About the Watersheds
Within Ottawa County, there are a number of watersheds designated by the State of MI as impaired for a number of nonpoint source pollutants, including E.coli, nutrients, sedimentation, and flow regime modification. Major sources of these pollutants include runoff from agricultural fields, manure from livestock, failing residential septic systems, and more. The Ottawa Conservation District has secured funding to reduce the current concentrations of these pollutants in six watersheds, including the Crockery Creek, Sand Creek, Bass River, Deer Creek, Pigeon River, and Rush Creek watersheds.
Click here to learn more about Nonpoint Source Pollution.
Click here to learn more about the Pigeon River Watershed.
About the Restoration Programs
These programs were developed to address the high concentrations of nonpoint source pollutants affecting water quality in both Sand Creek and Crockery Creek. The Ottawa Conservation District will work with both residential and agricultural landowners throughout both watersheds to reduce nonpoint source pollutant concentrations in local waterbodies. To reach this goal, the District landowners with technical assistance and cost share opportunities to:
- Inspect, repair, or replace failing residential septic systems for Ottawa County residents within both watersheds.
- Develop and install best management practices on agricultural land to prevent run-off of pollutants into nearby water bodies for any interested producers within both watersheds.
What We Offer
These watershed programs are funded by multiple 319 nonpoint source grants from the State of Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), which are supported by a non-regulatory division of the Department, the Nonpoint Source Program. Through these grants, OCD can offer education/outreach, technical assistance, and funding to landowners to implement conservation practices that will reduce nonpoint source pollution such as pathogens, sediments, and nutrients. These programs offer cost share to both residential property owners through Septic Assistance and agricultural producers through Farmland Best Management Practices.
Septic Assistance
Ottawa County homeowners located within watershed boundaries may be eligible for funding to inspect, repair, or replace their septic systems.
- Cost-share can cover up to 50% of the cost to repair or replace septic systems, with a max cap of $10,000.
- At this time, Septic Assistance is only available to Ottawa County homeowners.
- Please review additional program eligibility requirements and program guidelines here: OCD Septic Program Guidance
- Unsure who to contact for septic inspections or replacement work? Check out this list for options near you: Septic Contractors List
- Visit our YouTube channel to watch a 3-part video series highlighting this program and additional septic system failure resources for homeowner in Ottawa County.
Septic Application Forms
- To apply, please download and fill out both pages of the Septic Assistance Application and the Septic Assistance Contract. Submit them to one of our two Watershed Program Staff (email/mail/drop off).
- Watershed Program Staff will answer any questions you have about the contract or the application during a pre-project meeting. The contract will be completed at that time.
Check out additional septic information and resources at ottawacd.org/septic-systems/.
Agricultural Best Management Practices
OCD has cost-share available to agricultural landowners throughout the entirty of all six watersheds, including land located outside of Ottawa County. This funding is available for agricultural BMPs to reduce erosion and runoff.
- Practices funded include cover crops, reduced tillage, buffer strips, livestock exclusion fencing, manure management, and more depending on your conservation needs.
- All programs are voluntary and confidential. You work with the OCD, not the state or federal government.
Agricultural BMP Application
- To apply for Agricultural BMP cost-share assistance, download and fill out the Agricultural Practice Cost Share Application. Submit this application to one of our two Watershed Program Staff (email/mail/drop off).
- Watershed Program Staff will set a time to meet with you on your site to discuss natural resource concerns and practice options.
- Once the agreed upon practices are approved by EGLE, producers can implement immediately. A contract will be completed and signed prior to first reimbursements.
Recent Program Activities
Septic Savvy Zoom Webinar
On October 16th, 2024, the Ottawa Conservation District hosted a zoom webinar in collaboration with the Ottawa County Environmental Health and EGLE Septic Replacement Loan Program to provide education and information on septic system failure resources. Check out the 3-part video series on the Ottawa Conservation District YouTube Channel!
Ottawa County Water Quality Monitoring Initaitive
On May 14th, 2024, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved awarding the Ottawa Conservation District a $995,465 contract for a Water Quality Monitoring Initiative in collaboration with the Ottawa County Water Resource Commissioner’s office. Through this Initiative, the Ottawa Conservation District (OCD), with the help of the ODC Network, will conduct water quality sampling, habitat surveys, and land surveys throughout all Ottawa County watersheds between 2024 – 2029. These monitoring efforts will help us better understand the concentrations, effects, and potential sources of nonpoint source (NPS) pollutants and identify priority areas for future pollutant reduction efforts.
Crockery Creek Speaks Survey
During the summer of 2022, the Ottawa Conservation District partnered with the Grand Valley State University Social Science Lab to gather input from residents in the Crockery Creek watershed. Surveys were distributed throughout the watershed during the summer of 2022. These surveys will not only help us learn about the local water resource concerns of residents throughout the watershed but will also help us identify beneficial educational workshops and outreach materials to provide.
On February 28th, the Ottawa Conservation District hosted a public meeting to share results from this survey, as well as introduce the project overall to residents of Crockery Creek, talk about monitoring efforts being done within the watershed, and share information about other resources available in the area. Click the following link to review the presentation slides: Crockery Creek Speaks Presentation Slides. Check out the complete final report here: Crockery Creek Speaks Community Survey Final Report. Check out this short results summary sheet for a few key findings:Crockery Creek Speaks Survey Key Results Summary
Ravenna High School Rural Tech Project – Crockery Creek Monitoring
Our watershed staff, Ben Jordan and Sarah Bowman, have continued to work with the Ravenna High School FFA and Grand Valley State University to teach students about watershed health. As a result from the Crockery Creek Speaks SIDMA survey, the Ravenna FFA started an annual Crockery Creek Monitoring Project to better understand how our human landscape can affect our local streams, and to help monitor current pollutant loads in Crockery Creek. Ben and Sarah assist the classes throughout the year by giving watershed health and nonpoint source pollutant presentations and teaching the students how to survey stream habitat. This work is a great opportunity for the students to get a first-hand look into how the landscape around a stream can affect it’s water quality, and to learn ways to manage the land in order to help keep our water clean!
Check out updates from this and other projects the RHS FFA class work on here: https://sites.google.com/student.ravennaschools.org/rhs-rural-tech-project/home
Contact Information
To get more information on this program, or to get started on an application, please contact one of our Watershed Program Staff:
Ben Jordan (Watershed Programs Coordinator) at 616-842-5852 Ext. 5 or benjamin.jordan@macd.org
Sarah Bowman (Watershed & Conservation Specialist) at 616-842-5852 Ext. 5 or sarah.bowman@macd.org