Numbered Publications: HENV
HENV-204: What is a Watershed?
Ashley Osborne | Sep. 13, 2024 (Minor Revision)
A watershed is an area of land that drains water to a single water body.
Watersheds are as small as a few acres draining into a stream or as large as several states draining into the ocean. Smaller watersheds join together to make larger watersheds.
Kentucky is divided into seven major watersheds, or basins. Knowing what watershed you live in is a first step toward protecting water quality.
To find your watershed, visit How’s My Waterway?
https://mywaterway.epa.gov/
HENV-202: Planting Along Your Stream, Pond, or Lake
Carmen Agouridis, Ashley Osborne | Aug. 15, 2024 (Minor Revision)
Kentucky has more than 90,000 miles of rivers and streams and thousands of ponds, lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands. You can improve your surroundings and the quality of your stream, pond, or lake by planting an area called a riparian buffer or buffer zone.
HENV-203: Stormwater
Carmen Agouridis, Ashley Osborne | Aug. 15, 2024 (Minor Revision)
As stormwater moves across lawns and paved areas, it picks up bacteria, nutrients, sediments, heavy metals, and chemicals before traveling through the storm sewers to our water bodies. Because the stormwater is not cleaned or treated, it creates harmful conditions for the environment and for us.
HENV-716: Companion Canine Nutrient Contributions to Kentucky's Urban Environment
Glynn Beck, Rick Durham, Brad Lee | Mar. 12, 2024 (New)
Eutrophication is a significant environmental issue affecting creeks, streams, and lakes, and excess nutrients, particularly nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), play a crucial role in its development. Microbial growth due to excess nutrients in the environment can be devastating to aquatic life and water resources. When eutrophication occurs, excess nutrients in fresh water can cause algal blooms, some of which are toxic to humans and pets.
HENV-713: BMP Maintenance and Operation: Retention Basin
Benjamin Currens, Andrea Drayer, Rick Durham, Brad Lee | Oct. 12, 2023 (New)
Retention basins, or wet ponds, retain a deep, permanent pool of water that can collect stormwater and release it slowly to maintain a desired water level, after which the excess stormwater is released slowly via an outlet (drawdown orifice). Retention basins should always have a baseline level of water present and may be vegetated. Retention basins provide a higher level of pollutant retention (up to 80 percent) and a lower chance of sediment resuspension than detention basins (dry ponds).
HENV-714: BMP Maintenance and Operation: Grass Swale
Benjamin Currens, Andrea Drayer, Rick Durham, Brad Lee | Oct. 12, 2023 (New)
Grass swales, or dry swales, are designed to transport stormwater, promote infiltration, and capture sediment during a storm event. Grass swales are turfgrass-planted channels constructed with wide bottoms to encourage infiltration of stormwater into the underlying soil. Vegetation in the channel functions to reduce the speed of stormwater and trap sediment as water is conveyed through the channel. When functioning properly, these swales hold water no longer than six hours after a storm and should remain dry until the next storm event.
HENV-712: BMP Maintenance and Operation: Filter Strip
Benjamin Currens, Andrea Drayer, Rick Durham, Brad Lee | Oct. 12, 2023 (New)
Filter strips are planted and maintained strips of vegetation designed to provide pretreatment of stormwater runoff before it flows into adjacent best management practices (BMPs). Gently sloped, the dense vegetation within the strip reduces the speed of stormwater. This allows for the capture of sediment as stormwater from impervious surfaces passes through the filter strip.
HENV-715: BMP Maintenance and Operation: Detention Basin
Benjamin Currens, Andrea Drayer, Rick Durham, Brad Lee | Oct. 12, 2023 (New)
Detention basins, or dry ponds, are designed to collect water during a storm event and hold it for a certain amount of time, usually 48 hours. This short impoundment of stormwater allows pollutants carried in the stormwater to settle to the bottom of the basin before collected stormwater is released through a slow-release outlet. When functioning properly, these basins should remain dry after the release of water until the next storm event.
HENV-711: Homeowners Guide to Rainwater Harvesting: Rain Barrels and Beyond
Amanda A. Gumbert, Lee Moser | Jun. 30, 2022 (New)
Stormwater runoff is one of the many water quality and quantity challenges in urban settings. Urbanization increases the proportion of impervious surfaces (surfaces that prevent rainfall from soaking into the ground, such as roofs and driveways) in a landscape. Greater amounts of impervious surfaces increase the volume of stormwater runoff to storm sewers and local waterways. As stormwater flows across impervious surfaces, it can transport pollutants to nearby streams and rivers.
HENV-709: Sanitary Sewer Overflows: Risks and Homeowner Responsibilities
Amanda A. Gumbert, Lee Moser | Apr. 22, 2022 (New)
A sewer system is an underground network of pipes that carries sewage and wastewater from homes and businesses to a treatment plant. There are two types of sewer systems. Modern sanitary sewer systems are designed to be a separate network of pipes and infrastructure from those that manage stormwater; these are known as separate sanitary sewers. Some municipalities still have combined sewers that manage both sanitary sewage and stormwater in the same pipes; these are known as combined sewers.
