UK, KHP Foundation Partner to Improve Watershed

The groups partnered in 2013 to make substantial improvements to the Cane Run Watershed.
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The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment and the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation partnered in 2013 to make substantial improvements to the Cane Run Watershed, an important water resource for the region that is also currently on Kentucky’s 303(d) list of impaired streams. The two largest property owners within the watershed are UK’s Agricultural Experiment Station and the Kentucky Horse Park.

The collaboration is part of a ­longer-running project and a partnership between UK and many Kentucky organizations that began in 2006. It was funded in part by a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under 319(h) of the Clean Water Act through the Kentucky Division of Water to the University of Kentucky in 2007. In turn, a sub grant award of $260,000 was given by UK to the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation in March 2013, with plans to bump that up to $465,000, said project lead Stephen Higgins, PhD, director of environmental compliance for UK’s Agricultural Experiment Station.

According to the project website, the Cane Run Watershed encompasses approximately 29,000 acres and is located in Fayette and Scott counties. It originates underneath urban areas on the north side of Lexington and is conveyed through a series of storm drains, pipes, and restricted channels. As Cane Run continues on the surface, it joins with other tributaries and travels through parks, open green spaces, and agricultural lands.

The Cane Run Watershed is an important water resource because it supplies water to the Royal Spring Aquifer, which is the major source of drinking water for the city of Georgetown, Ky. Segments of the waterway have been identified as having high levels of pollutants such as sediment, pathogens, and nutrients. Some of this pollution is called “point source,” as it comes from a defined location, such as a leaking sewer pipe, a sewer manhole overflow, or an industrial discharge. More commonly, the pollution sources are “non-point source,” meaning pollution comes from a wide range of agricultural and urban sources that are not discretely defined. These could include livestock in the creek, erosion from construction sites, failing septic systems, pet waste, and lawn and agricultural fertilizers. Because of this pollution, Cane Run is unable to support aquatic wildlife habitat and is unfit for primary contact recreation, such as swimming

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