3/4/2024
WT Staff
HAPPENING NOW
Dry conditions persist in Maumee watershed
Lake Erie drainage basin drought
Water news for Monday, March 4, 2024 1007 am EST
Streamflow Situation from USGS current streamflow monitors
More stations are chiming in at much below normal in the Maumee watershed, the critical region determining Lake Erie drinking water quality for the upcoming season. Streamflow gauges on the Blanchard, Auglaize and Tiffin Rivers are registering much below normal flows, which may limit the volume of reactive phosphate running off the landscape toward Lake Erie's shallow west basin. Excess phosphate sparks a large growth of the cyanobacteria mass in Lake Erie. Heading east in the Lake Erie drainage area, streamflows remain below normal.
South of the state divide, streamflows feed the Ohio River, part of the Mississippi drainage basin running surface water down to the Gulf of Mexico. On Ohio's west side, the Great Miami River and tributary flows are rated mostly below normal Monday. Streamflows in central and southeast Ohio are mostly normal with an area of the Upper Ohio minor tributaries running below normal around the height-of-land-divide in northeast Ohio.
One extreme low flows is recorded in the Lake Erie basin, Sandusky River watershed. No high flows or flood conditions observed as of this report.
Drought Map USGS 7-day average streamflow against seasonal average
Ohio's drought map is colored in below normal across most watersheds north of the state divide Monday. Lower Maumee and Cedar Portage watersheds are clear of a drought rating, every other watershed in the Lake Erie basin is rated below the seasonal normal.
South of the divide, the Upper Ohio minor tributary Mahoning River is rated below normal on the drought map Monday. All other surface area south of the divide is clear of the drought map, unrated for drought.
Drinking Water Advisories
Three recent short term BWAs announced in Ohio, for Zanesville, Nelsonville and Chillicothe. Ohio EPA has forty eight long term public drinking water advisories in effect, where facilities have reported over maximum contaminant level, or where microbiological contamination has been found. See yellow tags on the map for boil advisories, red for do not consume orders.
Hazardous Spills
Spills in Ohio are reported to the 24 hour emergency spill hotline with response handled by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency 24/7 at 1-800-282-9378 or 614-224-0946. Anyone with knowledge of a spill of hazardous material is to make a report.
USGS Provisional Data Statement
Data are provisional and subject to revision until they have been thoroughly reviewed and received final approval. Current condition data relayed by satellite or other telemetry are automatically screened to not display improbable values until they can be verified.
Provisional data may be inaccurate due to instrument malfunctions or physical changes at the measurement site. Subsequent review based on field inspections and measurements may result in significant revisions to the data.
Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it for decisions that concern personal or public safety or the conduct of business that involves substantial monetary or operational consequences. Information concerning the accuracy and appropriate uses of these data or concerning other hydrologic data may be obtained from the USGS.
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