Friday, April 17th, 2015
Coordinator to check the Wabash for changes
By Nancy Allen
The Grand Lake/Wabash Watershed Alliance coordinator plans to use new monitoring equipment to see if the Wabash River's water quality has improved in the last 10 years.
Board members on Thursday agreed to spend $2,450 for two pieces of equipment that will be used on the Wabash River and other local waterways.
The Optical Dissolved Oxygen Meter measures dissolved oxygen levels and the Colorimeter measures nitrate, phosphate and ammonia levels in water, coordinator Abbey Tobe said.
She plans to take weekly water samples at four public locations along the river starting in June. She expects to pull samples through the fall. She has not yet identified the sampling sites but they likely will be at bridges over the river, she said.
"We're going to get readings to compare with Total Maximum Daily Loads in the (Ohio EPA) report released in 2004," Tobe said. "We want to stress that we are not going to be targeting people. We want to compare the data to 10 years ago and see how we're doing."
A TMDL study determines how much pollution is in a waterway and then calculates how much must be removed to meet Federal Clean Water Act standards for fishable, swimmable and drinkable water. The U.S. EPA required all states with impaired watersheds to develop TMDL reports for those watersheds.
She also plans to contact other groups to see how their water monitoring programs operate.
The SWCD office also will use the monitoring equipment as needed to investigate pollution complaints, she said.
Board members also,
• learned from Tobe the first rain barrel program April 9 at the county fairgrounds in Celina went well. Twenty-eight people enrolled and 35 people attended. Participants were allowed to bring family and friends, Tobe said.
• agreed to allocate $100 to the Hoof It program at the Mercer County Fair. The scavenger hunt is sponsored by Mercer Health and the Farm Bureau and includes 12 educational stations. One of the stations is staffed by SWCD employees.
• agreed to spend $75 for a large magnetic sign with information about the Mercer SWCD that will hang on the side of the Freedom Train, which will visit Montezuma this year.
• learned the annual lawn and garden soil sampling program has begun. People living in the Grand Lake Watershed can pick up a voucher at the SWCD office in Celina at a cost of $5 to have their soil samples tested.
