TMDL Studies

NF and SF Pound River

Total dissolved solids (TDS) and sediment TMDLs were completed for North Fork and South Fork of the Pound River located in Wise County, Virginia. A draft report is currently available for download on the DEQ website.

TMDLs were developed to address the benthic impairments on three impaired stream segments: the Lower North Fork Pound River (VAS-Q13R-02), the South Fork Pound River (VAS-Q13R-01), and Phillips Creek and Donald Branch (VAS-Q13R-04), tributaries to the South Fork Pound River. A part of the Tennessee-Big Sandy River basin, the North Fork and South Fork Pound River watersheds comprise the upstream portion of state hydrologic unit Q13 (the complete National Watershed Boundary Dataset watershed BS28), and are located south and west of Pound in Wise County, Virginia, as shown in Figure 1.


Figure 1: Location of the North Fork and South Fork of the Pound River.

The combined watersheds are 23,364 acres (9,455 ha) in size. The main land use category in the combined watersheds is forest, which comprises approximately 68% of the total watershed area. The remainder includes 23% in mining-related land uses, 5% in agriculture, and 4% in urban/residential land uses. The North and South Forks of Pound River flow into the Pound River which flows northeasterly into Russell Fork, which flows northwesterly into Kentucky, where it enters the Levisa Fork. Levisa Fork flows into the Big Sandy River, which then flows into the Ohio River, then into the Mississippi River, and on to the Gulf of Mexico.

The South Fork Pound River (VAS-Q13R-01) was originally listed as impaired on Virginia’s 1994 Section 303(d) Total Maximum Daily Load Priority List and Report due to water quality violations of the general aquatic life use (benthic) standard. In 1996, a segment of the North Fork Pound River below North Fork Pound Lake (VAS-Q13R-02) was also added. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added these segments to a 1998 consent order requiring TMDLs by 2008. Since then, two headwater tributaries to the South Fork Pound River – Donald Branch and Phillips Creek – were added to the 305(b) list in 2002 as one segment (VAS-Q13R-04).

The benthic impairment in the Lower North Fork Pound River (VAS-Q13R-02) was based on Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) biological monitoring station PNK000.08; the impairment in the South Fork Pound River (VAS-Q13R-01) based on monitoring station PNS000.40; and the impairment in Phillips Creek and Donald Branch (VAS-Q13R-04) was based on monitoring station PNS008.73.

DEQ delineated the benthic impairment as 6.53 miles on the South Fork Pound River (VAS-Q13R-01); 1.11 miles on the North Fork Pound River (VASQ13R-02); and 1.87 and 2.14 miles, respectively, on Donald Branch and Phillips Creek (VAS-Q13R-04). The impaired segments of Donald Branch and Phillips Creek extend from their headwaters to their confluence – the beginning of the South Fork Pound River. The impaired stream segment on the South Fork Pound River includes the entire main stem from the confluence of the two impaired headwater segments and extends to the confluence of the North and South Forks of Pound River. The impaired segment on the North Fork Pound River extends from the North Fork Pound Lake impoundment downstream to its confluence with the South Fork Pound River. The impaired segments in the North Fork and South Fork Pound River are shown in Figure 2.


Figure 2:  The impaired segments in the North Fork and South Fork Pound River.