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The high amount of impervious surface in the Malletts Creekshed creates a number of hydrology and water quality problems in the stream. According to monitoring data by the Huron River Watershed Council, the macroinvertebrate community in Malletts Creek is dominated by pollution-tolerant species.
Source: Huron River Watershed Council |
About Malletts Creekshed
Malletts Creekshed covers eleven square miles in the City of Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township. The creek flows into South Pond, and eventually into the Huron River, near the Huron Hills Golf Course. Over the last four decades, the area surrounding the creekshed has undergone extensive development of shopping malls, residential housing, and parking lots. Impervious surfaces now cover over 30 percent of the Malletts Creek basin.
State of Our Environment
Huron River Watershed Council volunteers monitor four sites along Malletts Creek, and they are all in poor condition according to the Wiley Stream Health Model. Since monitoring began in 1992, no sensitive insect families and no winter stonefly families have been collected.
The large amount of watershed impervious surface is a major contributing factor to the poor quality of Malletts Creek. Malletts Creek has a significant number of water quality and hydrology problems including increased peak flow levels and velocity of the creek resulting in bank erosion, high phosphorus levels, sedimentation, increased water temperature, destruction of bank vegetation and degraded stream beds.
What the City of Ann Arbor is doing
The City of Ann Arbor is a partner in the Malletts Creek Restoration Plan. The plan was developed to address the water quality problems of the creekshed and to meet the MDEQ mandate to improve the biota of the creekshed through a 50% phosphorus reduction in the Huron River, as well as to identify structural repairs that would prevent further channel and bank erosion. Development of the Malletts Creek Restoration Plan was a collaborative effort among the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, the City of Ann Arbor, Pittsfield Township and residents of the creekshed. The plan recommends various projects and efforts to be completed over a number of years at an estimated cost of $19M. The restoration plan was accepted by the City Council, which directed the establishment of a Malletts Creekshed Coordinating Committee (MCCC). Implementation of the Malletts Creek Restoration Plan is being coordinated through the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner.
For more information
Find detailed information on Adopt-a-Stream monitoring sites in Malletts Creekshed below.
- A. Main Street (pdf)
- B. Interstate 94 (pdf)
- C. Scheffler Park (pdf)
- D. Chalmers Drive (pdf)
Updated December 1, 2009