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My Community’s Water shows how people and water resources depend on each other and how decisions we make in our daily lives can also affect our water resources. The way we develop land can affect drainage patterns and can help to increase or decrease the amount of storm water that reaches streams or replenishes groundwater supplies, also known as aquifers. Our interaction with the landscape can slow down or speed up storm water run-off when we maintain trees forming a canopy in the community or replace soils with hardened impervious pavement. The way we manage our properties can contribute not only to flooding, but also to pollution from storm water run-off, as the run-off can carry with it anything on the land surface—such as road salt, lawn fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, oil and grease from car maintenance, or detergents from cleaning outdoor decks and garages.

The number of people in our communities and the relative spacing and density of our households also clearly affect the demands on our water resources, whether for drinking water or providing wastewater treatment. The choices we make day to day and year to year as individuals and as communities have a cumulative effect on our water resources, and can have effects far beyond one community’s boundaries. Water follows gravity and its own rules to create drainage basins or watersheds, which often have little to do with jurisdictional boundaries. Streams and aquifers are shared by many communities, so choices made by one community often affect water resources that others depend on. This website makes it possible to select any township, village or city in Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren Counties, Ohio and show the relationship between an individual community and their water resources as well as which communities share a watershed or aquifer.

To learn more, click on the jurisdiction of interest to you and each heading below.

This map shows major streams and 122 jurisdictions that are located within OKI’s four Ohio counties (Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, and Warren). Learn about your community’s water resources and their relationship with the landscape by navigating the different tabs located at the bottom of the page.

To locate a community:
  • Search by name using the search window.
  • You can also zoom to an area of interest and click on a community.

Once you locate a community, use the tabs at the bottom to learn more about your community’s water. As you navigate the different tabs at the bottom, the display on the map will change to highlight corresponding information.

My Community's Water:

Learn what makes your community unique and the specific water resources that are most vital.

Streams and Other Surface Waters:

This tab shows:

  • Information about watersheds and a jurisdiction’s impact on/by other watersheds
  • Total area of the jurisdiction
  • Number of miles of streams within the jurisdiction
  • Total area, location and makeup of watersheds within the jurisdiction

Hover over a watershed on the table and it will highlight it on the map

Groundwater

This tab describes the significance of aquifers and shows how much of a community overlies an aquifer.

Water Quality

Learn about the parameters used by the State of Ohio to determine the relative water quality of lakes and streams. Follow the link to learn more.

People and Water

This tab shows:

  • The population and number of households in a community as well as the population distribution between the community’s watersheds.
  • A link to a map and additional information about Ohio’s Drinking Water Source Protection Areas.

Hover over a watershed on the table and it will highlight it on the map.

Land and Water Interaction

This tab shows:

  • Total area, location and makeup of hydrologic soil groups within the jurisdiction.
  • How much of the community is under tree canopy and the tree canopy distribution among the community’s watersheds.

The map will load a corresponding layer for the HYDROLOGIC SOIL GROUPS and TREE CANOPY tabs when you click on them.

Stormwater

This tab shows:

  • How much of the community is covered by impervious surfaces and the impervious surface distribution among the community’s watersheds.
  • How many miles of roads are in the community.
  • The total area that is at risk of flooding.

The map will load a corresponding layer for each tab: IMPERVIOUS SURFACE, STREETS and FLOODING.

For questions about this site or to request more information: contact David Rutter at drutter@oki.org

Jurisdictions
Major Streams
Jurisdictions
Water
Jurisdictions
Water
Watersheds
Jurisdictions
Aquifer
Jurisdictions
Watersheds
Jurisdictions
Population Density
Watersheds
Jurisdictions
Household Density
Watersheds
Jurisdictions
Tree Canopy
Watersheds
Jurisdictions
Hydro Soil Grps
Jurisdictions
Impervious Surface
Watersheds
Jurisdictions
Interstate
US Route
State Route
Local Road
Jurisdictions
Floodway
100-Year Flood Zone
500-Year Flood Zone
Area Protected By Levee
My Community’s Water shows how people and water resources depend on each other and how decisions we make in our daily lives can also affect our water resources. The way we develop land can affect drainage patterns and can help to increase or decrease the amount of storm water that reaches streams or replenishes groundwater supplies, also known as aquifers. Our interaction with the landscape can slow down or speed up storm water run-off when we maintain trees forming a canopy in the community or replace soils with hardened impervious pavement. The way we manage our properties can contribute not only to flooding, but also to pollution from storm water run-off, as the run-off can carry with it anything on the land surface—such as road salt, lawn fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, oil and grease from car maintenance, or detergents from cleaning outdoor decks and garages.

