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Oak Creek Watershed Clean Water Workshop

oak creek watershed logoSedona AZ (May 16, 2015) – The Oak Creek Watershed Council (OCWC) will host a two day Community Clean Water Workshop at Unity of Sedona, 65 Deer Trail Drive, Sedona, Arizona, on May 22-23, 2015. This free workshop will feature local and regional experts speaking on and demonstrating landscape techniques employed in northern Arizona to harvest rainwater, reduce erosion and reduce pollution often found in storm water runoff.

Stream Dynamics of Silver City, New Mexico, will lead participants on a walking tour of the neighborhood to discuss simple cost-effective solutions to erosion issues, as well as doing several ground-breaking projects which utilize Best Management Practices (BMPs) to slow water thus allowing it to infiltrate back into the ground, trapping and treating pollutants along the way. Some BMPs include the creation of swales or retention basins, Zuni bowls, rain water harvesting, native plantings and installation of permeable pavement, to name several. These BMPs utilize low-cost and approachable solutions which can be easily maintained by participating property owners.

Last November, the OCWC was awarded a $120,040 grant by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) through the Water Quality Improvement Grant (WQIG) program to address and control polluted runoff in the Carroll Canyon drainage, just south of west Sedona. Mitigation projects focus on the Settlers Rest neighborhood in west Sedona, located near the top of Carroll Canyon. In previous OCWC water quality studies, Carroll Canyon has been found to be the largest single contributing area of E coli bacteria to Oak Creek.

Carroll Canyon drains most of west Sedona into Oak Creek. The area has a number of recreation trails heavily used by hikers, bikers, and horseback riders, uses which may be contributing to higher levels of erosion and fecal matter washing into Oak Creek during storm events. Oak Creek, from its headwaters to around its confluence with the Verde River, is listed as impaired for E. coli bacteria, an indicator of fecal pollution.

Oak Creek

Oak Creek

“The community of Sedona has a vital role to play in the stewardship of Oak Creek,“ said Ryan Matson, OCWC Grant Manager and Board Director. “This project puts private citizens of Sedona in the forefront, and empowers them to become aware of, and more readily address, potential non-point pollution sources that may occur on their private property. Non-point source pollution, like dog and horse waste, could eventually end up in Oak Creek and a distributed, citizen-oriented strategy toward localized treatment and watershed stewardship is a great way to address private property drainage impacts in the Oak Creek Watershed before they reach the creek.”

This project will serve to empower private property owners and residents to increase watershed responsibility, as well as provide ways to easily reduce erosion and pollutants carried by storm flows. It will also increase the percolation of storm water into the ground, help native vegetation thrive, and create a community cohesion around storm water management and stewardship. The ultimate goal is to reduce or eliminate the transport of pollutants like E. coli bacteria into Oak Creek.

“During the last grant we received from ADEQ,” said Marie McCormick, OCWC Executive Director, “we were able to develop our Oak Creek Community Outreach Program further with our Education and Outreach Grant. This new grant will enable the OCWC to hit the ground running with low impact design landscape projects, and to educate residents and visitors to our area on the importance of keeping the Creek corridor clean utilizing cost effective measures locals can implement into their own landscape.”

Oak Creek is perpetually on the “non-attaining” list due to the persistence of the indicator fecal coli form bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) suggesting fecal contamination. This is a health issue that will get worse. We must be aware and proactive!

For resident and visitor information about Oak Creek good stewardship, visit www.oakcreekwatershed.org for project specific information and or visit www.oakcreekwatershed.org/projects/settlers-rest-stormwater-project. To RSVP for the workshop, email marie@oakcreekwatershed.org or call (248) 444-0756. The workshop hours are 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. both days.

The Oak Creek Watershed Council is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3). It is dedicated to maintaining a standard of excellence for watershed stewardship, as well as preserving the integrity of Oak Creek and its tributaries.

ADEQ’s WQIG program is funded through a partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act. For more information about the program, visit http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/water/watershed/index.html#wqig.

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2 Comments

  1. City of Cottonwood: Water-Resource Strategies and Accomplishments Presentation and tri-annual meeting of the Verde River Basin Partnership

    Today – Wednesday, May 27th – 3:00 p.m.
    Yavapai College, Verde Valley Campus
    601 Black Hills Drive, Building M, Room 137, Clarkdale AZ (Map it.)

    Diane Joens, Mayor of Cottonwood since 2007, will discuss how Cottonwood is achieving and planning for its water-resource use goals.

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  2. OCWC General Meeting Notice says:

    Please join us for our first General Meeting of 2016 on Friday, February 12, 2016 at Red Rock State Park in the Hummingbird Room from 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

    We will feature a presentation by US Geological Survey Hydrologist, Jay Cederberg titled, “Turbidity as a Surrogate for Bacteriological Water-Quality Monitoring.” He will discuss the use of turbidity as a surrogate for real time E. coli data. Don’t miss the sneak peek of our latest documentary at this meeting! Our new film details the progress of the Settlers Rest Stormwater Pilot Project in a West Sedona neighborhood. Production and editing funded by Coconino County. Filming, documentation and boots-on-the ground work funded by Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Another exciting production by Dalton Zanetti!

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