ABOUT THE UPPER CUMBERLAND RIVER WATERSHED

The Cumberland River watershed covers more than 18,000 square miles thru portions of southeast Kentucky, north central Tennessee and western Kentucky. The main stem of the river begins near Harlan, Kentucky and stretches for 697 miles before spilling into the Ohio River near Smithland, Kentucky. Along this route it impounded 5 times to form Lake Cumberland, Cordell Hull Lake, Old Hickory Lake, Cheatham Lake and Lake Barkley.

The Upper Cumberland River watershed is the portion of this watershed located primarily in southeast Kentucky. About 300 miles of the main stem of the Cumberland River drain the watershed including about 110 miles of Lake Cumberland. That is just the 'backbone' of the watershed. There are more than 10,000 miles of streams and creeks. Some of the major streams that feed into the Cumberland River or Lake Cumberland include: Big South Fork, Rockcastle, Buck Creek, Clear Fork, Laurel River and many more. Each of these streams are fed by countless creeks.  The see a downloadable map of the Upper Cumberland – click here

Threats to water quality...

There are numerous sources of pollution that threaten water quality in the watershed.    

• Human and Animal Waste

• Historical and Active Mining

• Agriculture

• Logging

• Permitted Discharges