservoirs, based on the 20-year safe yield reported in local water supply plans, is 3.2 mgd. Four of the surface water systems submitting local water supply plans have run-of-river intakes. These intakes supplied about 1.6 mgd of water in 1992. The available supply from these sources, based on information reported in local water supply plans, is about 6.2 mgd. The ability to increase withdrawals in the basin depends on site-specific considerations of instream flow needs, water quality protection, and other environmental factors as well as financing and the ability to adjust contracts with owners of privately owned reservoirs. There are 2 systems in this basin using ground water. They have an overall capacity to pump 0.19 mgd of ground water based on the 12-hour yields supplied in their LWSPs.
!Demand-to- supply Ratios for 1992 and 2010:
! Per capita water use was 150 gallons per day in 1992 and is projected to increase to 175 gallons per day by 2010. ! Six systems are not connected to another water supply system. ! The reported raw water supply was 10.7 mgd surface water and a 12-hour groundwater supply of 0.2 mgd.
# of Systems reporting # of Systems reporting ratio > 1.0 # of Systems reporting ratio > 0.9 # of Systems reporting ratio > 0.8 # of Systems reporting ratio > 0.5
1992 7 0 0 0 0
2010 7 0 0 0 0
INTERBASIN TRANSFERS OF SURFACE WATER Across the state many water systems move surface water between sub-basins to meet their needs. The Town of Highlands straddles the Little Tennessee and Savannah River basins, resulting in an incidental transfer. Otherwise, there are no interbasin transfers associated with this basin.
January 2000 Draft State Water Supply Plan DENR, Division of Water Resources
5-3 Pigeon River HAYWOOD COUNTY
TENNESSEE Maggie Valley SD
7-2 Tuskasegee River
JunaluskaClyde SD
SWAIN COUNTY
Canton Waynesville
Bryson City Whittier
Santeetlah
GRAHAM COUNTY
Tuckaseigee W&S Authority
Robbinsville
7-1 Little Tennessee River
5-2 French Broad River
JACKSON COUNTY
Brevard
TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY
Franklin Andrews
MACON COUNTY
Marble Community Water System
CHEROKEE COUNTY
6-1 Hiwassee River
Highlands
CLAY COUNTY
Murphy
Rosman
8-1 Savannah River
Hayesville
GEORGIA
Basin 7 Little Tennesse
Miles 0
2
4
6
8
(unshaded basins)
LEGEND County Boundary
Basin Boundary
LITTLE TENNESSEE BASIN 1992 and 2010 Population and Water Usage as reported by LWSP systems located in or using water from this basin Water systems showing "Demand as % of Supply" above 80% should be actively planning to control and meet future demand. Water Sources: g - ground water, s - surface water, p - purchased water
7 County GRAHAM JACKSON MACON SWAIN
L I T T L E T E N N E S S E E Water BASIN Water System Source ROBBINSVILLE s SANTEETLAH g TUCKASEIGEE WSA sp FRANKLIN s HIGHLANDS s BRYSON CITY s WHITTIER SD g Total
Total Service Population 1992 2010 2,370 2,868 300 304 4,400 9,717 6,500 8,500 977 1,233 2,400 2,576 175 198 17,122 25,396
Total Water Use in mgd 1992 2010 0.30 0.36 0.02 0.02 0.63 1.15 0.81 1.82 0.46 0.75 0.33 0.35 0.01 0.01 2.56 4.46
Reported Supply in mgd 1992 2010 0.9 1.2 0.048 0.068 1.565 3.065 5.1 5.1 2.6 3.6 0.56 1.36 0.144 0.144 11 15
mgd - million gallons per day
Demand as % of Supply 1992 2010 33% 30% 33% 29% 40% 38% 16% 36% 18% 21% 59% 26% 7% 8%
LITTLE TENNESSEE
BASIN DESCRIPTION The Little Tennessee Basin is one of six basins in North Carolina that drain the western slope of the Eastern Continental Divide and flow into the Tennessee River System. The basin is divided into the Little Tennessee River and the Tuckasegee River sub-basins. The Little Tennessee River begins in the mountains of the Chattahoochee National Forest in Rabun County, Georgia and flows north into Macon County, NC. The river is impounded by Fontana Dam about seven miles upstream of the Tennessee state line. The Tuckasegee River drains 737 square miles beginning in Jackson County. The river flows northwest then west and merges with the Little Tennessee at Fontana Lake. Fontana Lake is a multipurpose TVA facility with hydropower production and flood control as important benefits. Fontana