MSU receives Non-Point Source Pollution grant
Morehead State University has been awarded a five-year Non-Point Source Pollution grant from the Kentucky Division of Water and United States Environmental Protection Agency. The total of the grant, including match, is $1.1 million.
This project represents a major collaborative effort between the Institute for Regional Analysis and Public Policy (IRAPP), Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Earth System Science at MSU. An important element of this project involves collaborative partnerships between MSU and the City of Morehead, Rowan County Fiscal Court, Rowan County Health Department, Morehead Utility Plant Board, Kentucky Division of Water, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Agricultural Extension Service, Licking River Basin Team, Licking River Watershed Watch, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the USDA Forest Service.
The goal of the grant is to improve the quality of surface waters in the Triplett Creek watershed, hopefully to the extent that impaired streams can be removed from the state’s Division of Water’s impaired waterways list. Triplett Creek has been listed as impaired under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act and is on the state’s first priority list. It does not support primary contact (swimming), but partially supports aquatic life.
Documented pollutants include pathogens, nutrients, organic enrichments/low dissolved oxygen, and sediment. Sedimentation has resulted in the degradation of the waterway’s ability to support aquatic life and has reduced the amount of water that channels are able to carry during flood events.
Two of the tributaries of Triplett Creek, Christy Creek and Dry Creek, are on the state’s second priority list. Both partially support aquatic life and are polluted by sediment. Dry Creek also is polluted by nutrients and Christy Creek is listed as being polluted by unknowns. The North Fork of Triplett Creek is not listed; however, observations by citizens and measurements by MSU biologists and geologists suggest that serious water quality issues exist and that stream bank instability and erosion is common.
The primary means of achieving the stated goal will be the development and implementation of a watershed-based plan that prioritizes best management practices designed to reduce pollutants. IRAPP will coordinate efforts by all partners and arrange educational and participation workshops for interested citizens in Rowan County.
MSU biologists and geologists, who have studied water quality in the Triplett Creek watershed for the past 20 years, will monitor water quality before and after implementation of best management practices. The grant is a significant contribution to fulfilling MSU’s mission to assist regional partners in efforts to act as better stewards of our natural and human resources. In this way, MSU can give back to the community while simultaneously providing practical, hands-on educational opportunities for students in the fields of ecology, environmental science, geography, geology, microbiology, and public policy.
The grant was co-written by April Haight, director of the Center for Environmental Education; Dr. Geoffrey Gearner, professor of biology; Dr. Steven Reid, associate professor of geology; and Dr. Christine McMichael, IRAPP assistant professor of geography.
Haight, who will serve as the project director, can be reached at (606) 783-2455 or by e-mail to a.haight@moreheadstate.edu.
Posted 10-30-07
