Additional information on the Lower Riley Creek Watershed is found on pages 12 to 18 in the Bluffton council packet attached at the bottom of this story.

The Blanchard River Watershed Partnership (BRWP) wants to improve water quality in the Lower Riley Creek watershed in Allen and Putnam counties.

One of the driving forces of the Partnership’s focus is a 2012 Report Card of the stream. In that report the Marsh Run-Little Riley Creek watershed received a letter grade of "D."

According to the Partnership, many of the problems in the stream lie west of Bluffton. Recently, the Partnership received approval from the U.S. EPA, Chicago, to conduct a strategic plan to address the problems.

The clean-up is significant for many reasons, one being that the stream carries water from Bluffton to Ottawa where it is treated and returned to Bluffton for drinking purposes.

Click here to read the Partnership’s strategic plan submitted to the EPA, which provides additional details of the stream’s condition.

Joe Sehlhorst, Bluffton council's representative on the Partnership’s board, told council members on Monday that the Riley west of Bluffton has "a lot of phosphorous and sediment."

He said that there are three issues that the Partnership hopes to address:
• Phosphorus from cropland runoff
• Home sewage treatment systems handing human waste that are unpermitted or are more than 25 years old
• Four "low head dams"

The map with this story shows the location of the Lower Riley Creek watershed in the Blanchard River Watershed.

The Marsh Run-Little Riley Creek watershed covers 10,405 acres or 16.3 square miles. Agriculture cropland use is the largest land-use (69.3% or 7,208 acres).

The BRWP represents the six counties of the Blanchard River Watershed and is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving water quality through developing citizen involvement and watershed action plans. The Village of Bluffton is a member of the Partnership. More information is available on the BRWP website at www.BlanchardRiver.org.