Cowskin Creek Watershed Project

The Andale Area Chamber of Commerce met at Andale High School on Monday May 17.

The purpose of meeting at Andale High School was to watch the Cowskin Creek Watershed Quality Awareness Project presentation. This was a practice run for the 8 Andale High School students who presented this presentation at the Sedgwick County Extension building on Thursday, May 20. In total 45 Andale students helped with the watershed quality project. Sponsors Kara Martin and Alice Mounts were in attendance as well.

Chemical tests ran were ran at four sites. Items tested included: streambed composition.; Chlorides in water; Algae levels; Sulfate levels; Turbidity; PH levels and oxygen levels. Sulfate & chloride levels were below legal federal standards. A wide variety of wildlife and  plants were collected. There was lots of trash and litter at the  sites. Lots of shells were found. Endangered species Floaters and  elktoes were found. They are now working on Website that will present data gathered. Test sites selected by Monte Munyon . The study was shared with Maize High School students. This portion of the meeting was adjourned to the public library at 7:25 p.m.

Andale High School students participating in this project are: John May, Jill Martin, Melanie Vaughn, Brent Reichenberger, jenny Schwaiger, Tiffany Lies, Gretchen Hein, Erica Mohr, Tami Spexarth, Annie Schneider, Karen Ellington, Christopher Hein, Erica Mohr, Tami Spexarth, Annie Schneider, Karen Ellington, Christopher Hein, Amber Wetta, Amber Simon, Amanda Hein, Maggie Schmitz, Dana Seiler, Julie Bergkamp, Amanda Albert, STeve Timmons, Clint Patry, Jessica Ward, Nicole Niles, Crystal Smarsh, Angela Bergkamp, Darcie Meyer, Terran Simon, Rebecca Kramer, Sam Gegen, Ashley Horsch, Tim Heiger, Johnny Hermes, Rebecca Spexarth, Anne Winter, Tara Clark, Brandon Albert, Derrick Harms, Amy Morris, Michael McSwain, Kelly Winsor, and Andy Brand.

Monte Munyon, Water Specialist, LLC, spoke to the chamber about a watershed basin project that the chamber will lead. An $112,000 study grant from the EPA has been applied for to facilitate planning.

The study will address flooding concerns in the area between Andale, the Cowskin Creek and Wichita. Three additional areas of concern to be addressed by the study will be: 1) water quality; 2) urbanization, and 3) agricultural preservation.

The watershed basin affects around 58,000 people. Current watershed boards have not been that active. Under this new plan the county, township and Wichita would contribute.

The AACC will be the driving force for the project.

The EPA grant was denied but will be available for re-consideration in March. We will pursue it more.

In the mean time we are applying for $15,000 in Kansas Department of Health and Environment. 

These Kansas Department of Health and Environment grant applications are for the Andale Watershed. It looks like we will be approved for these KDHE grants. The largest part of this will go to three area school districts (Andale, Maize, and Goddard)  to Observational Studies of the three area watersheds. The direction of these studies concentrate on three concerns: 1) Water quality and quantity

                                 2) Flooding Concerns

                                 3) Cultural preservation and growth while maintaining the rural lifestyle.

We have prepared and executive summary of the watershed project. The substance of the project appears below.

 For more information on Watershed Basins click on the graphic below.