Kentucky - Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District, Water Quality

"If you think of it like a ditch, you'll treat it as a ditch; but if you think of it as a stream, you'll treat it as one."

—Kurt Mason, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) District Conservationist, Jefferson County, Kentucky

To restore a much abused channelized stream running through Louisville, first required public support. "We had to get people to think of fish and amphibians," Mason says, and to accept the idea of "pollution prevention through work in the watersheds to increase water retention on the ground where it falls, through permanent vegetation. You don't need a golf course green lawn." Instead, you need a "no-mow zone"--a buffer--along your creek or stream.

This is not merely a matter of taste--an "English-green lawn" versus a "no-mow zone." There are practical reasons for permanent vegetation in stream corridors throughout the Louisville area. The city's Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) is in charge of all waterways in Jefferson County. Under a Clean Water Act delegation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for pollution discharge permits, MSD is responsible for water quality. It also is responsible for flood management and prevention. And, like many older cities, Louisville has combined storm and sewer outflows so that heavy rains cause surges that overwhelm the city's sewage treatment facilities. This means untreated sewage finding its way into Beargrass Creek and on into the Ohio River (the city drinking water comes from the Ohio, but the intakes are upstream).

To reduce the effects of severe rains and the resulting surges required better management of streams and stream areas for both flood prevention and water quality. Bringing these two goals together in one strategy meant stream cleanup, streambank restoration, riparian forest buffers, filter strips--"no-mow zones"--and other permanent vegetation. MSD designated team leaders for each major watershed in Jefferson County to coordinate activities in that watershed.

There also has been a major effort to develop public awareness and support for the twin program of flood and pollution reduction, what MSD Executive Director Gordon Garner calls "community buy-in." That effort has paid off. In 1997, Louisville and Jefferson County adopted a Floodplain Management Ordinance which states:

...a natural vegetation buffer strip shall be preserved at least twenty-five feet on each side of the streambank as defined by the hydraulic model of the channel. In areas not already disturbed by urban, suburban, or agricultural land uses prior to the effective date of this ordinance, existing overstory and understory trees shall be preserved and shrubs and ground covers shall be maintained along the streambank sufficient to naturally maintain the integrity of the channel.

"The best thing to do is leave a stream alone," says Garner, but he says it took several years to develop consensus among the developers, homebuilders, contractors, environmentalists, and others on the concept of greenways in Louisville. In the end, though, some builders have found that property values can rise by 5 to 15 percent or more with greenways as a sort of premium. Phyllis Croce, Staff Landscape Architect for MSD, says, "some developers are buying in for flood protection and aesthetics." MSD has been using what Mason calls "bioengineering and other stream-friendly techniques" to develop buffers, greenways, and riparian areas along streams throughout the county. And when MSD itself installs a sewer line or does other infrastructure work in the county, according to Croce "we now use a minimalist approach, avoid significant trees where possible, and restore the area to native vegetation." They also salvage native plants. Croce and some volunteers spent two weekends in the spring of 1998 transplanting Jacob's Ladder, Solomon's Seal, trilium, larkspur, and the like from a construction site to a native garden at MSD's downtown headquarters.

One central stream ripe for restoration was Beargrass Creek which flows through the city and crosses several city parks designed by the prominent 19th century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Over many years it had been channelized, turned into a "ditch." What once flowed sinuously through town became a series of straightened sections. "It didn't even look like a stream," says Mason. Some local citizens went to work on it, however, and Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson established the Beargrass Creek Task Force with members from government, business, nonprofits, and academia. With the help of biology graduate students from the University of Louisville, MSD conducted a habitat survey. Garner says, "I think these surveys are needed on urban streams especially. Often, tracts around them are neglected and destroyed simply because there is little or no recognition of their value for wildlife habitat." Citizen involvement continues. Friends of Beargrass Creek, the Louisville Nature Center, and others sponsor the Beargrass Creek Annual Clean Sweep. Education and public participation to promote stream protection and the "no-mow zone" have been essential.

The first no-mow zones were located on public property next to the original meander of Beargrass Creek to show what happens when natural vegetation is allowed to take hold. According to Croce, box elders and sycamores have begun to shade the "ditch," and black-eyed Susan and other native flowers and grasses are well established in some research plots. There has been some public resistance to the idea of natural vegetation zones and the creepy-crawly things or "weeds" that might inhabit them. Some people may think of a lawn unmowed as "slovenly" or "morally low" according to one commentator, but Brigid Sullivan, Director of the Louisville Metropolitan Parks Department, suggests that the parks' no-mow zones are "dandelion-blessed, something neighbors don't always appreciate." Public acceptance is rising, if slowly. Sullivan says, "Generally, we've had pretty positive reactions to sections of the parks that are in 'managed meadows.' We mow 16-foot paths through them, but leave the meadows to grow naturally--or we may plant wildflowers--but it becomes part of the recreational experience." Croce took it as a sign of success when area residents complained after a couple of the tall grass sections of MSD property were mowed.

New greenways and buffers are being installed and old ones protected on creeks and streams throughout Jefferson County. Some of this is a result of the Floodplain Management Ordinance, some is due to land users recognizing the value of buffers--monetary as well as aesthetic. In some cases, easements are being acquired by public or nonprofit agencies. One is the Future Fund which has been acquiring easements and restoring damaged riparian zones in the Floyds Fork Valley in eastern Jefferson County. "Our mission is to preserve and enhance scenic and wildlife values," says Jeff Frank who is the volunteer property manager for the land trust. He speaks highly of the work of MSD, the Beargrass Creek Task Force, NRCS, the Louisville Nature Center, and the many groups working on Beargrass Creek and other Jefferson County streams. Frank says, MSD Manager "Gordon [Garner] inherited a huge bunch of problems. They're doing everything they can to reduce storm impact, and he is doing the cost-effective stuff to keep surges out of the streams because of the huge cost of dividing the sanitary and storm sewer systems and 're-plumbing' the city. Nobody is sitting on four billion dollars to re-plumb Louisville."

Frank adds that every citizen needs to understand that lawns, drains, gardens, etc. are major polluters. "You've got to get the word out, and that's where the Beargrass Task Force's challenge is. MSD has been in the forefront. Louisville and Jefferson County is a community just starting to come to grips with its water problems. There still isn't a culture of awareness about water quality. People are scared of the streams, and don't feel empowered about what they can do about it. The hardest thing to do is to get people to accept that the stream that flows through their area is severely degraded, even poses a threat for wading! Should the county post its creeks against wading?" Those involved in restoration and protection in Jefferson County will count their efforts a success if such posting is rendered unnecessary. A big part of that job is educational. "Once people know what they should about natural systems, and let common sense and common knowledge take over, they start noticing and appreciating things," says MSD's Croce.

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