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Millers Creek is degraded due to a high amount of impervious surface in the watershed and alterations to the stream channel. Stream monitoring data show Millers Creek to be in poor condition overall.
Source: Huron River Watershed Council |
About Millers Creekshed
Millers Creek drains only 2.4 square miles, making it one of the smallest watersheds in the Huron River system. However, the creek is also the steepest tributary to the Huron, averaging a gradient of 52 feet per mile. The creek runs along Huron Parkway from Plymouth Road to the Huron River. The stream’s steep gradient, combined with extensive impervious surface in the watershed and straightening of the stream channel over time contribute to extremely flashy flows in Millers Creek during storm events.
State of Our Environment
Huron River Watershed Council volunteers monitor seven sites in the Millers Creekshed – five on the main stem of Millers Creek, and two on smaller tributary streams. Results from the Wiley Stream Health Model show six of the seven sample sites to be in poor condition, and the remaining site to be in fair condition.
Adopt-a-Stream volunteer monitoring and additional studies of Millers Creek during the development of a watershed improvement plan revealed the following:
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Millers Creek has an unnaturally dramatic pattern of flow. When it rains, water rises quickly in the creek due to rapid runoff. During these rain events, the force of the flow erodes the banks and tumbles rocks on the stream bottom making the creek inhospitable to most aquatic life. Under normal conditions, the baseflow of Millers Creek doesn’t come close to filling its deeply-eroded channel. This leads to extremely slow flows and shallow depths that further stress aquatic organisms.
- Millers Creek carries high loads of phosphorus into the Huron River, where the excess phosphorus leads to nuisance algal blooms that degrade the reservoirs of the River including Gallup Pond, Ford Lake and Belleville Lake. Millers Creek has high bacteria levels and both the highest and the lowest conductivity levels seen in the entire Huron system. Streams normally have readings close to 500 micro Siemens (μS), the level in groundwater. The conductivity of the water in Millers Creek below Plymouth Road ranges from 166 μS (comparable to rainwater) to 34,700 μS (which approaches the conductivity of seawater). Factors causing these unusual conductivity levels have not been explained.
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There are many sites in the Millers Creek watershed that have woodlands, forested wetlands, and extensive streamside vegetation. Such natural areas need to be protected because they help stabilize creek flow and benefit wildlife.
Source: Storming Down a Lovely Valley: The Millers Creek Report, (p. 9)
What the City of Ann Arbor and partners are doing to improve Millers Creek
The City of Ann Arbor is a partner in developing and implementing the Miller's Creek Watershed Improvement Plan, a comprehensive watershed improvement plan for Millers Creek, prepared in 2004. To complete this plan, n intensive two-year study of the existing conditions of the Creek and its watershed was conducted from 2001 to 2003. The study, funded by Pfizer, Inc. and conducted by trained volunteers, collected data on streambed morphology, flows, and other parameters such as temperature, pH and conductivity. This plan serves as a blueprint for improving Millers Creek by mitigating the existing problems associated with erratic stormwater flows, excessive soil erosion and sedimentation, and high nutrient loads.
HRWC spearheaded several major projects in the past year intended to slow down storm water, reduce flashy flows, and remove phosphorus and suspended sediment in Miller’s Creek watershed. HRWC and its partners converted an unused dead end street at the intersection of Briarcliff and Prairie Streets to a 5,000 square foot community rain garden and park. They converted a grassy depression at Thurston elementary school to a 1,400 square foot natural filter system that absorbs and cleans rainwater coming off of the school’s roof. They modified the retention pond at the Plymouth-Orchard Professional building to hold more water and release it more slowly to the creek. Finally, HRWC distributed over fifty rain barrels to residents which capture a total of 3,000 gallons per rainfall.
For more information
Detailed information on Adopt-a-Stream monitoring sites in Millers Creekshed is below.
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- Storming Down a Lovely Valley: The Millers Creek Report (pdf)
- Millers Creek Website
Last Updated December 1, 2009