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By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D.,Manager for Watershed Partnerships Last month we discussed how green development can reduce flooding, save money, reduce energy use, and improve public health. This month we want to key in on a few of the more popular green development practices and their incentives. Rain gardens filter out pollutants a ...
By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships Could your land use plan be holding back your community? It could if you’re not focusing on balancing water protection with land development. This region is averaging about 4 more inches of precipitation per year than it did 30 years ago. Stronger storms, ...
By Mike Ekberg, MCD manager for water resources monitoring and analysis Did you know MCD tracks precipitation, groundwater levels, and flow in rivers and streams? This information helps MCD and its partner agencies with flood forecasting, groundwater quantity monitoring, and understanding water movement into and out of the Great Miami Ri ...
By Angela Manuszak, Special Projects Coordinator Many everyday items that make life easier were invented in the Dayton region. The airplane. The pop-top can. The cash register. Dayton is also home to some pretty amazing, more natural creations, too, namely, our rivers – and the hiking and biking trails near them. And whil ...
By Mike Ekberg, MCD manager for water resources monitoring and analysis There may a silent killer lurking in private wells used for drinking water. Recent groundwater studies in our region show that drinking water in up to 20 percent of private wells contains high levels of arsenic. Long-term exposure to arsenic through dr ...
By Mike Ekberg, MCD manager for water resources monitoring and analysis You may have heard me say this before—southwest Ohio is water rich. We have abundant, high-quality, water when compared with other parts of our country and the world. Yet, our region is not without challenges in managing water. Here are five water trends that m ...
El Niño gone/ La Niña here Winter 2016-2017 is upon the Dayton region, and from the looks of things it’s likely to be very different winter than winter 2015-2016. A major reason for the change is the strong El Niño conditions which persisted throughout winter 2015-2016 are gone. La Niña conditions have t ...
By Mike Ekberg,Manager for Water Resources Monitoring and Analysis None of us wants to throw thousands of dollars down the drain or put our family’s health at risk. But if you have a septic system and don’t maintain it, you could be doing just that. It costs only $250 to $300 every four years to maintain your septic ...
By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Manager for Watershed Partnerships Have you ever tried to live a day or even a half day without water? No morning shower, no morning coffee, no washing your clothes. Those are the simple inconveniences. But it’s more than that. No water for the doctor to wash her hands before treating you. No water f ...
By Mike Ekberg,Manager for Water Resources Monitoring and Analysis In my August 1, blogpost, "Climate Change: Is It Real?" we noted that our climate is always changing. Some people want to debate the cause, but that’s not nearly as important as planning for the changes that are expected. A warming trend will amplify the extremes in ...
By Mike Ekberg,Manager for Water Resources Monitoring and Analysis Is climate change for real? Is the world getting warmer, or is all this talk about a warming climate just a bunch of hooey? Let’s consider some recent findings. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), June 2016 was the warmest June ev ...
By Mike Ekberg,Manager for Water Resources Monitoring and Analysis Do you like to canoe, kayak, or row on the Great Miami River? Have you ever flipped your boat and ended up soaked with a mouthful of river water? Did you worry about getting sick? River users frequently ask me, "Is the water safe?" The answer is yes, in most cases. ...
By Mike Ekberg, Manager for Water Resources Monitoring and Analysis Groundwater levels in the aquifer beneath downtown Dayton fluctuate throughout the year. Locally, groundwater levels often peak in winter or spring and decline to their annual low in the fall. However, we’re seeing changes to the normal up-and-down cycle of groundw ...
El Niño contributed to a mild winter in the Miami Valley By Mike Ekberg, water resources monitoring and analysis manager If you thought the region got off easy this winter, you’d be right. And you can thank El Niño. El Niños produce drier and warmer than normal winters El Niño affec ...
Groundwater is a better drinking water sourceWater quality crises are becoming more common, from algal toxins in Toledo to lead in Flint, Michigan; Sebring, Ohio and other communities. Could those crises happen here? It’s possible—but not likely—because this region pulls almost all of its drinking water from groundwater ...
The year 2015 has come to a close and before we get too far into 2016, I thought it might be interesting to review the year from a hydrologic perspective given all the recent attention to El Niño and the December 27-30 high water event on the Great Miami River and its tributaries. All in all, 2015 was a continuation of a rising tre ...
When you think of flood protection, you likely think of dams and levees. But there’s another element of flood protection that provides many additional benefits – floodplains. Floodplains are a bit like the utility player in baseball – called on to play a number of positions and always getting the job done. Here are sever ...
El Niño is getting a lot of media attention these days being blamed for floods, famine, and the spread of diseases. This year’s El Niño is shaping up to be one of the stronger, if not the strongest, El Niño in history. In fact, it’s drawing comparisons to the 1997 El Niño event, which is the stronge ...
In our last blog post, "Gauging the Value of Gages," we discussed the importance of stream gages to The Miami Conservancy District’s (MCD) flood protection activities. Now let’s talk about the importance of stream gage information on riverfront development, infrastructure projects, public safety, and water quality. Stream gage ...
For almost 100 years, communities along the Great Miami River have been protected by a system of dams and levees built by MCD. The system is an engineering masterpiece. Since their completion in 1922, the dams and levees have protected riverfront communities from Piqua to Hamilton with a 100 percent success rate! To maintain and properly ...
