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Project Overview

The Spring Hill Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) is a planning and management process that engages stakeholders in a process to:

  • Identify watershed restoration and protection needs
  • Establish watershed management goals
  • Create a cost effective Master Plan to achieve goals
  • Implement recommendations from the Master Plan

As Spring Hill continues to experience rapid urban growth, the City has identified the need to develop and implement a plan that addresses the impacts of this growth on its water resources, namely Hillsdale Lake (the City’s sole drinking water source), the City Lake and Sweetwater Creek. Urbanization increases stormwater runoff and pollutant loads that jeopardize downstream property, stream health, water quality and habitat. The City of Spring Hill has hired Olsson Associates to develop the Master Plan that will outline specific efforts to protect water quality in streams and reservoirs, control flooding, and protect and restore natural resources. This Plan is developed through continuous coordination with the residents of Spring Hill and local agencies. Major components of the Master Plan will include:

  • Data collection and watershed inventory
    • Aerial topographic survey
    • Floodplain mapping and major drainage structure survey
    • Stream condition survey and asset inventory
    • Point and non-point source pollution identification
  • Watershed modeling and analysis
    • Current and future hydrologic conditions and floodplain delineations
    • Current and future pollutant load estimations and watershed response to pollutants
    • Development and Best Management Practice (BMP) scenario modeling
  • Public involvement activities
    • Resident questionnaire surveys
    • Open-house public meetings (3 total)
    • Press releases and email updates
  • Development of recommendations related to:
    • Future land use planning and protective zoning
    • Site stormwater management design criteria and erosion control regulations
    • Floodplain development
    • Stream buffers, open space preservation and parkland dedication
    • Capital improvement projects
    • Best management practices for water quality

While the Master Plan has a definite begin and end, the WRAPS process is intended to be a living and breathing effort - as dynamic as the City of Spring Hill itself - that adapts with changes in the watershed.

Study Area

Spring Hill is centered on the ridgeline that divides the Sweetwater Creek and Hillsdale Lake watersheds. A watershed describes an area of land that drains down-slope to a common low point; every stream, river or lake has an associated watershed. This WRAPS effort will focus on Spring Hill and surrounding unincorporated areas contained within the Hillsdale Lake and Sweetwater Creek watersheds north of 223rd Street (see Project Watershed Map ).

Background and Related Efforts

Spring Hill is located within the Lower Marais des Cygnes River Basin. The Basin is a vital natural resource, providing drinking water and other domestic uses including municipal and industrial uses, recreational opportunities, agricultural benefits, wildlife habitats and other benefits to thousands of residents in portions of 13 counties in east central Kansas. In 1990, the total population for the Marais des Cygnes Basin in Kansas was 110,023. The Kansas Water Office projects an increase to 177,000 by 2040.

Spring Hill’s growth is occurring in the heart of the Marais des Cygnes Basin: single-family home construction jumped from six new homes in 1996 to 134 in 2002. This growth will put a strain on the Basin’s natural resources. The State of Kansas has identified both Hillsdale Lake and the Marais Des Cygnes River as water quality impaired and developed a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) goal to improve water quality (http://www.kdheks.gov/tmdl/marais.htm). Hillsdale Lake was placed on the impaired list for high nutrient levels (fully eutrophic). Excess nutrients are typically generated from agricultural practices, animal waste, and over-fertilization of urban greenspaces. The introduction of excess nutrients into streams, lakes, or wetlands from artificial sources results in high concentrations of algae, which create algal blooms, reduced clarity and other water quality problems. The TMDL goal for Hillsdale Lake calls for a reduction in the lake’s trophic state index (TSI) from fully eutrophic (TSI = 59) to slightly eutrophic (TSI < 55). Phosphorus is the primary contributing pollutant and a 46% reduction in total annual phosphorus load to the lake is required to meet the TMDL goal. Additional threats to water quality to Hillsdale Lake and the Marais Des Cygnes Basin include sediment and fecal coliform bacteria, which cause loss of aquatic habitat, lake depth and water clarity in streams and lakes.

A number of planning and implementation efforts are ongoing in the Hillsdale and Marais Des Cygnes watersheds to address water quality issues. These efforts have been supported in large part by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) who administers Federal EPA funds for WRAPS projects for watersheds in the State of Kansas. A WRAPS has been developed for the Marais Des Cygnes Basin and continues to be active with implementation efforts. The Hillsdale Water Quality Project (HWQP) has organized a WRAPS effort and continues to utilize EPA grants to study the Hillsdale watershed, sponsor public education and tours, conduct pollutant load estimations, draft watershed restoration and resource plans, and monitor water quality levels in the basin. HWQP submits an annual water quality report to KDHE and EPA for review. The Johnson County Stormwater Program has also been very active in the area, conducting studies to address flooding and water quality in the Marais des Cygnes River Basin and is currently completing a Stream Asset Inventory for the development of a stream setback ordinance for unincorporated areas in Johnson County.