Following are excerpts from the Upper Wabash River Basin Commission Watershed Management Plan.

To access the plan or appendices and maps click here:  UWRBCWMP or Appendices and Maps.

The Watershed Management Plan (WMP) is intended to benefit communities in the watershed by helping to improve the local economy, increase effectiveness of government, and preserve the environment through comprehensive water resource planning. Watershed planning can benefit the local economy by helping to protect drinking water supply, decrease losses related to floods, and increase property values by providing attractive and safe living and recreation areas. Good watershed planning can improve the effectiveness of government through more direct public involvement that earns the trust and support of the community and guarantees that all community interests are treated fairly. The planning effort also helps to ensure that current water quality in the community is preserved and that the community will not suffer significant financial losses due to loss of natural resource buffers and other natural resources.

Many activities throughout the watershed have an impact on watershed users, but the efforts are not organized, and occasionally are counter-productive and may limit economic growth and value of land. However, a WMP can provide a better understanding of community values and watershed processes and can provide guidance toward the betterment of watershed management and living conditions in the community.

Linking stakeholder concerns with known and discovered water quality issues in the watershed helps to validate initial observations and provides evidence to dismiss others. Thus, a review of historic water quality studies can help to guide the planning process toward management actions that are most appropriate and efficient for improving water quality conditions. The following descriptions detail water quality baseline conditions that have been established by prior studies as they relate to stakeholder concerns. These descriptions are organized by listed stakeholder concerns, and provide the foundations for the watershed management strategies.

Stakeholder Education – Public, local decision makers, organizations

Prior studies indicate that there are certainly water quality problems associated with the Upper Wabash River and its tributary streams. Those problems stem from elevated levels of nutrients and bacteria in the water system. These levels can directly be impacted by raising stakeholder awareness and modifying day-to-day behavior within the watershed. The results of the water quality studies support the idea that education and outreach will positively impact the water quality in this watershed.

Stakeholders in the Upper Wabash River watershed have expressed great concern over the issue of water quantity. Interest is high in regard to flood control measures, streambank restoration, and log jam removal practices. Historic climate and disaster data does indicate a strong prevalence of high water events, carrying with them the ability to wash out valuable instream habitat, destruct streambanks, increase pollutant loadings to receiving waterbodies, and associated destruction of aquatic communities. Debris from infrastructure and buildings damaged by flood events, oils, grease, and toxins from submerged vehicles and septic systems, and common chemicals and solvents that are present in nearly every home and can all become mobile when flooding occurs.

The studies do indicate a potential impact on water quality by agricultural practices within the boundaries of the watershed. Pollutant loadings from agricultural sources can include pathogens, nutrients, and sediments. Elevated levels of phosphorus, nitrates, sediment, and pesticides have been observed during sampling sessions at locations in the Upper Wabash River watershed surrounded by agricultural land uses. E. coli impairments could likely be linked to land applied manure, livestock with direct access to waterways, and improper handling of manure and nutrients. Prior studies do indicate that the concerns raised regarding agricultural practices and the associated impact to water quality are supported by the data.

Critical areas identified below are considered by the UWRBC Steering Committee to be potential sources of pollution within the watershed. In order to minimize the water quality impacts associated with these areas, it will be important to target the implementation of management measures toward these critical areas.

A source of the elevated pathogen bacteria in the watershed may be associated with improperly functioning, failed, or non-existent residential septic systems. Many factors can lead to the failure of a residential septic system; the age of the system, lack of regular maintenance to the system, and  heavy clay soils. Within the Upper Wabash River watershed, the unincorporated areas lack a centralized sewage disposal system, limiting homeowners to on-site septic systems. It is crucial that these homeowners are equipped with the necessary information and knowledge as to the proper maintenance of the system to prevent failure. As the more populated areas of the City of  Berne, the City of Bluffton, the Town of Bryant, the Town of Geneva, and the City of Portland continue to grow in size, it will become more feasible to provide sanitary sewer services to those residences in close proximity to these areas. The importance to provide a centralized sanitary sewer system is underlined by information prepared by Purdue University Extension regarding onsite wastewater disposal in Indiana. Adams County, according to 1990 US Census data had an approximate 4,300 households utilizing onsite wastewater disposal systems. Soils in Adams County considered to be severely limited for proper septic system function based on NRCS criteria was estimated to be 100%. Similarly, within Jay and Wells Counties there are an estimated 3,700 and 4,700 households respectively utilizing onsite wastewater treatment systems. Further, in each of Jay and Wells Counties more than 96% of the soils are classified by NRCS as severely limited for septic systems. Residential on-site sewage systems located within the floodway or 100-year floodplain are at a higher risk of discharging improperly treated effluent, bacteria, and pathogens into receiving waterbodies. As the soils become saturated due to rainfall, and the receiving streams are inundated, there is little to no treatment occurring within the soil absorption field. Routine flooding of those systems located in the floodplain may also have detrimental effects on the individual components of the system. The most critical are those areas within the watershed where a cluster of 20 or more rural homes with residential septic systems installed more than 10 years ago in soils with NRCS defined severe limitation for onsite wastewater disposal or treatment. Utilizing digital aerial photography, 8 clusters of septic systems as well as the Town of Linn Grove and the Town of New Corydon were identified.  These clusters are all located near to the Wabash River or associated tributary streams and may provide concentrated loadings of nutrients and/or bacteria if several of these systems are failing to adequately treat the household wastes. Water quality monitoring should be initiated immediately upstream as well as immediately downstream of these areas to further assess the impact on water quality and macro-invertebrate communities.

