Watershed planning and assessment are essential to prioritization of potential projects, development of an overall watershed restoration strategy, and establishment of baseline data. The Monday Creek Restoration Project uses a variety of tools, including assessments, monitoring, and planning strategies.

Water Quality Assessment

In cooperation with the US Forest Service and The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, we are currently collecting data using three different water sampling methods. These include:

1. A reconnaissance of every tributary to determine the sources of pollutants, along with cataloging and mapping each,
2. a long-term monitoring project to gather detailed water quality data at 10 discrete sites, and
3. the collection of stream data from USGS gauging stations.

Real-time information from this site can be obtained on the internet at www-oh.er.usgs.gov. Chose:

1. water quality data, then
2. historic surface water data, then
3. when prompted chose station number 03158195.

Additional Assessment and Planning

Long-term planning is essential toward reaching our goals. This process involves several layers of comprehensive planning including:

1.  The Acid Mine Drainage Abatement and Treatment (AMDAT) Plan, which focuses on prioritized acid mine drainage remediation strategies. The AMDAT Plan is a water quality improvement plan designed to identify sources of mine drainage pollution (AMD) and provide data to assist us in our efforts to reduce the AMD problem. The AMDAT Plan characterizes the Monday Creek watershed as a single hydrologic unit, which opens the door for funding through Ohio’s Council on Unreclaimed Strip Mined Lands (CURSML).

2.  The Monday Creek Comprehensive Management Plan. With assistance from the Integrated Environmental Management Division of the US EPA, we developed a comprehensive Management Plan for the watershed. Based on the input from the Friends of Monday Creek and technical assistance from our partners, the plan details thirteen goals with accompanying objectives, action strategies, and indicators that provide a clear and concise vision for the future of the Monday Creek watershed.

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