By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, manager of watershed partnerships The Great Miami, Stillwater, and Mad rivers offer many paddling, rowing, and power boating opportunities. Our water trail maps take you to public access sites and give you safety information. And one simple act can help you have a safe summer on the water. Wear your life jacke ...

MCD has created a new series of videos about the importance of water. Many people in the Miami Valley don’t know where our water comes from, how it’s replenished or the ways water is used beyond our daily life activities. They don’t know what an aquifer is or how it works. Or how many industries rely on groundwater and how high-qual ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis The US Postal Service is often lauded for delivering the mail in all kinds of weather—rain, snow, sleet, etc. But delivering, or in our case, protecting, in bad weather is kind of our thing. And for the past two weekends, our staff took it to another level, protecting o ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis If you own a private well, do you have it tested at least annually? You should. Your family’s health depends on it. Just because your water tastes good doesn’t mean it is good. If you want to be sure your drinking water is safe, you need to have it tested. Test at l ...

MCD has released a new report on Water Stewardship that discusses the region's water challenges and how communities can take action and build resiliency to address those challenges.. Mike Ekberg, MCD manager of water resources monitoring and analysis, and Sarah Hippensteel Hall, manager of watershed partnerships, are currently visit ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., MCD manager of watershed partnerships Water is the Rodney Dangerfield of resources. Like Dangerfield used to say, it "don’t get no respect." Let’s face it. You can’t live without water. But I’ll bet you don’t think twice when you turn on the faucet. You just expect that good quality water will ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis It’s late November, and winter 2019–2020 is right around the corner. That means it’s time to discuss the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Winter Outlook. Before I do, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at last year’s Win ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis It’s been a rollercoaster of a year so far weather-wise. The first six months were wet, wet, wet, followed by a very dry summer. And what can we expect these last couple months of the year in the Great Miami River Watershed. A wet first half 2019 started out wet a ...

By Cory Paul, executive director, Red Cross Dayton Area Chapter The importance of being prepared has been renewed in the last several months after the Miami Valley responded to an outbreak of devastating tornadoes. The most common sentiment I heard was, "I never thought it could happen here." We’ve been reminded that "it" can happen ...

Today is national Protect Your Groundwater Day! Did you know… About 2.3 million people rely on groundwater for drinking water in our region. The local Buried Valley Aquifer holds about 1.5 trillion gallons of water. This region uses about 250 million gallons per day for everything from drinking to bathing, and cooking to irrigat ...

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 utilizing the regional open space plan to safeguard the aquifer’s groundwater and be prepared for the future. Planning for changing climate This region is averaging about 5 more inches ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships Sometimes it feels like the Great Miami River gets all of the attention. But the Mad River, with its scenic vistas, abundant fishing and paddling, and new rock climbing access, offers fun and unique places that can’t be found on other rivers. If you have paddled on t ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis What if I told you the Great Miami River in Dayton has some of the healthiest populations of fish and macroinvertebrates (stream bugs) and provides some of the best aquatic habitat in Ohio? You probably wouldn't believe me. After all, urban rivers aren’t often associate ...

By Brenda Gibson, public relations manager How many different ways can we say it? Wearing a life jacket can save your life. We know, we know. You have all kinds of reasons why you don’t want to wear it. Here are five excuses we’ve heard for not wearing a life jacket and why they don’t hold water. I have life jackets on board. Tha ...

By Elizabeth Connor, Great Miami Riverway Sometimes the best travel plans are right in your own backyard. If you’re looking for new and exciting activities to do and places to visit this year, you won’t have to travel far. The Great Miami Riverway’s Tour de Way passport program launches on May 4. You can explore the reg ...

By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager for watershed partnerships Many of us never think twice about groundwater—where it comes from, how much there is, or how to protect it. We just turn on the spigot and water flows. But maybe it’s time to think for a minute about this amazing resource that keeps us all alive, literally. Think ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis One year ago, I wrote a blogpost summarizing the year 2017 as "another wet year." Now I’m summarizing water conditions for 2018, and I could pretty much copy and paste what I posted last year. And, with some minor changes, it would ring true.Last year reflects a contin ...

Like it or not, winter 2018 – 2019 is upon us. What kind of winter can we expect in the Miami Valley this year? Will it be cold and snowy, or mild and dry? It’s hard to say, according to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA). The go-to signs that often signal winter weather patterns are slow to give away their sec ...

By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis Our region is ready to be the hub of water knowledge and know-how. Initiatives are under way in southwest Ohio to position our region as a leader in water research and technology development to help deal with world water challenges such as scarcity and contamination. On ...

Tait Station Dam Removal, Great Miami River (2018)Originally built in 1935 for cooling a coal-fired power plant, removal eliminated hazardous hydraulics and improved fish habitat. Fully funded at $1.75 million, the project enhanced both safety and river ecology. This time-lapse video showed the removal work through November 2018. The proe ...