The number of people in our communities and the relative spacing and density of our households also clearly affect the demands on our water resources, whether for drinking water or providing wastewater treatment. The choices we make day to day and year to year as individuals and as communities have a cumulative effect on our water resources, and can have effects far beyond one community’s boundaries. Water follows gravity and its own rules to create drainage basins or watersheds, which often have little to do with jurisdictional boundaries. Streams and aquifers are shared by many communities, so choices made by one community often affect water resources that others depend on. This website makes it possible to select any township, village or city in Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren Counties, Ohio and show the relationship between an individual community and their water resources as well as which communities share a watershed or aquifer.

To learn more, click on the jurisdiction of interest to you and each heading below.

Water is essential for all life, but most of us take it for granted. Most of us expect readily available clean water for a wide range of uses: drinking, cooking, bathing, laundering and cleaning, waste disposal, car washing, lawn and garden watering, fountains and other landscape features, pools, hot tubs, saunas, home appliances and many recreational activities. Beyond the home, our fully developed economy relies on managed water resources to transport goods, irrigate crops, create recreation spaces, sustain wildlife, render good health care, support an endless variety of commercial activities, and serve as the lifeblood for innumerable industrial processes. In all realms of life, water is a necessity for good fire protection.

Modern technology makes clean, plentiful water possible under a variety of conditions. The technology, however, cannot completely buffer our water resources from the far-reaching impacts of human activities. Ultimately, people determine the availability and cost of their own clean water.
0
miles of streams
in Jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction Total Area:
0 acres | 0 sq miles
The townships, villages and cities of our region receive most, if not all, of their flowing surface water from upstream neighboring jurisdictions and pass that water along to downstream jurisdictions. That’s because the prevailing drainage pattern in our region is branch-like or dendritic. In a dendritic system, many contributing streams (like the twigs of a tree) join together into the tributaries of the main river (like the branches and trunk of a tree). River and stream drainage basins, also known as watersheds, are arranged in similar layouts. Consequently, nearly everyone lives downstream of someone else in our area. This gives communities a shared responsibility for managing public water resources. The map here shows rivers, perennial streams that flow year-round, and lakes, reservoirs and larger ponds documented by the U.S. Geological Survey.
* Watershed area may be outside OKI Region.
0%
of Jurisdiction
is over
an aquifer
0 acres | 0 sq miles
Water found underground in cracks and spaces of soil, sand and rock is called groundwater, and the formations that hold the water are called aquifers. In Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties, most of the groundwater can be found in buried valley aquifers. Buried valley aquifers consist of the sand and gravel outwash left behind in ancient river valleys by glaciers that melted from this region long ago. Because sand grains and gravel pebbles have relatively large spaces between them for water storage, and because water and pollutants can travel through them quickly, buried valley aquifers are both extremely productive and also have a high sensitivity to contamination.

The greatest significance of groundwater in our region is its use for drinking water by many communities. In parts of our four-county study area, the aquifers also provide water for agricultural irrigation and industrial cooling processes.
To identify the relative water quality of a stream or lake, the state of Ohio designates five types of uses: aquatic life habitat; recreation; human health (based on fish consumption); State Resource Waters, which lie in environmentally significant areas; and water supply, which is subdivided into public drinking water supply, agricultural water supply and industrial water supply.

In turn, each designated use has a specific set of water quality standards appropriate for that use. When the rivers or streams of a drainage area or watershed have polluted waters or poor habitat, that watershed is considered to be in non-attainment of the water quality standards for its designated uses. A healthy river or stream is said to be in attainment. In Ohio, the Ohio EPA determines the attainment or non-attainment status of watersheds throughout the state, following requirements in the federal Clean Water Act. The rating system for attainment/non-attainment is not simple because federal and state laws have established five categories of attainment/non-attainment status, with some of the five having subcategories.

