CCBH’s Water Quality Program

CCBH uses a watershed based approach when dealing with water quality issues.  Watershed protection includes the following responsibilities:

• Water quality sampling for nuisance identification and stream surveys
• Supporting the Household Sewage, Storm Water, Semi-public Sewage, Bathing Beach, Marinas, and Private Water, and Educational Outreach Programs  
  

Water Quality Sampling

CCBH uses water quality sampling both to document public health nuisances and to determine baseline stream conditions.  Sampling parameters vary according to the purpose of the data, and CCBH has developed a Project Scope template to describe the details of specific projects.

Public Health Nuisance Elimination: CCBH works with both individual polluters and municipalities to eliminate public health nuisances.  Water quality samples are sometimes used for enforcement purposes, making quality assurance of this data extremely important.  CCBH uses sampling protocol described in the Ohio EPA guidance document:  Sampling Methods for Documentation of a Public Health Nuisance Under OAC Rule 3745-1-04 (F) & (G).

CCBH conducts intensive surveys of specific streams which include bacteriological and chemical sampling; biological (macroinvertebrate) sampling; and physical habitat (QHEI or HHEI) assessments.  These surveys are broader in scope than nuisance investigations, and can provide baseline information about a particular stream.  Summer interns have conducted surveys of most major watersheds in the health district since the late 1990’s.  Some past intern project reports include:  (Links to these documents)

• Porter Creek
• Pepper Creek Water Quality Monitoring Project; Summer 2004
• Cahoon Creek Water Quality monitoring Project; Summer 2004
• Summer 2002 ODNR Grant Internship Report (Chagrin and Euclid Creek watersheds)
• Classification of Primary Headwaters Streams Using HHEI; Rocky River Watershed; Summer 2002
• Primary Headwater Habitat Evaluation; Summer 2005 (Partnering with CVNP on Cuyahoga headwater tributaries)
• Sagamore Creek Water Quality Monitoring Project; Summer 2005
• Storm Water Project: Orange Village, North Randall
• Coliform Analysis of Surface Water Samples for Three Streams in the Village of Orange; June 8, 2004

CCBH has also collected data at 53 Permanent Sampling sites (link to map) chosen to assess overall water quality in the three major watersheds in Cuyahoga County: the Rocky River, Cuyahoga River, and Chagrin River.  These sites measure water quality parameters beginning at the county line and continue downstream as different tributaries enter the stream or land use changes emerge. 

Support for Water Quality programs
Because water quality problems originate from different sources, CCBH manages several programs that deal with specific potential pollution problems.  For more information on these programs, visit the following programs listed under “Programs in the Division of Environmental Health” on CCBH’s website:

• Private Water Systems
• Bathing Beaches
• Household Sewage
• Semipublic Sewage
• Storm Water
• Marinas
• Educational Outreach

For more information, please contact Donna Childs, RS, Program Manager of Water Quality at 216-201-2001 ext 1249 or via email.

Related Watershed Links
Tinkers Creek Watershed Partners
Frinds of Euclid Creek Watershed
Rocky River Watershed
Cuyahoga River RAP
Friends of Big Creek
West Creek Preservation Committee
Chagrin River Watershed Partners
Ohio EPA
US EPA
Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District
Northeast Regional Sewer District
NOACA
Cuyahoga County Planning Commission
Tinkers Creek Land Conservancy
Western Reserve Land Conservancy
Cleveland Metroparks
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Center for Watershed Protection