Even urban streams have their charms

The report from Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District's stream walk that kicked off the first 319 grant I referred to in the last post mentioned that due to the effects of rapid urbanization that began in the watershed during the 1950s, Watkins Creek is severely degraded and in a condition of physical instability. After climbing into and out of the creek's streambed at different locations in its watershed, I can attest to its degradation. In later posts I'll include photos that our Team has obtained showing the effects that excessive volumes of stormwater have had on the creek and its tributaries. For now, though, I'll include a photo I took near the mouth of the creek, after the creek has flowed through the lower third of its watershed. This is the least-urbanized part of the watershed. It shows the ability of even a degraded stream to recover if the land it flows through retains a reasonable permeability to rain.

Introduction to Stream Team 3553

Hello and welcome to the blog I've begun about Watkins Creek and Missouri Stream Team 3553, Living Green in Watkins Creek Watershed.

Our Team began its work in 2008, as one of the initiatives begun out of a 319 grant received by St. Louis University to improve the water quality of Watkins Creek and its tributaries through work in the entire watershed. As a volunteer water quality monitor trained through the Missouri Stream Team program, I and several other people started monitoring two sites, one where Watkins Creek crosses under Coal Bank Road and a second on a tributary which enters the main stem on the grounds of Hazelwood East High School.

In 2009 I and another team member took Cooperative Stream Investigation (CSI) training as part of an effort to understand better the distribution of excessive levels of E. coli and chloride pollution measured near the mouth of Watkins Creek. Our Team, in consultation with our boss in the Stream Team program, chose six sites to monitor several times a year for these pollutants as well as the usual round of Stream Team chemical testing on these sites. Missouri American Water personnel do the E. coli analysis according to CSI protocol and report the results back to us. We are the second Stream Team in the state of Missouri to begin a CSI project. To read the results from our work through early 2010, go to the Spanish Lake Community Assocation's current projects link and click on Watkins Creek Watershed Project.

I'll be posting more at irregular intervals. In the meantime, take care of your local stream!