Local Concerns

        Early in the planning process a public meeting was held where local residents were asked to contribute their concerns for water quality in the Clinton Lake Watershed. Overall, emphasis was placed upon improving the watershed through reasonable guidelines that balance the needs of all interests in the watershed. Hence, the mission statement: “The mission of this plan is to provide logical and reasonable guidelines for improving the watershed that balance the environmental, agricultural, urban, industrial, wildlife, and recreational interests while addressing the goals of stakeholders and providing the means of implementation.”

        Recognizing the watershed’s value, concerns over sources of degradation were discussed, particularly sedimentation, overall water quality, lakeshore and streambank erosion, urban land-use impacts, and agricultural impacts. These concerns are corroborated by data collection and geographic information detailed in this plan.

Problem Statements

     In order to effectively address local concerns, the planning committee and staff consolidated similar ideas and categorized concerns in order of priority. Concerns, stressors, and problems can be found in Table 15. Action items to rectify these problems are found in Table 16.

Sedimentation
    Problem: Sedimentation is a major contributing factor to water quality degradation in Clinton Lake and its tributaries. Delayed implementation of erosion control mechanisms, full tillage agricultural practices, and unprotected streambanks and lake shore are contributing to erosion and sedimentation. Also the slight increase in the number of housing developments in the area has increased sedimentation as well.

    Sediment delivery substantially influences physical stream characteristics and chemistry. Fine particles in sediment threaten habitat and aquatic organisms by settling into streambeds. Those particles that do not settle are typically suspended, causing brown or cloudy appearances in creeks. Additionally, particles are charged molecules, ready to bind with other charged molecules. Thus, sediment is considered a carrier for nutrients and chemicals into creeks and basins. Therefore, increased sedimentation can indicate increased chemical contamination.

    The two primary contributing stressors increasing sediment delivery in the Clinton Lake Watershed include overland runoff of exposed soil and streambank/lakeshore erosion. Sources of exposed soil susceptible to runoff include human development and construction, fields cultivated with conventional tillage, and areas devoid of vegetation along streambanks and lakeshore. The Clinton Lake Shoreline Erosion study completed in fall, 2006 details existing conditions along the lake.

    It has also been suggested that dredging streams (especially in the confluences with Clinton Lake), as well as the lake, could also be done in order to incorporate better sediment protection. Combined with streambank and shoreline stabilization, the three practices would be done at the same time for both major tributaries of the Clinton Lake to reduce the amount of sediment flowing into the streams and lake. This would require an impact study as well as major funding before any plans could be set forth. For the purpose of this plan, dredging was not taken into consideration at the time being due to the amount of research that would be required. It would be beneficial to investigate this possibility for the long term benefit it may provide.