"In the preservation of
our natural resources
is the preservation of human kind."
Clear Creek Tour: Oxford to the Headwaters
Dave Ratliff, Johnson and Iowa County Watershed
Coalition Leader, led members of the Clear Creek
Advisory Board on a tour of upper Clear Creek on October
13, 2008.
Read about Dave's significant contributions to the
improvement of Clear Creek's water quality in the
article "The
Power of One: The Clear Creek Story."
Written by Brian Soenen, Iowa DNR, this article appeared
in the Summer 2008 Volunteer Monitor, a national
newsletter of volunteer watershed monitoring.
Stop 1:
The tour began on the Chambers Ave. bridge at the
confluence of Clear Creek and Rhine Creek southeast of
Oxford (right). This is the lower end of the original
303(d) section of Clear Creek. Rhine Creek flows along
the east edge of Oxford and is impacted by that
community's wastewater treatment facility.
Stop 2:
From a bridge on Iowa County's Y Ave., the group
saw Clear Creek at the site where a branch of
the creek flows in from the southwest. Water
studies show this branch (pictured below) picks
up pollutants where it flows through "Little
Amana." Gully erosion from adjacent farmland
(left) is an especially common sight along Clear
Creek following this year's rains.
Stop 3:
Clear Creek looking upstream (above) and downstream
(right) from a bridge on 200th St., near U Ave. This the
farthest from Conroy that sewage was documented in the
creek. Formerly the top of the 303 (d) section, it is
now section's lower end. A logjam from summer storms has
formed against bridge abutments.
Stop 4:
At the site where Clear Creek and S Ave. met, local kids
swam and caught creek chub before concerns about sewage
from Conroy became widely known.
Looking upstream from S. Ave., the creek runs through a
deep gully. In the mid-1800s at the time it was
surveyed, this portion of the creek meandered through
wetlands.
Stop 5:
Clear Creek at R Ave. -- getting closer to the headwaters near
Conroy. Monitoring snapshots at this site revealed high chloride
and high bacteria levels. The search for the source of these
pollutants began in 2003.
Stop 6:
These two junction boxes on Q Ave., southwest of Conroy, were at
the center of the impaired water issues facing Clear Creek. High
chloride levels found at one junction box were traced to a
nearby DOT salt shed; human sewage and toilet paper discovered
at the other box were traced to the unincorporated, unsewered
community of Conroy.
Stop 7:
Members of the Clear Creek board are shown at the site
of the new wastewater treatment lagoon near Conroy.
Johnson County Soil & Water Conservation District
51 Escort Lane
Iowa City, IA 52240-8612
Phone: 319/337-2322, ext. 3
Fax: 319/351-2997 jcswcd@yahoo.com
