Catheys Creek Restoration Project

Catheys Creek

Tributary of the French Broad River
Transylvania County, Brevard, NC
Status:  Complete
Stream Restored: ~1,000 feet

Partners:

Resource Concern/Issues:

Catheys Creek provides about 1 million gallons of drinking water each day to City water users. Prior to construction, the water intake pipe at Catheys Creek was located next to an eroding streambank along an unpaved road on US Forest Service property. Sediment eroding from this unstable section of the creek often caused clogging in the pipe, threatening to disrupt the flow of clean water to the treatment plant.

Project Objectives:

  • Improve water quality by reducing sediment, nutrient, organic, and inorganic loading of the stream and reduce streambank erosion

  • Stabilize the stream reach to prevent further aggradation or degradation by providing an improved dimension, pattern and/or profile that will improve sediment transport, and manage surface waters and groundwater levels in floodplains, riparian areas, and wetlands

  • Construct rock and woody structures to provide instream habitat, stabilize streambanks and the channel bed

  • Restore and stabilize streambanks

  • Relocate the water intake pipe upstream to a safe location away from sediment sources.

  • Stabilize adjacent road

  • Establish a riparian buffer, remove invasive plant species and reestablish native plants, trees, and shrubs