Lee County Holds Watershed Assessment Public Meeting

by Anne Miller, District Administrative Coordinator, SWCD/NRCS, Opelika, AL

To determine the condition of Alabama’s watershed, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working with other federal and state agencies to conduct a Watershed Assessment of every county in the state. Public awareness is one of the key components of the project. To increase public awareness and to gain support for the project, the Lee County Soil and Water Conservation District recently held a public meeting to provide information about the Watershed Assessment project. Jason Gardner, Lee County NRCS District Conservationist, informed the group that the purpose of the Watershed Assessment is to:

• Assess pollutant, sediment, and resource problems within the watersheds of Lee County
• Determine actions to improve the watersheds
• Provide outreach and public education
• Apply conservation measures to improve the watersheds using technical assistance, Farm Bill programs, and 319 watershed grants from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

Noopie Cosby, Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Districts, said, “The Environmental Protection Agency requires a watershed assessment every five years in all 67 counties in Alabama to assess problem areas in order to make plans and work to make the corrections needed to improve water quality.” Water quality is determined by activities within the land area, or watersheds, which surround them. Although most discharges of pollutants from factories and cities directly to our waterways have been strictly  controlled for many years, water quality problems remain. These problems are principally associated with run-off of rain. This run-off picks up soil and pollutants from the streets, suburban lawns, and rural farm fields to become the principal reason some waterways are polluted.

Physical changes, like removing streamside vegetation, interrupting flows with dams, draining or filling wetlands, and bulk-heading channels also degrade our water bodies. Even air pollutants from cars, power plants, and other combustion sources harm our waters and the life they support when pollutants fall back to earth or are carried to the ground by precipitation. Pollution also seeps into the soil, is carried to aquifers, and then flows underground to rivers, lakes, or coastal waters.

The Watershed Assessment conducted in Lee County will look at all the factors that affect the watershed.

Gardner says, “The Watershed Assessment should enable Lee County to spot problem areas and apply for funds to correct these situations.”

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