Streams and Ponds

What is a Watershed?

A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it, or drains off of it, goes to the same place. A watershed carries water “shed” from the land after rain falls and snow melts. Drop by drop, water is channeled into soils, ground waters, ditches, creeks, and streams, making its way to larger rivers and eventually the sea.

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe” – John Muir

Watersheds of Marion County

Lower Fall Creek Management Plan Update

The Lower Fall Creek Watershed Management Plan was originally completed in 2009 and was recently updated and approved by US EPA and IDEM in April 2023.  The district will apply this Fall for plan update implementation funding through IDEM ‘s 319 grant program authorized by Section 319 (h) of the federal Clean Water Act.  Led by district staff, a project consultant from Christopher Burke Engineering, LLC and the ROW Fall Creek Waterway Committee, this update effort started in February 2020.  The original 2009 plan needed updated since the watershed’s sub watershed delineations changed and new strategies were needed to reduce sediment, bacteria and nutrient loading in the watershed.

The approved plan update with exhibits is available on IDEM’s website on the link below:

Approved Lower Fall Creek Watershed Plan

Take a tour of the watershed and identify points of interest and areas of concern through the GIS Storymap below:

GIS Storymap