The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), an independent federal agency established in 1933, is responsible for flood control, energy production, economic development, and natural resource conservation in the Tennessee Valley. TVA serves a geographic area of 80,000 sq mi that includes 125 counties in seven states. The Tennessee River is 652 miles long and is the fifth largest river system in the United States. The necessary components of watershed management for source water protection, as described in Figure 4-1, are aptly demonstrated by several activities of the TVA.

Goal and Objective Setting: The TVA has recently placed a greater emphasis on water quality and has adopted a goal of making the Tennessee river system the cleanest and most productive commercial river system in the United States by the year 2000. To this end, it adopted the Clean Water Initiative in 1993 and, using a watershed approach, it has divided the region into seven subbasins, each with its own self-directing interdisciplinary River Action Team.

Watershed Inventory and Contaminant Assessment: To pinpoint water-quality problems, the River Action Teams are using rapid biological assessment methods and conventional physical and chemical methods in conjunction with aerial photographs and Geographic Information System (GIS) maps. Data and input from other agencies and individuals are being used to characterize the region and improve the health of the watershed.

Protection Strategies: A variety of structural and nonstructural protection strategies are being used to improve water quality in the region, from creation of wetlands for removal of phosphorus in wastewater to installation of pump-out stations on lakes. The strategies that are used differ, depending on the type of pollutant present, the value of the water resource (evaluated by six indicators: human health, ecological integrity of the resource, human use of the resource, ecological integrity of the downstream resource unit, downstream human use, and economic sustainability), and the likelihood of success (as determined by assessing local political, economic, and regulatory realities).

Implementation: The River Action Teams ensure implementation by partnering with federal and state agencies and individual landowners affected by the choice of protection strategies. Successful projects are