What is watershed management?
Watershed management is a comprehensive approach to managing and protecting a watershed’s natural resources—such as rivers, streams, aquifers, and surrounding lands—to promote long-term sustainability, health, and resilience. It involves coordinating actions to balance the needs of communities, agriculture, industry, and wildlife within the watershed, focusing on preserving water quality, ensuring flood protection, supporting biodiversity, and encouraging sustainable land use practices. This approach includes community engagement, education, and policy-making to foster a shared responsibility for water, thereby safeguarding both the environment and human communities that rely on these resources for health, recreation, and economic prosperity.
For the Miami Conservancy District, watershed management is critical to mitigating flood risk through infrastructure like dams and levees and increasing public awareness, fostering stewardship, and promoting recreation. These efforts help communities remain resilient, connected to their water resources, and active stewards of their environment.
MCD leads with research and insight, enabling people living and working within the Great Miami River Watershed to make safe, sustainable choices that reduce the impact on our water.
What we do
- Work to improve water quality and quantity
- Study human impact on rivers, streams and aquifers
- Share analyses, information and data
- Increase public awareness of water’s value
- Provide strategic leadership
Learn more about our water stewardship
Recent Projects
- Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework for the Prices Creek Watershed
The Miami Conservancy District supported the Preble County Soil and Water Conservation District to develop a conservation planning framework. This framework is a tool that combines high-resolution terrain, drainage, soils, land use, and cropland data to determine potential locations for best management practices atht he field scale, and helps engage farming communities in watershed conservation efforts.
- 9-Element Nonpoint Source Implementation Strategy for Beavercreek and Little Beavercreek Watersheds
The Miami Conservancy District provided technical assistance to the Little Miami River Watershed Network by participating on steering committees, conducting watershed tours, and identifying shovel-ready projects that will help reduce causes of water quality impairment.
- Reduce nutrient and sediment impairment in the Stillwater River Watershed
This performance-based cost share program offers voluntary financial incentives to farmers to use best management practices to reduce nutrient runoff from farmland. The Ohio State University, Stillwater Watershed Project and the Natural Resources Conservation Service partnered on this project. Payments are dependent on measurable achievement of water quality improvements.
- Reduce nutrient and sediment impairment in the Loramie Creek Watershed
An innovative two-stage ditch was constructed to demonstrate its ability to decrease sediment and nutrient transport, improve drainage and ecological function, increase ditch stability and reduce maintenance requirements. Along with MCD, The Ohio State University and the Loramie Valley Alliance partnered on this project.
- Helping communities improve land use plans, zoning, and policies
Cost-share incentives were provided to communities and organizations to implement innovative low impact development strategies to assist with NPDES Phase II stormwater management requirements, water resource protection related to development, and water impairment issues. Read more about the Building Our Future program.
Local Demonstration Projects
The Miami Conservancy District has built several projects that protect water resources. These projects are guided by three principles: broad stakeholder involvement, environmental results, and market incentives. MCD partnered with local communities, universities, and nonprofit organizations to implement projects in the Great Miami River Watershed. These projects demonstrate that low impact development practices are effective in the Miami Valley. Local projects include the following practices:
