Great and Little Miami River Basins

Abstract

Introduction Implementation of a National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program study in the The Great and Little Miami River Basins area will increase scientific understanding of natural processes and human activities that affect the quality of water in streams and aquifers. This information will benefit water-resource managers that need, but often lack, the data required to implement effective water-quality management actions and evaluate long-term changes in water quality. Water quality has improved significantly in the Great and Little Miami River Basins over the past few decades because of improvements in the treatment of municipal and industrial wastes. However, the effects of industrialization and urbanization on the quality of rivers and ground-water resources remain a priority concern of water-resource managers and planners, state and local governments, and citizen groups. Some of these effects relate to nonpoint sources of contaminants and are the subject of ongoing research and watershed management projects such as the Lower Great Miami Watershed Enhancement Program, the Little Miami Partnership, the Stillwater Watershed Project, Indian Lake Watershed Project, and the Miami Conservancy District's Groundwater 2000 Program. Water resource managers in the Great and Little Miami River Basins area are currently addressing the following water-quality issues: Contamination of the sole-source Miami Valley aquifer by syntheticorganic chemicals, trace elements, and radionuclides. Degradation of surface- and ground-water quality by urban and agricultural sources of fertilizers and pesticides. Assessing the relative importance of point and nonpoint sources to contaminant loads in the Great and Little Miami Rivers. Habitat degradation and decreases in stream biodiversity as a result ofurbanization Occurrence of water-borne pathogens in streams and shallow ground waterin rural and urban land-use settings. Effect of septic systems and combined sewer overflows on surface- andshallow ground-water quality. •Disruption and fragmentation of stream habitats by low dams and impoundments and their effects on fish and benthic invertebratecommunities.