PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The project encompasses approximately 80,000 acres of land within Bates County, Missouri. The watershed is made up of three hydrological units within the Upper Osage/ Marais des Cygnes River Basin. Included within this project area is the Butler Municipal Reservoir, the city's intake located on Miami Creek, and the Drexel water supply reservoir. Together, these supply drinking water to the cities of Butler, Drexel, Amsterdam and five public rural drinking water districts. These reservoirs are also used for recreational activities such as fishing. With the encroachment from the Kansas City Metropolitan area increasing, so is the demand for safe usable water in the area.

Results from water monitoring completed by the cities and the Department of Natural Resources, have detected high levels of the herbicide atrazine in their water supplies. Atrazine is not the only concern is the project area; nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria, and sediment are other major water quality concerns. Possible sources of contaminants in the watershed include several livestock facilities located in or adjacent to the Miami Creek flood plain and cropland primarily used in conjunction with a corn-soybean-small grain cropping rotation. This rotation typically involves application of atrazine in one out of three years.

The overall goal of the Miami Creek/Drexel Reservoir Protection and Restoration Demonstration Project is to improve and protect the quality of water throughout the watershed.

PRODUCTS AND OBJECTIVES

The Miami Creek/ Drexel Reservoir provides water to approximately 8,500 residents, with this figure growing every day. Protecting the water quality in these two watersheds will be accomplished by achieving the following objectives: inform, educate and demonstrate controlling chemical runoff, animal waste runoff and sheet and rill erosion by implementing best management practices. It is hoped that greater than 95 percent of the land users can be educated about the proper techniques in protecting the water quality in the Miami Creek/Drexel Reservoir
watershed.

PROJECT SPONSOR

Osage Valley RC&D

COOPERATING AGENCY

EPA/DNR