About the Program

Stream Conservation: Why?

Stream Impairment

Stream Conservation: How?

​Your Streams

Get Involved!

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Your Streams

Learn about the health of streams in your neighborhood!
In Hamilton County we are fortunate to have a wealth of information on the biological, chemical and physical integrity of our local streams.  This is thanks to a state-of-the-art stream monitoring program implemented by the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSDGC) with the assistance of the Midwest Biodiversity Institute (MBI), in addition to an active network of citizen scientist in Southwest Ohio.

Much of this monitoring information is available via two on-line interactive maps that provide data interpretations, summary statistics, and graphical display capabilities.  These on-line tools empower you to explore the condition of streams in your community!

• MSDGC Water Quality Map - provides state-of-the-art chemical, physical, and biological data for streams throughout Hamilton County.  This map has sample location points color coded by attainment status of "Aquatic Life Use".  You can view water chemistry data and index scores for fish communities, macroinvertebrate (bugs) communities, and habitat quality.  This website also allows you to download lots of specific measurements in case you really want to dive-in!  This data is collected by watershed in a five-year cycle: the Mill Creek watershed was sampled in 2011, the Lower Little Miami watershed was samples in 2012, the Lower Great Miami watershed was samples in 2013, smaller tributaries to the Ohio River were samples in 2014, and no monitoring was done in 2015.  The cycle continued in 2016 with monitoring efforts taking place in the Mill Creek watershed.    

 

• The StreamBank database map - provides chemical water quality data, collected by citizen scientists all over Hamilton County, Butler County, and parts of Clermont and Warren Counties.  The site also features graphing and reporting capabilities which allow you to visualize trends and compare sites.  You can view data for E. coli, nitrates, total phosphorous, pH, conductivity, and turbidity.  This website is currently undergoing improvements which will feature the interactive ability to color-code sample location points on the map based on the chemical concentration of selected parameters.  The site will also offer educational material for each of these chemical parameters, what they mean for stream health, and how to interpret varying levels.