Cleaning up the E. coli-laden watershed

TERRE HAUTE In an effort to reduce and eliminate Escherichia coli (E. coli) from the Otter Creek watershed, the Vigo County Soil & Water Conservation District is seeking a state grant that addresses non-point sources of the bacteria into the watershed.

A comprehensive study of the Otter Creek watershed was conducted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in 2009.

The primary cause of E. coli sources in the watershed include non-point sources, such as row crop agriculture and pastures, urban and rural runoff, land application of manure and point sources such as straight pipe discharges and failing home sewage treatment system disposal.

IDEM took watershed samples from April to May 2009 and 17 of 19 sites had high levels of E. Coli, the report stated. Reductions in E. Coli needed to achieve water quality standards range as high 84.5 percent, the report stated.

The Otter Creek watershed originates in northern Clay County, then flows southwest where it empties into the Wabash River west of North Terre Haute, covering about 229 stream miles.

Most of the watershed is agricultural land. The area includes parts of Clay, Parke and Vigo counties.

The Vigo district is holding a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. April 22 at the Seelyville Town Hall, 2299 N. Main St., to inform landowners and people living within the watershed of the effort to apply for a grant up to $300,000, said Jan Came, urban conservationist for the conservation district.

This grant will not allow us to do any type of upgrading or anything like that to home septics, but it will allow us to educate people on how to keep and maintain septic systems, which can help reduce E. Coli, Came said.

However, the April 29 meeting will establish a steering committee of landowners and stakeholders that will address indirect or non-point contamination such as from livestock on farms, manure fertilization or failing septic systems. The grant will pay for reduction of those agricultural sources, Came said.

The steering committee will decide what are the best practices to put on the ground, whether it be cover crops, fencing for livestock, it could be field borders, which will filtrate between a field and the creeks. Those borders are grass waterways at the end of fields, that allows the water to be filtered before going into the creek, Came said.

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Cleaning up the E. coli-laden watershed