STONY CREEK WATERSHED PROJECT
| The Stony Creek watershed
is located in Washtenaw and Monroe Counties
in southeastern Michigan. The
Water Resources Consortium (WRC)
and the
Institute for Community Development
(ICARD) at
Eastern Michigan University
have been awarded a grant from the
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
to work with stakeholder partners in the development
of a watershed management plan for the Stony
Creek that addresses nonpoint source pollution that degrades
the stream (leading to poor fish and other wildlife populations,
degraded quality for body contact, etc). The
steering committee is holding monthly meetings which
are open to the public (see below for time and place of next
meeting) . The main purpose of this project is to identify the pollutants that wash off the landscape that are causing the greatest harm to water quality. We will then develop a management plan that addresses these problems and outlines suggestions for improving water quality in the watershed. This is the first (necessary) step to apply for state and federal money to pay for improvement projects in the watershed.
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DESIGNATED/DESIRED USES OF STONY CREEK WATERSHED
The steering committee is held responsible
by the state of Michigan for developing a management plan
to protect surface waters for the following designated
uses:
- agriculture
- warmwater fishery
- aquatic life and wildlife
- partial body contact for recreation
- total body contact between May 1 and
October 31
- public water
supply
- industrial water supply
- navigation
The steering committe recognizes that the last two designated uses are not reasonably applicable to the Stony Creek Watershed and will focus attention on the other designated uses.
"Public water supply" is currently limited
to groundwater use by individuals in the Stony Creek Watershed. Residents
of Monroe, MI, intake water from Lake Erie near the mouth of Stony Creek.
In addition, PAINT CREEK (in Washtenaw County)
has been designated as a trout stream and will therefore be
protected as a coldwater fishery and considered an additional designated
use of the that portion of the watershed.
At any time, please contact your township representative or one of the project directors about any of your water quality concerns. Have you noticed fishing isn't as good as it used to be? What happened to the deep pools that used to be in the stream? Have you noticed that the creek has more sand and fewer stones than it used to? Problems with flooding? Do trees keep falling in the creek near your property? Let us know. We are especially interested in hearing about your perceptions of how the creek has changed over time. A list of contact people can be found on the Stony Creek Watershed Steering Committee web page or use the link at the bottom of the page to send us e-mail.
CLICK HERE to see the progress we have made with comments from the last public forum held in April.
NEXT STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
MACROINVERTEBRATE STUDY
The types and variety of macroinvertebrates (insects, etc.) that live in our creeks, help us determine the overall quality of the water in the Stony Creek Watershed. Some macroinvertebrates are sensitive to particular pollutants (such as some stoneflies, mayflies, and caddisflies) and other macroinvertebrates are pollution tolerant (such as the midge larva and the rat-tailed maggot larva).
In order to help determine the overall water quality in the Stony Creek Watershed, we collected macroinvertebrates from 6 locations along Paint and Stony Creeks between Ypsilanti and Monroe on Saturday, June 19 and from 2 additional locations on Thursday, July 1. We are very grateful to the volunteers who generously donated their time to help us pick through stream samples to find macroinvertebrates and to the trained leaders and collectors who led our groups of volunteers in the field. We also thank the Huron River Watershed Council for the use of thier equipment.
The results are posted in the "Water Quality" section of the webpage.
Co-Directors for the Stony Creek Watershed Project:
This project is funded by the Federal Clean Water Act, Section 319, through the Environmental Protection Agency and administered by the Michigan Department of Enviornmental Quality. For more information about the purpose, funding, and administration about this type of project, feel free to follow the following links for more information:
EPA Nonpoint Source Pollution Information
MDEQ Nonpoint Source Pollution Information
(follow link to 319 related information)
Information about Stony Creek and reports on the development of the watershed management plan will be posted to this site as the project progresses. Please stop back often!
If you would like to report information on the Stony Creek or have any questions or concerns about the watershed project, please contact us at Stony Creek Watershed Project.
Page last updated February 2005
by Kevin Gustavson