Thursday, December 16, 1999
Butler seeks livelier Mill Creek
Grant to help clean water at its source
BY ANNA GUIDO
Enquirer Contributor
Environmental officials in Butler County want the headwaters of the Mill Creek to be clean and teeming with aquatic life.
A $100,000 grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will help officials reach this goal, and possibly avert more costly measures.
In February, the Butler County Department of Environmental Services will begin restoring habitat in parts of the Mill Creek in Union, Liberty and Fairfield townships.
Stabilizing the stream banks by replacing invasive plants with native plants will be one of the first actions.
“Improving the habitat is critical because the stream channel has a very uniform bottom,” department director Tony Parrott said. Insufficient habitat causes stress to aquatic life “and is the primary cause for low biological activity.”
Mr. Parrott said he does not know whether the creek's channelized condition occurred naturally or if it was done by the Army Corps of Engineers for better drainage.
The project will cost about $250,000 and should be completed by late spring.
“This is a very, very important project for us,” Mr. Parrott said. If there are no apparent improvements in the aquatic life, more costly changes will have to be made at the Upper Mill Creek Water Reclamation Facility, he said.
The facility improvements would have to be in place by 2004. This work would cost about $6 million and would result in higher sewer rates, Mr. Parrott said.
“Our primary mission is to improve the environmental, aesthetic, recreational and economic aspects of the Mill Creek in an integrated manner,” said Nancy Elwood, administrator of the Mill Creek Watershed Council. “So we're pleased to see that the Butler County Department of Environmental Services is involved in the restoration of aquatic habitat in the east fork.”
Business and industry adjacent to the creek also will be asked to join the effort.
“Once the work is completed this spring, we'll do some sampling of runoff from various sites and may want to make some improvements to these areas to improve runoff,” Mr. Parrott said. “We're not looking just at the stream itself, but what's coming into the stream.”
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