By Ben Casper, operations and maintenance manager Great Miami River cities don’t flood, though average annual precipitation has been increasing. The MCD flood protection system was designed to protect 47,000 properties and keep 1 million people safe. The number of annual high-water events at MCD flood-control dams have been trending up for the past three … Continue reading Behind-the-scenes with MCD’s staff during high-water
By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resource monitoring and analysis Any community that needs to replace or build a bridge, culvert, stormwater system, or conduct a floodplain analysis must compute peak stream flows during the design process. Understanding peak stream flows ensures the infrastructure will be designed large enough to handle rainfall and runoff. In … Continue reading Are you building for yesterday’s storm, or tomorrow’s?
By Mike Ekberg, Manager of water resource monitoring and analysis At MCD, we track water movement into and out of the Great Miami River Watershed over long periods of time, spanning decades. The records generated at precipitation stations, stream gages, and observation wells enable MCD staff to track long-term trends in water resources. Water enters … Continue reading The Year 2021: Redefining “Normal”
By Don O'Connor, Chief Engineer While there is a persistent fear of flooding in cities around the world, people and businesses along the Great Miami River go confidently about their lives hardly giving flooding a thought. Since 1922, homes and businesses have been protected by MCD’s system of five dry dams, retarding basins, 55 miles of levees, and … Continue reading This year marks 100 years of flood protection by MCD
By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis Are PFAS compounds present in our rivers and if so at what levels or concentrations are they present? Recent river water sampling by the Miami Conservancy District (MCD) shows some Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) compounds present in all of the major rivers. The results … Continue reading PFAS Part IV – PFAS in Major Rivers of the Great Miami River Watershed
By Mike Ekberg and Richard Stuck Most of us know that too much salt is unhealthy for the body, raising blood pressure for example. Well, apparently it can be unhealthy for our water, too. As the saltiness or salinity of groundwater increases above naturally occurring levels, so does its potential to harm aquatic life and … Continue reading Too much salt: It’s not good for you or our water
Work on the removal of the Tait Station low dam is progressing nicely. At the end of October, the project was more than 75 percent complete and is expected to be finished by the end of the year. The Ohio Department of Transportation is fully funding the $1.75 million project to remove the Tait Station low … Continue reading View time-lapse video of Tait Station low dam removal
By Mike Ekberg, Manager for Water Resources Monitoring and Analysis Do you like to canoe, kayak, or row on the Great Miami River? Have you ever flipped your boat and ended up soaked with a mouthful of river water? Did you worry about getting sick? River users frequently ask me, "Is the water safe?" The answer … Continue reading Great Miami River: Is the water safe for recreation?
Blog of the Miami Conservancy District 