BY ANNA GUIDO
Enquirer Contributor
Mill Creek restoration efforts in Butler and Hamilton counties have been given a boost by more than $125,000 from the state of Ohio.
The money comes at a time when there is growing concern of the effect downstream of development along the headwaters of Mill Creek in Butler County.
The largest of two grants is $118,825 awarded by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to Mill Creek Restoration Project (MCRP), a private, non-profit group.
The money, from the federal Clean Water Act, will be used primarily to educate officials, developers, property owners and others in Butler County's Union, Liberty and Fairfield townships, and the cities of Fairfield and Hamilton on environmentally sound development practices, MCRP executive director Robin Corathers said.
"We are in critical need of preventive work in Butler County to encourage environmentally sound development," Ms. Corathers said.
The grant also will be usedfor a stream survey and clean-up in Butler County.
Working with MCRP on the two-year project is the Butler Soil and Water Conservation District. Lorna Harrell, Mill Creek project coordinator for the district, said the Butler County agency and MCRP will provide up to 40 percent in matching funds.
The second grant, for $7,500, was awarded by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. This money allows the district to continue for a third year its public awareness efforts in Butler County, which include painting pollution warnings on storm drains.
Warnings -- DUMP NO WASTE, DRAINS TO STREAM -- have already been painted on more than 650 storm drains, Ms. Harrell said.
The Mill Creek basin is a 165-square-mile area in Butler and Hamilton counties laced with streams and drainage ditches that empty into the creek.
Rapid development in the Mill Creek flood plain in southeastern Butler County near West Chester and northern Hamilton County has claimed farmland and open ground that once soaked up rainfall. Recent flooding in Sharonville and Evendale have been attributed in part to this development.
"The goal of our group is education among everyone in the watershed in both counties and community action to clean up and restore Mill Creek," said Lora Alberto, watershed programs coordinator for MCRP.
Mill Creek, which drains into the Ohio River, last year was among the nation's 20 most threatened streams, according to American Rivers, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation group.
"A big part of our education is non-point source pollution -- pollution from agricultural runoff, urban runoff, and soil erosion from developments," Ms. Alberto said.
One way to prevent non-point source pollution, Ms. Alberto said, is to wash cars on lawns, not pavement. This prevents soap, car oil and other pollutants from running into storm sewers. Vegetation on lawns filters out these pollutants, she said.
For more information, call MCRP at 861-7666, or the Butler Soil and Water Conservation District at 887-3720.
