Eight Mile Creek Watershed

Check out the Eight-Mile Creek Watershed final plan by clicking here.

 

Watershed management planning fosters the coordinated implementation of programs to control point source discharges, reduce polluted runoff, and protect drinking water, as well as identify sensitive natural resources. The Eightmile Creek Watershed Plan moves toward this goal by recommending educational strategies and supporting existing programs that serve to reduce non-point source pollution.

It is the goal of this Plan to make recommendations necessary to bring all water quality parameters within State water quality standards for Fish & Wildlife as identified in Chapter 335-6-10 of the Alabama Code. The overall goal of these efforts is to identify and implement strategies that will lead to the necessary load reductions as determined by ADEM in the TMDL (72% reduction in pathogens for Eightmile Creek, and a pathogen reduction of 78% for the Gum Tree Branch).  This Plan seeks to implement environmentally protective and economically realistic best management practices (BMPs), where practical and technologically feasible, in order to meet or exceed water quality standards. BMP types and numbers prescribed in this plan are recommendations based on current land use practices, land cover, and watershed activities. Voluntary, incentive-based approaches will be used to implement BMPs throughout the watershed. Providing opportunities for local stakeholder input and participation will continue to be a critical BMP implementation component. 

This plan was developed to address EPA’s nine key elements for watershed management plans. Compliance with these requirements within this document is noted below. These requirements include:

1. (a) An identification of the causes and sources or groups of similar sources that will need to be controlled to achieve load reductions estimated in the watershed based protection plan.

1. (b) Sources that need to be controlled should be identified at the significant subcategory level with estimates of the extent to which they are present in the watershed.  

2. Estimate of load reductions expected for the management measures described. 

3. A description of the nonpoint source management measures that will need to be implemented to achieve load reductions, and a description of the critical areas in which those measures will be needed to be implemented. 

4. An estimate of the amounts of technical and financial assistance needed, associated costs, and/or the sources and authorities that will be relied upon, to implement the plan. 

5. An information and education component used to enhance public understanding of the project and encourage their early and continued participation in selecting, designing, and implementing the nonpoint source management measures that will be implemented. 

6. A schedule for implementing the NPS management measures identified in the plan that is reasonable and expeditious. 

7. A description of interim measurable milestones for determining whether nonpoint source management measures or other control actions are being implemented. 

8. A set of criteria that can be used to determine whether pollutant loading reductions are being achieved over time and substantial progress is being made towards attaining water quality standards and, if not, the criteria for determining whether the watershed management plan needs to be revised.

9. A monitoring component to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation efforts over time, measured against the criteria established under item (8).