As of Thursday, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has revoked Brymer Creek's status as a “Tennessee Exceptional Water”.
Our progress has cost us another treasure and with that loss Brymer Creek can now be degraded further with less stringent safeguards.
Spring Branch Industrial Park:
I personally feel betrayed by what I perceive as a lack of integrity in unwillingness to keep promises in the conduct of this project so far but I cannot lay the blame for Brymer Creek's loss on the project since the sampling station for testing Brymer Creek is upstream of the industrial park discharge.
It is a strange coincidence however that Brymer Creek lost its ETW status only 28 days after the industrial park got a permit to start moving dirt allowing them to meet lower standards for safeguarding our waters.
My opinion is that the blame for this loss lies primarily with the Bradley County Road Department.
Bradley Road Department—Bulldog Branch Bridge:
The construction of this new bridge changed the water flow so dramatically that the banks of Bulldog Branch gave way along its 4,400 feet journey to Brymer Creek washing tons of mud into Brymer Creek; even washing out a decades old private farm bridge.
After the completion of the Bulldog Branch Bridge I watched in disgust as Brymer Creek ran mud red under the bridge at Brymer Creek Road and Roark Lane every time it rained, like I had never seen in my 23 years out here. This bridge is the sampling point for Brymer Creek where recent samples caused it to lose ETW status.
The Bulldog Bridge was a public safety issue because the road flooded some but, welcome to the Bradley County Highway Department. Their mission statement is "With a dedicated emphasis on Public Safety, Commerce, and Environmental Conservation." They could have done a better job in the environmental department.
Steve Campbell