Beckett Ridge Water Quality Basin
In February of 2004 our office began a long process of applying for the National Association of Counties (NACo) Five Star Restoration Challenge Grant. Five Star Restoration projects involve a high degree of cooperation, with local government agencies, elected officials, community groups, businesses, schools, and environmental organizations all working together to improve local water quality and restore important fish and wildlife habitats.
Butler County Soil and Water Conservation District was awarded $12,000 to restore 420 linear feet of stream riparian corridor as part of the Upper Mill Creek Riparian Restoration and Stormwater Wetland Enhancement Project. An existing stormwater basin within this suburban watershed was transformed, restored, and monitored to evaluate efficiency. First, the existing barren and concrete-lined stormwater detention facility was replaced with a fully functioning 1.1 acre wetland that will treat stormwater pollutants and provide wildlife habitat. Second, a monitoring program has been enacted by the partners to evaluate the efficiency of the wetland in its ability to remove pollutants from the stream following storm events. The results of the water quality monitoring program will be an invaluable data source used to educate local developers and engineers on this type of alternative best management practice (BMP) to mange stormwater from their sites.
Project partners include the Butler SWCD, Butler County Stormwater District, Beckett Ridge HOA, Mill Creek Watershed Council, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Miami (OH) University’s Institute of Environmental Sciences (IES).
Here is some more information about the project:
- Site design. There are two pdf's available for you to download.
- Pictures of how the basin looked before work was started and how it looks now
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The original concrete lined detention basin |
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This is how the basin now is beginning to look |
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Basin just after a heavy rainstorm |
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Basin one day after the heavy rainstorm |
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Here is the basin in February |
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Volunteers helped with the planting of the basin |
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More volunteers |
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Some of the creatures we see at the basin. Each visit we find an assortment of tracks from numerous other animals. The one creature we do not find in this new basin is the mosquito, thanks to the numerous dragonflies. |
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