For immediate release January 5, 2006

PUBLIC MEETINGS SCHEDULED TO DISCUSS WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT PLANS FOR THE LITTLE TENNESSEE AND NORTH AND SOUTH HOLSTON RIVER WATERSHEDS

Nashville, Tenn. - The Department of Environment and Conservation will hold meetings in January to discuss the watershed water quality management plans for the North and South Fork Holston Watersheds and the Little Tennessee River Watershed. The public is invited to attend and give input.

Watersheds are areas that drain to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, wetland or river.

Water quality management plans are part of Environment and Conservation's Watershed Management Approach, which focuses on water quality goals and the ecological integrity of Tennessee watersheds in making watershed management decisions.

Under the Watershed Management Approach, the state's 54 watersheds are divided into five groups. Each group undergoes a different set of water quality management activities every year in a five-year cycle. Those activities include planning, monitoring and data collection, public participation opportunities and developing water quality improvement strategies.

The Department of Environment and Conservation holds public meetings to discuss a watershed's water quality management plan in the last year of the five-year cycle. These meetings provide water quality assessment summary results and an inventory of point and non-point sources of pollution in a watershed. Information is also shared about activities at the local, state and federal levels to reduce pollution sources. There will be opportunity to discuss water quality and for the public to make suggestions as to how it may be improved in their watershed.

The public meeting for the North and South Fork Holston River Watersheds will be held on Monday, January 23, 2006, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Renaissance Center located at 1200 East Center Street in Kingsport, Tenn.

The public meeting for the Little Tennessee River Watershed will be held on Tuesday, January 24, 2006, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., at the Tellico Village Community Church in Loudon, Tenn. The church is located at 130 Chota Center, off Highway 444 (Tellico Parkway) by the Texaco Station.

For more information about Environment and Conservation's Watershed Management Approach, visit the Web site at www.tdec.net/wpc/watershed/. The watershed water quality management plan may be viewed at www.tdec.net/wpc/watershed/wsmplans/.

###

For more information contact:

Tisha Calabrese-Benton
(865) 594-5442 (Office)