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| Leading Creek Watershed Project | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| What is a watershed? A watershed is simply an area of ground that drains into a common point like a lake or river. The Leading Creek watershed is located in western Meigs County and parts of Gallia and Athens counties. It consists of approximately 150 square miles and begins near the Athens County community of Albany and ends at the Ohio River in Middleport. The watershed consists of many other streams including Sisson Run, Little Leading Creek, Mud Fork, Thomas Fork and Parker Run. There are many problems within the Leading Creek watershed, problems like sediment and acid mine drainage from abandoned mines, sediment and pollution from crop fields and pastures located along the streams, trash and sewage. But there are also ways people can help preserve and improve the quality of water in the streams. |
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| View our Leading Creek Watershed Management Plan HERE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back to Meigs SWCD Home | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Some Problems | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Erosion from abandoned strip mines fills up streams with sand and other sediment. | Unsightly litter also poses health risks by providing mosquito breeding grounds. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cattle with access to streams cause bank erosion. Their waste also causes pollution. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Acid mine drainage (AMD) from abandoned mines causes severe stream pollution. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Some Solutions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Stream cleanups like the Leading Creek Stream Sweep remove trash from the stream. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Filter strips like this one planted between streams and crop fields and pastures protect the water from fertilizers, pesticides and other pollution. Cattle are fenced out of creeks. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Settling ponds can help reduce the amount of pollution caused by acid mine drainage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Abandoned strip mines can be reclaimed which reduces the amount of sediment entering streams. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The Annual Leading Creek Steam Sweep was held Saturday, April 19 at Jim Vennari Park in Rutland. This year was the largest ever in the eight-year history of the event. "Over 100 volunteers came to clean up locations in Rutland and Salisbury Townships and in the Villages of Middleport and Rutland, " said Raina Fulks, Leading Creek Watershed Coordinator for the Meigs SWCD. The volunteers filled both of Rutland Township's dump trucks with trash collected from stream banks. The refuse weighted approximately 3 tons. The Leading Creek Stream Sweep is sponsored by the Rutland Township Board of Trustees, Meigs County Transfer Station and the Stewart-Johnson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9926 of Mason, W.Va. For their service, volunteers received a Leading Creek Stream Sweep T-Shirt and pizza for lunch. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||