Ice storm January 2005 photo by Radek Bolek

Have you ever wondered what happens to the water used to hose off a driveway or sidewalk after mowing the lawn?  Or what happens to the rain water runoff after it saturates a parking lot, highway or rooftop or how the herbicides and pesticides applied to the land affects the quality of water you drink? These are some of the many concerns of the Ottawa River Coalition (ORC). The goal of the ORC is to help educate the public about the importance of water quality and how everyone can contribute by first understanding the sources of contamination and pollution and then actively participating in methods to minimize the amount of pollutants that enter the watershed.

The ORC began its formal membership in 1994.  Members, partners and other volunteers represent many facets of industry, agencies, agriculture, business, engineering, organizations, municipalities and political subdivisions who are actively concerned in the protection and restoration of the watershed where they live and work.  Before continuing with the various functions and activities of the ORC let’s review the definition of a watershed and then outline the watershed the ORC serves.

Perhaps the most important resource available to us is water.  On average the City of Lima (the largest public water system in Allen County, Ohio) water consumption estimate is 21,970,000 gallons per day.  The City of Lima uses six reservoirs for its drinking water supply.  About two thirds of households in Allen County obtain their drinking water from surface water supplies, while the other one third acquires theirs from ground water resources.  Ground water is found under the earth’s surface and comes from rain and melting snow that penetrates the soil and fills cracks between rock and soil making aquifers.  Some people rely on public utilities to treat the drinking water for consumption and some people obtain their drinking water from private wells that tap into the aquifers that contain ground water.  Ground water or aquifer recharge occurs within watersheds.  A watershed or drainage basin is an area of land that drains to a common point such as a river, lake or other water body. 

Allen, Harding and Putnam are the primary counties in northwest Ohio where the ORC watershed drainage area is located and encompasses approximately 372 square miles.  There are also two other counties:  Auglaize and Hancock that contain a small portion of the watershed.  The ORC watershed drains to the Ottawa River which originates in Hardin County at Hog Creek near Ada and continues westerly through Lima in Allen County before turning north and then into Putnam County before emptying into the Auglaize River between the Villages of Kalida and Cloverdale.  The Auglaize River continues flowing until it reaches Defiance where it drains into the Maumee River and the Maumee River ultimately drains into Lake Erie . 

Rivers, including the Ottawa River are commonly used for drainage, irrigation, and waste water treatment plant discharges.  What ultimately ends up in the river from these uses is extremely vital to our drinking water supply.  Rain water that flows from the agricultural sectors into the river carries with it residues from the chemicals used in farming including pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.  Rain water that flows from roadways and parking lots flow to storm drains carrying with it oil, grease and salt residues that eventually reach the river.  Discharges from the manufacturing and industrial businesses contain chemicals that are used to produce its products and services.  And recently the media released information about our nation’s drinking water supplies containing traces of pharmaceutical drugs (two possible sources – a highly medicated population and flushing expired and/or unused medicines down the toilet).  These are the same rivers that we count on to recharge surface water and ground water supplies that we ultimately consume.  The OEPA regulates industry and wastewater treatment plant facilities that discharge directly to a river under the Clean Water Act.  However, over 90 percent of the pollution that enters the tributaries, streams and rivers is from non-point discharges (from rain and snow melt, for example).  Non-point discharges enter streams and lakes by going directly in or through untreated storm drains.

This is why the Ottawa River Coalition evolved and developed its mission:  “To promote the wise management and use of the Ottawa River and its watershed as a valuable community resource”.  Beth Seibert has been the ORC coordinator since its inception.  With the strong leadership and commitment from Beth the ORC has promoted public awareness and education of the importance of improving water quality.  The ORC is comprised of seven sections or groups that work together to achieve the mission.  The groups include:  The Executive Committee, The Monitoring Committee, The Watershed Committee, The Community Relations Committee, The Stormwater Committee, The Septic Issues Committee and The Fund Raising Committee.  These committees meet individually several times a year to set goals and schedule activities to actively take a role in improving and preserving the quality of the watershed.   The ORC meets together with all its committee members on a bi-monthly basis.

The Ottawa River has been designated as a warm water habitat and has several impaired segments.  Some of the impaired segments are downstream from the City of Lima and these segments contain elevated levels of metals, while others have dissolved oxygen levels falling below attainment levels especially during the summer months.  It is the objective of the monitoring committee to identify pollutant and analyte trends specific to individual monitoring sites and sub-watersheds and expand upon the data collected by the OEPA.  The OEPA collects samples and performs assessments of the Ottawa River in a periodic cycle (typically every 5 years).  The next OEPA scheduled study will occur sometime in 2010.

The monitoring committee thru the help of its volunteers performed river sampling and on-site field analysis from 1995 – 2003 and was partially funded by a government 319 Grant.  Monitoring included 20 sites, nine of which were located in tributaries and the other 11 sites were located in the main channel of the Ottawa River .  The volunteers chose one or more of the designated sampling sites as identified by the ORC and were trained by Beth and other committee members on the procedures of collection, preservation and submittal to a local laboratory for analysis of chromium, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, ammonia, total suspended solids, nitrate/nitrite and phosphorus.  Volunteers were supplied with standard operating procedures to perform on-site analysis with testing kits supplied by the ORC.  These on-site determinations included pH, Dissolved oxygen, temperature and visual observations. The sampling was performed weekly in the months of March through September.  A result of the monitoring program has been the identification of individual tributaries which are contributing a considerable pollutant load to the river system.   The volunteers have

been indispensable in communicating with the individual communities and neighbors on just how valuable the Ottawa River is to the watershed and its people.

The Community Relations Committee is actively involved with an educational public media campaign titled “This Is My River” and aimed at increasing the awareness of non-point discharge causes and resolutions via radio and television PSAs.  Previous outreach programs have included mailings and postcards with pictures and messages emphasizing water as an important resource and coordinated educational programs with youth and adult organizations including storm drain stenciling projects.  The ORC and the Lima Allen County Neighborhoods in Partnership just recently completed its annual Ottawa River Cleanup on April 26^th. 

Currently, The Allen County Storm Water Partnership is assisted by Beth Seibert to help implement The Storm Water Management Plan as required by the USEPA Phase II Storm Water Rule.  Under the Phase II Final Rule, the USEPA endorsed a watershed approach to the management of storm water.  The area in Allen County that falls under this mandate includes approximately 40.6 square miles of urbanized land and all of this urbanized land is contained within the Ottawa River water shed.  The Coalition was a partner in developing the local storm water management plans.  The ultimate goal of Allen County Storm Water Partnership is to reduce the levels of pollutants entering the Ottawa River Watershed and its receiving waters.

It’s important that we all get involved with our local watershed efforts.  There are currently over 100 Watershed Groups in Ohio .  Information about these groups can be found at the following website:  http://ohiowatersheds.osu.edu/groups/wgp_all.php

For additional information about the Ottawa River Coalition please contact Beth Seibert at beth@allenswcd.com

Written By: Marcy Bolek – Alloway
Photos By:  Radek Bolek - Alloway