Sarah Hippensteel Hall, PhD

Manager, Watershed Partnerships

October 2014

Ohio’s Great Miami River Watershed

4,000 mi² / 15 counties

1.5 million residents

Major rivers:

Great Miami River

Stillwater River

Mad River

Excellent & abundant groundwater

> 70% of land use is in agriculture

Ohio’s Great Corridor “Vibrant city

waterfronts …land & water trails… picturesque farmland… exquisite natural areas.”

Annual River Summit

What’s GREAT about it? Cities protected from flooding

Water abundance

Excellent drinking water

Protected greenspace

World class fishing

Water & recreation trails

Economic opportunities

Our aquifer!

Ohio’s Great Corridor…key to workforce attraction & retention 300+ miles of recreation trails

270+ miles of water trails

River corridor access

Economic impact of outdoor recreation Nationally

6.1 million direct American jobs

$646 billion in direct consumer spending

$39.9 billion in federal tax revenue

Ohio:

$17.4 billion in direct consumer spending

$1.3 billion in state/local tax revenue

Piqua – 1.7 Million

Troy –2 Million

Dayton – 60+ Million

West Carrollton – 10 Million

Miamisburg – 20 Million

Middletown –1 Million

Hamilton –4.9 Million

US Army Corps of Engineers – largest ever riverfront study

New investment in Ohio’s Great Corridor

Dayton Water Street Development

Dayton…the hub of Ohio’s Great Corridor

Dayton…the hub of Ohio’s Great Corridor

What’s the problem? Too many nutrients

Downstream

Great Miami River

Watershed

Gulf hypoxia

Watershed Total Nitrogen Total Phosphorus

Upper Great Miami 27th 289th

Lower Great Miami 31st 58th

USGS load rankings for 818 subwatersheds (HUC8s) of the Gulf of Mexico

From: Supplement to Robertson et. al., 2009 Journal of the American Water Resources Association

Are we meeting water quality goals? Of our monitored streams:

Yes = 58.8%

Almost = 19.8%

No = 21.4%

Primary causes:

Nutrients

Sediment

Changes to shape of stream channel

New infographic

What’s the solution? Reduce nutrients

Market-based solution • WWTP upgrades = $422.5 million

• Trading = $46.5 million – Agriculture practices = $37.8 million – Data collection & transaction costs = $8.7 million

• Citizens & businesses save $376 million

Nutrient reducing projects Cover Crops

Conservation tillage

Rotation

Cover crops

Milk house/cow lot

Pasture seeding/prescribed grazing

Sod

Hayland

Manure storage

Filter strips

Grid sampling

Better environmental results Reduce nutrient impairment

Reduce other pollutants

Create habitat

Provide cooling effects

Enhance streambank stability

Decrease flow velocity

Create wetlands

Protect floodplains

Increase assimilative capacity

Benefit energy/greenhouse gases

Founding Investor’s Group City of Dayton

Butler County

Tri-Cities (Huber Heights, Vandalia, and Tipp City)

City of Englewood

City of Union

Pilot Program 11 reverse auctions (“rounds”)

Projects = 397

Nutrient reductions > 572 tons

Payment total = $1.697 million

Cost < $1.48 per lb.

Founding Investor’s Group

MCD’s origins

• Great flood of 1913

• Ohio Conservancy Act

– Signed into law in 1914

– Watershed-based political subdivision

– Broad authority primarily for water-related purposes

• MCD established 1915

Flood Protection 5 flow-through dams

55 Miles of levees

Protection to all cities from Piqua to Hamilton

Floodplain preservation 400,000 trees

Preserves behind each dam

And now? Public policy and regulation can be a barrier to

solutions.