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Getting to Know
the Scioto Brush Creek Watershed
Written by Jeff Montavon
Thursday, 07 July 2005 Many
people are unaware of the superior quality of Scioto Brush
Creek. Compared to other streams of its size, Scioto Brush
Creek’s water quality ranks among the best in Ohio. Recognized
by the Ohio EPA as an outstanding warm water habitat, Scioto
Brush Creek provides home for many different fish species and
aquatic organisms that require high water quality for their
survival. As other streams in the state have suffered from
pollution over the past century and are now in need of
restoration, Scioto Brush Creek has maintained an outstanding
status that must be preserved.
What is a Watershed?
The land around your neighborhood creek is a watershed. Your
neighborhood creek runs into a bigger stream, and the land
around that stream is a watershed. That stream runs into a
river, and the land around that river is a watershed. This can
continue until an ocean is reached. You can see how each of
these watersheds is actually made up of smaller watersheds, and
how they are a part of bigger watersheds.
A watershed is a region or area draining to a particular body of
water that is separated from other watersheds by ridgetop
boundaries. Often called a drainage basin or hydrologic unit, a
watershed can cover a large multi-state area, like the Ohio
River watershed, or a relatively small area, like the watershed
of a small stream or pond. Watersheds can be small or large, and
most are interconnected, eventually draining to the ultimate
waterbodies - bays, gulfs, or oceans.
Scioto Brush Creek
Watershed
 Located
in Adams and Scioto Counties, the Scioto Brush Creek Watershed
has a drainage area of 274 square miles (including the South
Fork). Scioto Brush Creek alone flows thirty-six miles from its
headwaters in Northeast Adams County to Rushtown where it
empties into the Scioto River. South Fork, Scioto Brush Creek’s
largest tributary, begins in Blue Creek and flows over eighteen
miles where it empties into the stream at Otway.
Nearly 82% of the 175,332 acre drainage area that composes the
Scioto Brush Creek Watershed is in woodland. Over 23,000 acres
(12%) of the watershed is used for agriculture uses. Only 884
acres of the watershed is considered urban; this includes
villages and roadways within the Scioto Brush Creek Watershed.
With the majority of the watershed being in forests and
farmland, proper woodland and agriculture management is key to
preserving the quality of Scioto Brush Creek and its
tributaries.
Scioto Brush Creek’s Water
Quality
Compared to other streams in Ohio, Scioto Brush Creek is one
of the cleanest streams of its size. Of the sixty-nine species
of fish that have inhabited the waters of Scioto Brush Creek
during the last century sixty-three can still be found in the
stream today, whereas other streams in the state have lost much
of their original fish fauna. In 1997, a study of the entire
watershed raised the number of fish species found in Scioto
Brush Creek and its tributaries to sixty nine. Native Ohio
muskellunge, and the popeye shiner, a species on the Ohio
endangered species list, can still be found in Scioto Brush
Creek and some of its tributaries - an indication of the
streams’ excellent water quality.
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Soil Erosion is a common cause of Nonpoint Source
pollution in the Scioto Brush Creek Watershed. |
Although Scioto Brush
Creek is a high quality stream, several potential
pollutants in the watershed pose a threat to the
stream’s health. Like other streams around the state,
nonpoint source pollution is the biggest cause of
impairment to Scioto Brush Creek and its tributaries.
Nonpoint Source Pollution occurs as contaminants and
different pollutants created by human activities are
carried to a waterbody by rain runoff or snowmelt.
Annually, nonpoint source pollution affects millions of
gallons of water within the watershed. |
Faulty septic systems,
soil erosion, and illegal dumps are some of the more
serious causes of nonpoint source pollution within the
Scioto Brush Creek Watershed. Measures need to be taken
to ensure septic systems are functioning properly,
conservation practices are installed on farming
operations, best management practices are used on
logging operations, and people stop illegally dumping
trash within the watershed. |
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