Our watershed area
The watersheds to be addressed in our watershed management plan are Fourteen Mile Creek and Goose Creek-OH River (Indiana portion). These watersheds together cover 108,193 acres located in eastern portions of Clark County, the southeastern corner of Scott County, and southwestern corner of Jefferson County. Impaired Category 5A water bodies, per the EPA's 303(d) List, are found in four locations in the watershed: Dry Branch-Fourteen Mile Creek (INN0179_00), East Fork Unnamed Tributary (INN0171_T1002), Yankee Creek (INN017A_00), and Rogers Run-Fourteen Mile Creek (INN017_02). All these water bodies are impaired for E.coli; East Fork, in addition, is impaired for biotic communities, and dissolved oxygen. The waters of Fourteen Mile Creek and Goose Creek discharge into the Ohio River, which is also on the EPA's 303(d) List.
The land cover in the central and northern portion of the combined watersheds is evenly split between agricultural (row crop and pasture) and forest vegetation shrubland, woodland, forest). A small percentage of this area is urban (impervious, low density), wetland (Palustrine: forest, shrubland, herbaceous), and open water. The southern portion of these watersheds consists of an increasingly larger urban area. Six thousand acres of this area, part of the U.S. Army's now abandoned Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, was recently signed over to the Local Reuse Authority to lease for commercial/industrial development. The largest tenant acquired to date just completed a 1 million square foot facility (read "impervious facility"). Given these land uses, runoff of pesticides, nutrients and sediment, from agricultural as well as urban sources, can be assumed to be significant contributors to the degradation of water quality in the watersheds.
The majority of the land in the watersheds is farmland of average (80-100 acres) and small (<25 acres) tracts. As research for our management plan application, we conducted a windshield survey of the watersheds in October 2012, and found that many of the smaller tracts contain horses or cattle. There were a few instances of livestock access to streams and of overstocking pastures. These were not in the immediate area of E.coli impaired streams, but would lead us to question the possibility that those streams are also contaminated. At the time of our survey, the majority of crops had been removed from farmed land. It appeared to us that approximately 50% of the ground had been re-seeded in cover crops, leaving, of course, the other 50% as candidate for erosion. Assessment Units INN0179_00 and INN017A_00, both impaired for E.coli, are located in an area where grazing land is/has been the predominant land use; livestock waste would have to be considered as a source of contamination there. E. coli contamination from failed/mismanaged septic systems in all of the impaired streams in our watersheds cannot be ruled out. These streams are located in areas where septics are the primary means of human waste disposal; the majority of the soils around them have been proven to be problematic for this type of disposal, due to restricted permeability, depth to bedrock, or depth to saturated zones. It is of concern to note that of the three Nature
Preserves located in our watersheds - Nine Penny Branch, Chelsea Flatwoods, and Fourteenmile Creek - Assessment Unit INN0179_00 meanders through two
of them (Nine Penny Branch and Fourteenmile Creek).
According to the Clark County Soil Survey, several soil types found in these watersheds have a karst component. Karst is defined as a landscape with topographic depressions such as sinkholes and caves, caused by underground solution of limestone bedrock. This landscape features underground streams and aquifers which supply many wells and springs used for drinking water. The hollow nature of karst terrain results in a very high pollution potential, because streams and surface runoff entering sinkholes or caves bypass natural filtration through the soil and provide direct conduits for contaminants. Groundwater can travel quite rapidly through these underground networks and contaminants can be transmitted quickly to wells and springs in the vicinity. This adds a degree of difficulty to our project, as we will truly be searching for a "point" of the "nonpoint" source pollution.
Many of the waterbodies in the northern portion of Fourteen Mile Creek watershed were affected by an E-4 tornado that struck on March 2, 2012. With the destruction from the tornado of riparian zones, and the resulting clean-up efforts to remove downed vegetation from those zones, it can be assured that habitat of microbial and other wildlife was impacted to varying degrees. It will take some time for this habitat to re-establish so that these streams can be healthy again.
The land cover in the central and northern portion of the combined watersheds is evenly split between agricultural (row crop and pasture) and forest vegetation shrubland, woodland, forest). A small percentage of this area is urban (impervious, low density), wetland (Palustrine: forest, shrubland, herbaceous), and open water. The southern portion of these watersheds consists of an increasingly larger urban area. Six thousand acres of this area, part of the U.S. Army's now abandoned Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, was recently signed over to the Local Reuse Authority to lease for commercial/industrial development. The largest tenant acquired to date just completed a 1 million square foot facility (read "impervious facility"). Given these land uses, runoff of pesticides, nutrients and sediment, from agricultural as well as urban sources, can be assumed to be significant contributors to the degradation of water quality in the watersheds.
The majority of the land in the watersheds is farmland of average (80-100 acres) and small (<25 acres) tracts. As research for our management plan application, we conducted a windshield survey of the watersheds in October 2012, and found that many of the smaller tracts contain horses or cattle. There were a few instances of livestock access to streams and of overstocking pastures. These were not in the immediate area of E.coli impaired streams, but would lead us to question the possibility that those streams are also contaminated. At the time of our survey, the majority of crops had been removed from farmed land. It appeared to us that approximately 50% of the ground had been re-seeded in cover crops, leaving, of course, the other 50% as candidate for erosion. Assessment Units INN0179_00 and INN017A_00, both impaired for E.coli, are located in an area where grazing land is/has been the predominant land use; livestock waste would have to be considered as a source of contamination there. E. coli contamination from failed/mismanaged septic systems in all of the impaired streams in our watersheds cannot be ruled out. These streams are located in areas where septics are the primary means of human waste disposal; the majority of the soils around them have been proven to be problematic for this type of disposal, due to restricted permeability, depth to bedrock, or depth to saturated zones. It is of concern to note that of the three Nature
Preserves located in our watersheds - Nine Penny Branch, Chelsea Flatwoods, and Fourteenmile Creek - Assessment Unit INN0179_00 meanders through two
of them (Nine Penny Branch and Fourteenmile Creek).
According to the Clark County Soil Survey, several soil types found in these watersheds have a karst component. Karst is defined as a landscape with topographic depressions such as sinkholes and caves, caused by underground solution of limestone bedrock. This landscape features underground streams and aquifers which supply many wells and springs used for drinking water. The hollow nature of karst terrain results in a very high pollution potential, because streams and surface runoff entering sinkholes or caves bypass natural filtration through the soil and provide direct conduits for contaminants. Groundwater can travel quite rapidly through these underground networks and contaminants can be transmitted quickly to wells and springs in the vicinity. This adds a degree of difficulty to our project, as we will truly be searching for a "point" of the "nonpoint" source pollution.
Many of the waterbodies in the northern portion of Fourteen Mile Creek watershed were affected by an E-4 tornado that struck on March 2, 2012. With the destruction from the tornado of riparian zones, and the resulting clean-up efforts to remove downed vegetation from those zones, it can be assured that habitat of microbial and other wildlife was impacted to varying degrees. It will take some time for this habitat to re-establish so that these streams can be healthy again.