Dam controls 1571 square miles of the Little Tennessee Basin. Over 85% of the basin is forested. WATER USE Factors Affecting Water Demand This basin is relatively undeveloped. However, there has been significant population growth in communities in the region. Development of the casino on the Cherokee Indian Reservation is expected to expand the already successful tourism industry in the region. This basin is home to about 1% of the State’s residents and contains all or part of 8 municipalities in 6 counties. From 1990 to 1997 year-round population in three counties in this basin grew by 10% or more. Total Water Use in Basin The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) 1995 summary of water use estimated total water use in the basin at 84.5 million gallons per day (mgd), almost exclusively from surface water sources. USGS estimated total basin population at 73,520. Residential demand was estimated at 3.7 mgd with about 37% (1.4 mgd) of this demand being supplied by public water systems. Overall, public water systems supplied 2 mgd of surface water and 0.7 mgd of ground water for both residential and non-residential uses. The remaining residential water demand was met by 2.3 mgd of self-supplied ground water. In addition, there was about 2.7 mgd of self-supplied water withdrawn for non-residential water uses. Local Water Supply Plans (LWSPs) All units of local government that supply or plan to supply water to the public are required to develop a LWSP. The Division of Water Resources (DWR) reviews LWSPs and maintains a database of the LWSP information. LWSPs were submitted by 7 public water systems having service area in this basin or using water from this basin. These systems supplied 2.6 mgd of water from this basin to 17,122 persons. The following table summarizes the LWSP population served with water from this basin and their water use for 1992.
1992 LWSP System Water Use from Basin (mgd) LWSP Population
Sub-basin
Residential Use
Non-resid. Use
Total Use*
Little Tennessee R.
10,147
0.65
0.70
1.6
Tuckasegee R.
6,975
0.42
0.45
1.0
Total
17,122
1.1
1.1
2.6
*Total Use includes unaccounted-for water and sales to other systems.
. On average, residential and non-residential water use were nearly equal, with residential use accounting for 42% and non-residential use accounting for 45% basinwide. The remaining 13% was unaccounted-for water. LWSP systems expect to supply water to 32,810 persons by the year 2020, a 92% increase over 1992 levels. Their demand for water is projected to grow 110% to 5.4 mgd by 2020. In the 1992 LWSPs, 4 of the 7 systems using water from this basin reported that available supply was not adequate to meet estimated demand through 2002. DWR encourages systems to begin planning to manage and meet future water demands before average daily water use reaches 80% of a system’s available supply. In the 1992 LWSPs, five systems have plans to add an additional water supply totaling 3.6 mgd before demand exceeds 80% of the system’s supply. Self-supplied Use The USGS estimated that self-supplied users, excluding power generating facilities, accounted for 5 mgd of the mgd total of water used from this basin, as shown in the table below. Domestic use comprised 47% of the self-supplied uses, followed by irrigation (37%), commercial (7%), livestock (6%), and industrial (4%). USGS Estimated Self-supplied Water Use in mgd Sub-basin
Domestic
Livestock
Industrial
Commercial
Irrigation
Total
Little Tennessee
1.23
0.23
0.19
0.13
1.42
3.2
Tuckasegee R.
1.11
0.06
0.00
0.21
0.45
1.8
Basin Total
2.3
0.3
0.2
0.3
1.9
!5.0
Registered Water Withdrawals Before 1999, anyone withdrawing 1.0 mgd or more of surface or ground water was required to registered that withdrawal with DWR. In this basin there are 14 registered withdrawals other than LWSP systems or power generating facilities, with the cumulative capacity to withdraw 28 mgd. Ten of these registered withdrawals are for surface water. In 1999, the registration threshold for all water uses except agriculture was lowered to 100,000 gallons per day. March 1, 2000 is the deadline for registering 1999 withdrawals..