Unbuffered streams and tributaries are highly exposed to overland runoff and the non-point source pollutants that are carried with it. Without the protection of several feet of vegetated buffer, pollutants such as sediment, nutrients and chemicals can be directly delivered to the stream system. In addition to reductions in pollutant loadings, vegetated buffers also provide a shading effect that can provide a more habitable environment for aquatic organisms regarding temperature and dissolved oxygen. The most critical are those areas within the watershed where streams and tributaries have less than 30 feet of vegetated buffer and are bordered by agricultural fields utilizing conventional tillage methods during crop production. There are approximately 330 miles of streams within the watershed, and of that, it is estimated that approximately 122 miles, or 37%, of streams have less than 30 feet of vegetated buffer on one or both of the streambanks. The majority of such streambanks are located in the upland portions of the watershed surrounding headwater streams amid agricultural land uses. A more detailed assessment, including a tillage survey and buffer survey should be completed to provide a more accurate overview of the watershed. Utilizing a visual inspection of digital aerial photography for the Upper Wabash River watershed, it is estimated that within the 05120101-040 subwatershed, approximately 23 stream miles have less than 30 feet of established vegetation on either streambank. In addition, it is estimated that 53 unbuffered stream miles are present in the 05120101-050 and 46 stream miles are present in the 05120101-060 subwatersheds. Based on the estimated number of unbuffered stream miles, the 05120101-050 subwatershed should be targeted for efforts to establish grassy or woody vegetation along the streambanks. The promotion of existing Federal incentive programs such as Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Conservation Security Program (CSP), and Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) can lead to the establishment of various forms of stream buffers providing benefits not only to the Upper Wabash River, but also to the individual landowners.

Areas prone to flooding can also be sensitive to other issues related to water or habitat quality degradation, as well as cumulative effects of increased water quantity within the stream system. Poorly managed floodplains where increased construction or other land use changes have occurred result in increased vulnerabilities to the new structures and to downstream areas as well. If water is not allowed to infiltrate the soil layers due to increased impervious surfaces, runoff volumes and downstream loadings will be increased. These increased volumes of water may mobilize trees and other near stream debris creating the potential for in-stream obstructions or log jams. The term “log-jam” is defined by the Indiana Administrative Code as the accumulation of lodged trees, root wads, or other debris that impedes the ordinary flow of water through a waterway. As these log jams are created, areas of significant erosion and streambank destabilization are created further degrading water quality through sedimentation. Log jams may range in severity from leaning trees that need to be removed and utilized to stabilize the nearby streambank, to areas requiring large excavation equipment from both the land and within the stream for proper removal. With each degree of severity and corresponding workload, restrictions and guidelines provided by IDNR and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) must be adhered to rigorously. Plans of work and permits are also required for more intensive situations. Some areas in the Wabash River watershed are sensitive to log jams and associated debris deposition and/or increased streambank erosion. These areas were selected by the Adams, Jay, and Wells County Surveyors and are considered critical requiring constant observation and maintenance. The risks to structural damages and watercourse damages can be decreased through preventative measures including detailed stream studies to establish floodways, floodplains, and base flood elevations. Utilizing the associated information will provide better knowledge regarding the stream and allow for proper floodplain management. Furthermore, the installation of United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gages designed to monitor water quality, elevation, and flow will provide the necessary baseline information as well as information regarding low and high water events. Longevity of record for each gage is also important to monitor trends over several years. The combination of information obtained through detailed stream studies and long term monitoring can be valuable when proposing methods to prevent repeated flood events as well as reducing the impacts of flooding to water quality and personal property. 

