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After dams, PCBs, Twelve Mile looks to become a blueway

Tonya Maxwell
tmaxwell@citizen-times.com

After a century of being held back by dams, after nearly seven decades of being polluted with industrial chemicals, the Twelve Mile is a river of healing waters.

It is still cutting its own natural path and slowly flushing itself of sediment, but fish, beaver and wading birds have also returned to areas they haven't inhabited since the time Henry Ford's Model T was rolling off assembly lines.

Now advocates are in the early stages of planning Twelve Mile's rebirth as a blueway, a user-friendly paddle trail with several access points and amenities that would make the river friendlier to a host of users.

The effort happens in fits and starts, largely because of funding issues, but tentative plans include more access points for watercraft, signage and information about what the area offers.

One project, nearly complete, is a river map marking areas like Todd Creek Falls, parking lots and whitewater rapids like "Boulder Garden," "Wave Train" and "Pumphouse Rapid," where kayakers can test their skills.

Full-color, the map boasts information boxes on fish and photos of picturesque areas, and is largely the creation of a rag-tag grassroots group, as their leader Scott Pigeon calls the organization dedicated to the Ben Robertson Recreation Area, which includes the river.

"There are plenty of people who hear 'Twelve Mile' and think, 'That's the river that's polluted. That's where they took the dams down," Pigeon said. "I think this is going to be a location for locals who can experience this river in so many different ways. You have a river that hasn't been like this in a hundred years."

The river had been dammed for at least a century, and two of the three structures that have held back its waters were razed in 2011. The effort helped bring the creek back to a more natural state after it had been contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Banned from manufacture in 1979, the chemicals were dumped into Town Creek and flowed downstream into Twelve Mile River from 1955 to 1977.

Thousands of yards of PCB-laced soil were excavated from the former Sangamo-Weston capacitor plant, source of the pollutant. Schlumberger Technology Corp., which later bought the site, has paid for cleanup.

The process of letting the river clean itself of remaining PCBs is going as expected, said Craig Zeller, program manager overseeing the site for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Clean sediment is continually being washed into Lake Hartwell, burying contaminated underlayers. Goals for PCB concentrations in the sediment is one part per million, he said, though a recent report found three of 21 samples were between 1.42 and 1.99 parts per million.

Zeller called them minor blips, possibly the result of further cleanup work completed at the plant site earlier this year. Regulators have been pleased with the progress of the river, and it remains safe for recreational use, though fish taken from the waters shouldn't be eaten.

Talks to remove a third dam, owned by the Easley-Central Water District, have faded, though the company was willing to have it demolished, provided some replacement structure would allow for water storage.

"We beat around for a long period of time whether we should replace it or put other water intakes in. I think we were looking at 6, 7, maybe 8 million dollars. I think at this time everyone has higher priorities elsewhere," said Larry Hudson, commissioner of the district.

Last year, the water district cleared a parking area for water-goers near the dam on Critter Creek Road, and created a path making it easier for kayakers to carry their crafts around the dam.

The dam on the Twelve Mile River is one focus in a study currently examining population of redeye bass throughout several reservoirs and tributaries in the region. Population has been declining rapidly as the native redeye breeds with the introduced Alabama bass, creating a hybrid, said Jean Leitner, a fisheries researcher with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

The research is looking at if pure redeye populations exist higher up in tributaries and how barriers like waterfalls and the Easley-Central dams are preventing the Alabama bass, also known as the spotted bass, from mingling with redeyes.

"The redeye doesn't have the same reputation with anglers as the largemouth," she said "but it's a fun fish to catch."

The redeye and the Twelve Mile River share a similar image problem: Those in the know can't say enough good things, but they have yet to reach wider audiences.

It's the local kayakers who seem have been most attracted to the river so far, tempted by rapids that require higher skill levels, said Chris Starker of Upstate Forever. He welcomes them, but they are just one part of a larger equation.

"We want this river to be for anybody who wants to use that river. It's for the even-tempered kayaker and canoer and the thrill-seeking yahoos alike," he said in a friendly nod to adventurers. "But we want to make sure it's not just the extreme kayakers who use it. When we start seeing more families, and novice paddlers, that's when we have a complete restored river."

Starker, clean water manager for the non-profit, is currently developing a plan he hopes will make an emerging river jewel even more attractive for residents. He is currently seeking funding to create a draft that would look at a host of issues such as access points, safe parking areas, signage and encouraging users to be respectful of the rights of property owners. Once a draft is formulated, he said, it could go to stakeholders like county officials and the public for refinement.

Pigeon's map is also on Starker's desk, and after a few more revisions, he said he plans to seek funding for production, likely on oversized, waterproof paper.

American Whitewater, a nonprofit that promotes both conservation and enjoyment of river rapids, has been documenting Twelve Mile's flows and features for years. Before deciding if he will go on a run, Mark Miller, president of the Foothills Paddling Club, said he typically consults water flow rates on the website.

When the dams were removed, the Twelve Mile became about the only place in the area where a local can catch rapids after work, he said.

"We knew once the dams were removed, it'd really be a nice riverbed under there. It's just a jewel. It has so many rock features that make it great for kayaking," he said. He added that he's seen some hikers and anglers, but so far, it's the kayakers who have been most attracted to the river.

"After the rain brings it up to an optimal level, the riverbed has become cleaner, it has become so defined," he said. "It's really just a great river for everyone."