The Story of Muddy Creek
A water quality snapshot occurs when multiple sites within a geographical area are sampled within a short period of time.
Johnson and Iowa County Watershed Coalition (JAICWC) snapshot planning began on July 1, 2003. The plan was to take a snapshot of Old Mans Creek on September 20, 2003. However as the project grew, a decision was made to also sample Clear Creek, as a paired watershed sampling. In the final weeks before the snapshot a decision was made to include the sampling of several other watersheds in Johnson and Iowa County. Several snapshots had already been done on Snyder Creek, so IOWATER staff recommended combining our efforts. The original �stem only� sites on Old Mans Creek were expanded to include the Dirty Face Creek tributary and its tributary, Picayune Creek. Sites were also set up on North Old Mans Creek and Old Womans Creek.
Test sites were set up at the bottom of Buck Creek, Pechman Creek, Prairie Creek and Rapid Creek. The three IOWATER volunteer sites on feeder streams to Lake McBride were also added to the snapshot. Three sites were also set up on Muddy Creek. The intention, in sampling the test sites on Muddy Creek was not to have them singled out. In fact, the Muddy Creek sites were only three of sixty-six sites tested on September 20, 2003.
Detection of Contamination
A combined educational, observational and testing walk was conducted in October of 2005. This walk detected large pools of a black sludge about 0.25 miles below the North Liberty Wastewater Treatment Plant. Further chemical and observational studies of the creek showed a gross contamination of bacteria and a sludge probably produced by excess TSS discharge from the North Liberty Wastewater Treatment Plant. Muddy Creek has been placed on the Iowa 303d list (Impaired Waters)for "violations of narrative criteria" caused from "sewage, sludge and ammonia."
It is sometimes convenient to sit in an office checking field sheet data and label a creek as "bad" or "impaired" without ever touching the water directly. The need for better knowledge and a greater understanding of the water make the case that it is important for us to study Muddy Creek.
A Learning Center
Because of the proximity of Muddy Creek to Iowa City and Coralville and the uniqueness of the watershed, the creek became a learning center. Muddy Creek starts from a spring, then flows through a small town, is then the receiving stream for a wastewater treatment plant, following which it flows through a rural area, then through multiple residential developments and a golf Course. The combination of these qualities and land practices has created a diversified learning environment. In addition, the Oakdale site in Coralville is a short, easy walk from a parking lot to a very accessible site of the creek. Volunteers and teachers can easily take students or classes to the site for multiple learning experiences.
Biological & Chemical Properties of the water
The water's biological and chemical properties are also unique at the Oakdale site. The first thing noticed there is an odor. A sweet smell that some equate to sewage and others describe as smelling like lilac. Chemical values are usually above �State average values�. Values for pH will fall between 7 and 9, Nitrite-N and Nitrate-N will be 0.5 mg/l and 30 mg/l respectively, Phosphate will is 3 mg/l or more and Chloride is over 200 mg/L. E. Coli is always present in a range of 200 to 28,000 cfu/100ml.