In March 2019 the Jasper and Newton County SWCDs were jointly awarded a grant from the
Indiana Department of Environmental Management for over $197,000. The grant funds
will be used to study and create a Watershed Management Plan for parts of Jasper
County and Newton County in Indiana that drain into the Lower Kankakee River. The
purpose of a Watershed Management Plan is gain an understanding of the hydrology
and water quality and how they are impacted by human activities. Following the
development of a WMP, further grant funds can be sought to identify solutions and
implement practices to improve water quality to improve the quality of life for the local
citizens, as well as for those downstream.
During the grant’s first quarter we have:
formed a Steering Committee (local stakeholders within the watershed),
written a Quality Assurance Project Plan that was approved by IDEM,
completed a historic analysis of existing water quality data
finalized the social indicator survey that will be mailed to all landowners in the
watershed to identify further resource concerns,
developed the first draft of the Watershed Management Plan for elements 1-3,
created a project website,
completed the Windshield Survey,
and submitted our first quarter report to the Indiana Department of Environmental
Management.
Here is a brief summary of the historical data analysis for the watershed provided by
Lana Zimmer, PhD, Jasper County SWCD Vice-Chair:
“As part of the LKWI grant, the Arion Consulting Group completed a compilation of all the historic water quality data in the Lower Kankakee River Basin. Reports from USGS, EPA, NRCS, IDEM, IDNR and Jasper County SWCD were reviewed and the following significant results were reported based on existing water quality data that has been collected over the last decade:
USGS 2019
Phosphorus exceeded targets in 93% samples
Nitrates exceeded targets in 68% samples
Turbidity (soil suspended in water) in 94% samples
Consistently, the entire region is not well suited to traditional septic systems due
to high water table or unsuitable soil types
IDEM 2018
Elevated levels of E.coli (bacteria), nitrates, phosphorus in 41% of samples
High turbidity in 93% of samples
Index of biological integrity (IBI) below targets in 8 of 13 sites (fish health)
Habitat for organisms below targets in 7 of 9 sites (supports fish and what feeds
them)
JCSWCD 2010
High E.coli levels in 11 of 14 samples
One round of water testing has been completed in 2019, which supports earlier
data
IDNR - Hoosier Riverwatch
Elevated nitrates in 23 of 33 samples
High turbidity
Elevated E.coli in 3 of 23 samples
Pollution Tolerance Index (related to life in the streams) showed reach rate to
river from fair to good
Arion Consulting also did a windshield survey and viewed satellite imagery and
concluded that there is a lack of stream buffers and bank erosion consistently
throughout the three HUC 10 watersheds. They also analyzed each of the twelve HUC
12 sub-watersheds and completed a detailed analysis, which is available for review at
the Jasper County SWCD office in Rensselaer.
A majority of issues that were identified in the windshield survey fell into five categories:
1) stream buffers limited in width or lacking altogether (796 miles of streams), areas of
livestock access (1.7 miles), streambank erosion (26.6 miles of stream), dumping areas,
and unregulated farms.
In response to the historic review and windshield survey conducted by Arion Consulting,
the list of resource concerns has been refined and revised to an extent. Please bear in
mind that how those concerns are framed will impact how we move forward with the
next grant for implementation of best management practices”.
Local stakeholders created the following preliminary list of resource concerns that were
identified using the historic data, satellite imagery, and observations from the
Windshield Survey from Arion Consulting Group:
Capacity of Stream and Soils to Retain Water
Flooding: Quantity of Water is Periodically High
Groundwater Protection from Unsafe Levels of Bacteria (E.coli)
High Nutrient Levels and Turbidity in Streams
Unsafe to Fish/Fish Not Safe to Eat; Water Quality that Doesn’t Support Life in
the Streams
Farmers Perceived as Polluters