To see where water quality meets or fails to meet water quality standards and why, you can access this Ohio EPA report here

The number of people in our communities and the relative spacing, sizes and density of our households affect water resources because of demand for drinking water and wastewater treatment and the potential for increased sources of pollution.
Public drinking water is provided to Jurisdiction by Utility Provider. Ohio EPA information on drinking water wells and source water protection areas can be found here.
0
people live
in Jurisdiction
0 per sq. mile
Our region’s development has been closely tied to the abundance of water resources, and abundant water supplies can encourage higher population densities than would otherwise be possible. In extreme cases, development patterns and drought conditions can create acute water demands, leading to competitive water uses and potential water shortages. Higher population densities also increase the potential for water quality problems from increased pollution, loss of habitat for aquatic life, increased run-off causing erosion, or low stream flows that cannot sustain aquatic life.

As development occurs, and as population and households grow, so does the generation of wastewater and the need for it to be contained and treated — either on site, in areas of low-density development and suitable soils, or through sewer lines to a centralized treatment facility in areas with higher-density development or soils unsuitable for onsite treatment. The map here shows population densities throughout Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties.
0
households are
in Jurisdiction
0 per sq. mile
Demand for public water service and centralized sewer service—and the resulting impacts on water resources--are not connected to individuals, but to households. This fact makes development patterns and household sizes/densities of vital interest not only for drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities, but also for streams and aquifers. The map here shows household densities throughout Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren Counties.
Soils affect water quality because of their differing abilities to capture rainwater, which affects how much water will be held by the soil and how much will leave the soil as run-off. Some soils allow rainwater to infiltrate downward more easily than other soils. This led the Natural Resources Conservation Service to identify four hydrologic (water-related) soil groups with different infiltration rates: the higher the infiltration rate, the lower the storm water run-off potential, and vice versa. A low storm water run-off potential is desired in nearly all cases because high storm water run-off causes more soil erosion, flood damage and stream pollution.

The map shows the hydrologic soil groups of Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren Counties, Ohio. In some places, two soil groups are mingled. In a few places, the hydrologic soil group is unclassified.
0%
of Jurisdiction
is under
tree canopy
0 acres | 0 sq miles
Trees are good for community water resources, and tree canopy refers to the area of tree overhang. Before a rainstorm, tree roots have already increased the soil’s capacity for storing rainwater as groundwater. During a rainstorm, tree foliage slows the impact of falling raindrops which reduces run-off and erosion. The size of a tree’s canopy generally parallels the size of a tree’s root system, so tree canopy is also a good indicator of run-off reduction.

Overall, trees play a major role in preventing, reducing or at least slowing polluted storm water run-off to our surface water resources. The map here shows the locations and percentages of tree canopy for all the political jurisdictions in Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties, Ohio.
* Tree canopy source data collected in 2007.
When it rains, the speed and volume of storm water are affected by how we’ve developed the land surface, especially if we’ve hardened surfaces with pavement and concrete. Our development choices and patterns can make a difference not only in the flooding of our streams, water bodies and communities but also in the quality of our water resources.
0%
of Jurisdiction
covered by
impervious surface.
0 acres | 0 sq miles
Development usually replaces soils which can capture or slow down storm water with hardened surfaces like rooftops, roads, and parking lots over which storm water moves more rapidly. This hardening of the landscape from pervious to impervious surfaces means that run-off reaches streams faster and at higher volumes. This faster and higher volume run-off can lead to water quality problems such as increased streambank erosion, increased stream temperatures that decrease aquatic life and reduced recharge to ground water supplies.

Based on extensive research, the Center for Watershed Protection has developed an impervious cover model. The model predicts that most stream quality indicators decline when impervious surface (i.e., impervious cover) exceeds 10% of a watershed’s total land area. In watersheds with more than 25% impervious cover, severe stream degradation is expected. This map shows the locations and percentages of land area covered by impervious surfaces in the local political jurisdictions of Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren Counties, Ohio.
0
miles of roads are
in Jurisdiction
Streets, roads and highways comprise a significant part of impervious surfaces, and they are most likely to send polluted storm water run-off to nearby rivers and streams. This analysis is divided into four classes of roadways because busier roadways have greater impacts on water resources than lightly traveled roadways.
0
acres in
Jurisdiction are
subject to flooding.
0 sq. mile
Flooding threatens lives, causes property damage and diminishes water quality. This map shows areas subject to flooding as documented by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A 100-year floodplain is the area where there is a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. A 500-year floodplain has a 0.2% chance of flooding during a single year. FEMA defines the floodway as “the channel of a river or other watercourse plus any adjacent floodplain areas that must be kept free of encroachments so that the 100-year flood discharge can be conveyed without increasing the elevation of the 100-year flood more than a specified amount.”