Upper Alum Creek Bioassessment

A new discharge of treated sewage from Morrow County is proposed to be installed a few miles upstream from the Alum Creek Reservoir. The proposed discharge would be up to 350,000 gallons a day - to accommodate potential development in the area - instead of the 15,000 gal/day currently being discharged. With the Alum Creek Reservoir providing drinking water as well as being designated for recreational use including swimming, it is imperative that the sources of its waters be protected from pollution.

This stretch of Alum Creek currently has a Warmwater Habitat Aquatic Life Use Designation from the Ohio EPA, and newer data will refine this Use. Even the data collected by Ohio EPA in 2000 was on the border between Warmwater and Exceptional Warmwater.

At this point, we need your financial help to fund professional bioassessment to re-designate this section of Alum Creek as Exceptional! 

Central Ohio IWLA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity, so your contributions are tax-deductible.

• We need your help now so that we can fund the biological assessment work that Midwest Biodiversity Institute (MBI), with some help from MAD Scientist Associates, needs to complete to determine if the area qualifies as Exceptional Warmwater Habitat.

• Exceptional Warmwater Habitat streams do receive a more stringent level of protection.

Help us keep Upper Alum Creek safe for kids to enjoy! Many urban youth have never explored a stream in its natural condition. Many inner-city streams have been impounded and are choked with litter and broken glass. On the naturally meandering, unpolluted 5-acre stretch of Upper Alum Creek that runs through our chapter headquarters - just a short distance downstream from the proposed discharge - we offer youth education opportunities that include barefoot creek wading and fishing. We want to be able to continue these programs!

Central Ohio IWLA participated in Ohio EPA's public hearing on this topic. The Morrow County SoMoCo Wastewater Treatment Plant public hearing was held at 6pm Wed., October 21, 2020 and OEPA confirmed this stretch of Alum Creek is currently listed as Warmwater Habitat - not Exceptional Warmwater Habitat, the designation for which we believe it qualifies. 

Central Ohio IWLA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity, so your contributions are tax-deductible.