SUMMARY OF INFORMATION FROM 1992 LWSPs
WATER AVAILABILITY Surface water is the primary source of water for most of the residents of the basin. LWSPs indicate that 5 water systems in these sub-basins withdraw about 1.9 mgd of surface water. Local water supply plans show that 2 systems rely on reservoirs for all or part of their water supply. The combined demand on these reservoirs averaged about 0.33 mgd in 1992. The estimated available supply from these reservoirs, based on the 20-year safe yield reported in local water supply plans, is 3.2 mgd. Four of the surface water systems submitting local water supply plans have run-of-river intakes. These intakes supplied about 1.6 mgd of water in 1992. The available supply from these sources, based on information reported in local water supply plans, is about 6.2 mgd. The ability to increase withdrawals in the basin depends on site-specific considerations of instream flow needs, water quality protection, and other environmental factors as well as financing and the ability to adjust contracts with owners of privately owned reservoirs. There are 2 systems in this basin using ground water. They have an overall capacity to pump 0.19 mgd of ground water based on the 12-hour yields supplied in their LWSPs.
!Demand-to- supply Ratios for 1992 and 2010:
! Per capita water use was 150 gallons per day in 1992 and is projected to increase to 175 gallons per day by 2010. ! Six systems are not connected to another water supply system. ! The reported raw water supply was 10.7 mgd surface water and a 12-hour groundwater supply of 0.2 mgd.
# of Systems reporting # of Systems reporting ratio > 1.0 # of Systems reporting ratio > 0.9 # of Systems reporting ratio > 0.8 # of Systems reporting ratio > 0.5
1992 7 0 0 0 0
2010 7 0 0 0 0
INTERBASIN TRANSFERS OF SURFACE WATER Across the state many water systems move surface water between sub-basins to meet their needs. The Town of Highlands straddles the Little Tennessee and Savannah River basins, resulting in an incidental transfer. Otherwise, there are no interbasin transfers associated with this basin.
January 2000 Draft State Water Supply Plan DENR, Division of Water Resources
5-3 Pigeon River HAYWOOD COUNTY
TENNESSEE Maggie Valley SD
7-2 Tuskasegee River
JunaluskaClyde SD
SWAIN COUNTY
Canton Waynesville
Bryson City Whittier
Santeetlah
GRAHAM COUNTY
Tuckaseigee W&S Authority
Robbinsville
7-1 Little Tennessee River
5-2 French Broad River
JACKSON COUNTY
Brevard
TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY
Franklin Andrews
MACON COUNTY
Marble Community Water System
CHEROKEE COUNTY
6-1 Hiwassee River
Highlands
CLAY COUNTY
Murphy
Rosman
8-1 Savannah River
Hayesville
GEORGIA
Basin 7 Little Tennesse
Miles 0
2
4
6
8
(unshaded basins)
LEGEND County Boundary
Basin Boundary
LITTLE TENNESSEE BASIN 1992 and 2010 Population and Water Usage as reported by LWSP systems located in or using water from this basin Water systems showing "Demand as % of Supply" above 80% should be actively planning to control and meet future demand. Water Sources: g - ground water, s - surface water, p - purchased water
7 County GRAHAM JACKSON MACON SWAIN
L I T T L E T E N N E S S E E Water BASIN Water System Source ROBBINSVILLE s SANTEETLAH g TUCKASEIGEE WSA sp FRANKLIN s HIGHLANDS s BRYSON CITY s WHITTIER SD g Total
Total Service Population 1992 2010 2,370 2,868 300 304 4,400 9,717 6,500 8,500 977 1,233 2,400 2,576 175 198 17,122 25,396
Total Water Use in mgd 1992 2010 0.30 0.36 0.02 0.02 0.63 1.15 0.81 1.82 0.46 0.75 0.33 0.35 0.01 0.01 2.56 4.46
Reported Supply in mgd 1992 2010 0.9 1.2 0.048 0.068 1.565 3.065 5.1 5.1 2.6 3.6 0.56 1.36 0.144 0.144 11 15
mgd - million gallons per day
Demand as % of Supply 1992 2010 33% 30% 33% 29% 40% 38% 16% 36% 18% 21% 59% 26% 7% 8%
