By Mike Ekberg and Richard Stuck Most of us know that too much salt is unhealthy for the body, raising blood pressure for example. Well, apparently it can be unhealthy for our water, too. As the saltiness or salinity of groundwater increases above naturally occurring levels, so does its potential to harm aquatic life and to damage drinki ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships Soil. It’s under your feet. It’s in your garden. It’s on the farms that grow your food. And yet you probably don’t give it much of a thought. But maybe you should. Protecting soil is better for everyone. Our community gets cleaner rivers, cleaner air, a ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships For many of us, enjoying prairies has been limited to what we saw on (or see in reruns of) TV shows like "Little House on the Prairie." That’s because by the middle of the 20th century, nearly all of the North American prairie grasslands had been destroyed by e ...

By Mike Ekberg, Manager of water resources monitoring and analysis The drought headlines coming out of the western US are sobering. UPDATE May 3, 2022 - A link to a more recent story on the drought in the west is here. "The West is in the midst of a very serious megadrought," said USDA Chief Meteorologist Mark Brusberg in ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships We all want clean and healthy rivers. How about helping to keep them that way? Join in the Clean Sweep of the Great Miami River! You never know what you'll find.  The oldest "piece of trash" was not trash at all. Volunteers discovered a skull cap of an adol ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships Some people have plenty of excuses why they don’t wear a life jacket when paddling or boating, but there’s not a single good reason. According to a recent report from the U.S. Coast Guard: • Drowning was reported as the cause of death in 79 percent of all ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships Many people think about the dangers of cold-water immersion when the temperatures begin to turn cooler in the fall. But springtime can create a false sense of security because while the air may be warm, the water may not be. And if you capsize, the "cold shock" can le ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis Whether you’re just curious and want to know how much rain fell in the Miami Valley region over the past 24 hours. Or you’re an engineer who needs to know the highest river level for infrastructure design. Or you’re a hydrologist needing groundwater levels for a ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis MCD flood protection dams are storing water more often than at any other time since the dams were completed almost 100 years ago. That’s because the Miami Valley’s climate is getting wetter. Can the flood protection dams handle more rain? A rising 30-yea ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysisNote: At MCD, we track water movement into and out of Great Miami River Watershed over long periods of time, spanning decades. The records generated by our observer precipitation stations, stream gages, and observation wells allow MCD staff to examine long-term trends in w ...

Whether you’re looking to learn more about the region’s water or searching for specific water information, the answers may be a click away. Miami Conservancy District (MCD) offers easy-to-access fact sheets, videos, live water data, reports and infographics—all about water—on our website www.mcdwater.org. We have resources for ...

By Don O’Connor, P.E., chief of construction and planning MCD is committed to keeping the dams and other flood protection structures operating safely and properly for your protection. To that end, we are nearing completion on a $2.61 million project to improve concrete at Lockington Dam. Over the last 13 months, MCD’s contractor h ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysisIt’s the beginning of November and winter is just around the corner. What kind of a winter can we expect in the Miami Valley this year? Winter 2020–2021 might be wetter than normal with frequent storm events tracking across our region. Wetter than normal means above-av ...

Win a gift card to your favorite local brewery or coffee shop At most universities you pay to learn. At Great Miami U, we’ll pay you (if we pick your name in a drawing of all our graduates). Earning your degree from Great Miami U is free and easy. And better yet, it only takes a few minutes! The Miami Conservancy District (MCD) is lau ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager for water resources monitoring and analysis If you could spend less than $100 a year to avoid a $7,000 home repair expense, you’d do it wouldn’t you? Consider this: It only costs about $250 to $500 every three to five years to maintain a septic system. But it can cost up to $7,000 or more to repair or replace ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships If you haven’t visited the Stillwater River firsthand, it is time you did. The Stillwater River is a special place to fish, paddle, or just enjoy some beautiful scenery. Ohio’s only National Water Trail and State Scenic River Designated as both a National Water Tra ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships Before you head out on your next cycling or paddling adventure along the Great Miami, be sure to check out bike trail and river conditions. It’s always best to know before you go! The live BikeTrail and River Conditions Mapon the Great Miami Riverway website helps you ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis In Part I, we looked at what per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, are and why you should care. In Part II, we looked at their presence in local drinking water. In this final post, we look at the strategies for dealing with PFAS. Per- and polyfluorinated alk ...

In Part I, we looked at what per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, are and why you should care. In Part II, we look at the impact to our drinking water. Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances or PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals widely used in consumer products such as cookware, pizza boxes, stain repellants, an ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resource monitoring and analysis You've probably heard about PFAS, but what are they and why are they such a hot topic today? Amazing chemicals PFAS or per- and polyflouroalkyl substances are a group of chemicals developed in the 1940s that can repel water, dirt, and grease; tolerate high temperatures; m ...