Lumber River
By: Alex Sanchez, Jaren Smith, and Kadrianna Greene
Where is the river located
The Lumber River is located in South Central-North Carolina in the flat coastal plain. The rivers headwaters are known as drowning creek: the waterway known as the Lumber River extends from Scotland county-hoke county border, 115 miles downstream to the North Carolina-South Carolina border. Soon after crossing into South Carolina the Lumber River flows into the Little Pee Dee River, which eventually flows into the Great Pee Dee River and on into Winyah Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
Features:
1.How Many Miles of Streams and Rivers are included in the Basin? 2,283 miles
2. How many people live in the basin? 472,276 people
3. 5 important places: Lumberton, Laurinburg, whiteville, and georgetown.
Plants:
Venus Flytrap: Catches it's prey with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves, which is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces.
Pitcher Plant: are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as the prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive fluid liquid.
Aquatic Organisms:
Lumber River Basin also contains three animals on the state Endangered Species List—the yellow lampmussel and Savannah lilliput, both freshwater mussels, and the West Indian manatee, a visitor to coastal estuaries.
Land Organisms:
NonPoint Source Pollution:
For now, the water quality in the basin’s streams and rivers is good enough to support swimming and boating as well as shellfish harvesting in some estuary areas. There are some fish species, however, that have been contaminated by mercury. Power plant and incinerator emissions are important sources of this pollutant. Certain household and medical wastes also contain mercury. State officials advise limited consumption of largemouth bass, chain pickerel and bowfin throughout the basin because of high levels of mercury in their flesh.
Point Source Pollution:
Another concern in the basin is that many shellfishing areas in coastal rivers are closed due to high levels of fecal coliform bacteria. This kind of bacteria indicates contamination from animal, and possibly human, waste. Runoff from animal lots and outdated or malfunctioning septic systems are potential sources of contamination.
Solutions:
A solution to the pollution in the water is to get the community to work together and try to keep the water clean and try to help it to always able to be drinkable. Creating a really good filtering unit is a good idea too. Another solution is to catch the fish that are contaminated with mercury and put them in a isolated location and de-contaminate them. Another solution is to create a special location for all the run-off to go to and keep it from mixing with the water in the basin.