Livestock with access to the stream, or even feedlots and pastures bordering streams and tributaries can have a direct impact on water quality. Loadings of bacteria, such as E. coli, are directly deposited through fecal matter or delivered via stormwater runoff from the nearby feedlots and pastures. Sediment is delivered to the stream via erosion of worn livestock entrance paths and degraded streambanks. When livestock are excluded from the open streams and/or feedlots and pastures have been setback, it is important to establish a vegetated buffer to further reduce the potential of the above mentioned pollutants entering the stream system. All areas where livestock have unrestricted access to open streams and tributaries, or where feedlots and pastures are within 500 feet of the open stream or tributary without a vegetated buffer are considered critical areas for the purpose of this plan. Furthermore, these areas would be considered extremely critical areas should they also be located in an area with HEL classified soils.

Conventional tillage of crop land allows the soil to remain exposed to the elements for extended periods of time. The majority of conventional tillage is completed following the crop harvest in the fall and no crop residue remains on the surface of the field. Thus the topsoil is exposed to the snow and more importantly during the spring snow melts and rain events. As the snow melts and the rain falls, the potential for soil erosion and the resulting sedimentation of receiving waters is greatly increased and nearly guaranteed. Within the Upper Wabash River watershed, the primary tillage method for corn production remains to be conventional tillage. The percentage of conventional tillage is well over half in 54% conventional tillage. It does seem that soybean production has moved away from conventional tillage as the percentages are significantly lower in all three counties: Adams – 20%, Jay – 19% and Wells – 28%. Fields utilizing conventional tillage for crop production on HEL soils within 500 feet of a stream or tributary are to be considered critical areas due to the increased erosion and pollution potential. For a more detailed view of these critical areas, a tillage inventory should be completed within the watershed and those results should be cross-referenced with NRCS HEL determinations.

HEL determinations, made by NRCS, are based on a mathematical equation, USLE, the Universal Soil Loss Equation. This equation takes into account the rainfall factor, erodibility of the soil type, allowable loss for that soil type and the length and the slope of the area. Soil map units may also be classified as PHEL based on a varying range of length/slope values. In such instances, the final determination of erodibility must be made through an onsite investigation. Within the Upper Wabash River watershed, there are approximately 4,200 acres (2.6% of the entire watershed) of HEL classified soils. Further, approximately 1,300 acres of HEL are located within the 05120101- 40 subwatershed. An additional 78,400 acres (49% of the entire watershed) has been labeled as having characteristics similar to HEL soils and therefore are classified as potential HEL soils requiring individual field determinations. These soils, both HEL and PHEL, need proper management to reduce the increased potential for soil erosion. Thus, areas of HEL or PHEL soils currently in production and within 500 feet of a tributary stream of the Wabash River within the 05120101-040 are considered the most critical. These areas will need to be investigated in order to produce a conservation plan outlining potential BMPs and management techniques to reduce erosion.

Setting realistic and measurable goals is key to the successful implementation of this Watershed Management Plan. A goal is the desired change or outcome as a result of the watershed planning effort. Depending on the magnitude of the problem, goals may be general, specific, long-term or short-term. The goals in this plan focus on improving water quality through the implementation of a variety of management measures. IDEM suggests watershed groups focus on developing goals, management measures, action plans, resources, and legal matters as part of the watershed planning process. According to IDEM, management measures describe what needs to be controlled or changed in order to achieve the goal. In order to successfully implement this plan, resources such as people, programs, and money need to be identified. It is important to have the support of individuals identified as resources to successfully execute the goals of the plan. Successful implementation may require some legal matters such as obtaining permits, purchasing easements, or the adoption of an ordinance. The UWRBC has decided to focus on goals that improve both water quality issues and water quantity issues in the Upper Wabash River watershed. The topics of concern and the goals outlined by the Commission are described below. Responsibility for implementing tasks will vary with agency initiatives, directives, staffing, and funding opportunities.

     Flooding Goal: Reduce in-stream and private property damages, nearly $1.6 million since 1978, associated with increased water quantity through collaborative efforts basin-wide, including the Ohio drainage area.

     Agricultural Goal: Promote application and participation to implement BMPs throughout the watershed in an effort to remove 303(d) segment listings and impairments within the Upper Wabash River Basin.

     Land Use/Future Development Goal: Improve water quality to meet Indiana water quality targets and reduce damages associated with water quantity in the Wabash River watershed through basin-wide land use planning and ordinance development for the protection of agricultural activities and floodplain management.

     E. coli Reduction Goal: Remove 303(d) segment listings and impairments within the Upper Wabash River Basin due to E. coli and nutrient concentrations through proper agricultural nutrient management and on-site household wastewater treatment systems.

MONITORING EFFECTIVENESS