Since the Maumee RAP launched into Stage 2 with the formation of the Maumee RAP Implementation Committee in 1991, activities to improve the AOC have been varied in size and focus. The Maumee RAP Committee and its extensive partnerships have made great progress toward achieving the goals of restoring the Maumee Area of Concern to "fishable and swimmable" condition. Annual summaries of the Maumee RAP Committee and Action Group activities, as well as a 10 year summary of the Activities and Accomplishments in the Maumee Area of Concern (1991-2001) are available for downloading from the Publications and Documents Section. More projects and programs than can be described on this page are underway in the Maumee Area of Concern. Selected activities are outlined below.

Maumee RAP Activities:

• Give Water a Hand Educational Campaigns
  The Maumee RAP collaborated with local jurisdictions to educate residents of the Northwest Ohio about storm water and other environmental issues, their impact on water quality, and how the average citizen can help. Additional information on the Give Water a Hand Residential Campaign is available on the Give Water a Hand Residential web page.
  
  Based on the success of the residential campaign, a Give Water a Hand Business Campaign was created to inform local business owners, managers, and employees of the proper methods of storage, use, and disposal of a wide variety of materials. Additional information on the Give Water a Hand Business Campaign is available on the Give Water a Hand Business web page.
• Toussaint River Improvement Incentive Project
  The Toussaint River Improvement Incentive Program was developed to reduce sediment and nutrient loadings into the Toussaint River and Lake Erie. As a part of Phase I (1997-2000) incentives were available to landowners along the 36-mile mainstem of the Toussaint River. Landowners made a five-year commitment to maintaining newly installed conservation practices. Phase I activities and events included the creation of two full-color booklets illustrating the success of the project, media/information events and conservation buffer area signage. Water quality assessments of the river were made before practices were put into place and then again after they were established. As a part of the Phase I program, a streambank stabilization project was also conducted.

  Phase II began in 2000 and is expected to run until 2004. This Phase is providing financial incentives to landowners to establish filter strips along streams and in concentrated flow areas, set aside floodplain lands for all rivers, streams and ditches in the Toussaint River and Packer Creek watersheds. It is also available for acreage already enrolled in the CRP. The project is currently being expanded to include incentives to reduce other types of nonpoint source pollution affecting these watersheds.

  Financing for Phase I was through a $275,000 Ohio EPA 319 Grant with local match of $208,000 through assistance from the Ohio DNR Division of Soil and Water Conservation and many other partners. Phase II was financed through a $300,000 Ohio EPA 319 Grant and many other partners. The Wood County Commissioners provided a bonus incentive payment to encourage landowner sign ups. This very successful program is highlighted as one of US EPA's 319 success stories. A fact sheet on this project is available on the Publications and Documents Section.

• Fate of a River: Revisited
  In 1965, the Junior League of Toledo produced a film, Fate of a River: Apathy or Action, depicting foaming detergents, raw sewage, green and blue industrial discharges, gasping fish, and algae-laden streams in the Maumee River Watershed. This film helped citizens throughout Northwest Ohio recognize that their actions were negatively impacting local waterways and that they could take actions to reduce or eliminate this impact to restore the health of their waterways.

  Fate of a River: Revisited, will look at the many water quality improvements over the last 35 years, and demonstrate the need for continued actions by the citizens living in this three state watershed. Particular attention is being paid to impacts associated with changes in land use and nonpoint sources as our population increases and shifts outside of the urban centers. The film is being produced for public broadcast and mass distribution. Supplemental educational materials are being developed to recreate awareness and to renew the focus on the Maumee River and its tributaries. At least two public television broadcasts, 500 film presentations to individual groups, web site, and educational handouts will reach at least 500,000 residents of Northwest Ohio, Michigan and Indiana that live in the basin.

  A Working Group comprised of many Northwest Ohio organizations have been meeting since May 2000 to plan for this project, with the Maumee RAP, ClearWater, Inc. and the Ottawa River Coalition spearheading the effort. This Fate of a River: Revisited campaign is expected to generate increased understanding of water quality issues and motivate citizens to take actions to improve the waterways. The film first aired on WGTE TV30 (Toledo) on Nov. 21, 2002. More information  about the program, and how to request copies, support materials or a presentation is available at www.wgte.org/fateofariver.

• Partnering for Clean Streams Patch Program
  The Partnering for Clean Stream Patch Program began in August 2002 with the Maumee Valley Girl Scout Council. This program was created to help the youth in the Maumee Area of Concern learn about their local fresh water sources and how to keep those sources clean and abundant. Eight activities are listed in the program booklet and scouts are required to do at least 5 of them to be eligible for the patch. It is hoped that patch recipients will wear their patch with greater pride of ownership in the waters of our area and will be eager to continue as active partners in their preservation. Expansion of the project is planned to incorporate boy scouts and other youth organizations. Additional information is available at Patch Program.
• Student Watershed Watch
  Since 1987, the Student Watershed Watch (SWW) has helped our region’s young people to appreciate our streams, so they may grow to be wise stewards. Each year the SWW brings hundreds of students together from urban and rural school districts to learn about our local environment. The two-part program highlights water quality testing performed by Junior and Senior High School classes at local stream sites. The program then culminates at a Student Summit where student representatives from participating schools release and compare their results. The Student Watershed Watch program builds valuable skills such as applied science, public speaking and real life problem solving in today’s students and tomorrow’s leaders. Fact sheets on this program and participating schools from previous years are available on the Publications and Documents section of this web site. Additional information is available on the Student Watershed Watch web page..
• Bowman Park Demonstration Project
  The Urban Runoff Action Group (URAG) partnered with the City of Toledo Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry to use supplement environmental project penalty funds they received from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Buckeye Basin Project. This collaborative project was to add a parking lot to service a highly utilized city park (Bowman Park). A bio-filter was determined to be the best management practice for improving water quality on this confined urban site. Storm water runoff from the new parking lot would first pass through a plant bed and a sand filter before entering the storm water system and being discharged into a stream or river. This filtering process removes from the storm water runoff many of the pollutants that can collect on parking lots, such as oil, grease, and metals that are left behind by cars. It is expected to be a demonstration project for other sites within the area. A fact sheet on this project is available on the Publications and Documents Section.
• Maumee River Watershed Wetlands Protection & Enhancement Planning Project
  The goal of this project is to protect existing wetlands and increase the number of wetland enhancement projects in Lucas County. It was funded in part by a grant from the Ohio EPA 319 Nonpoint Source Program for 2000 to 2002 and was based on an identified need to provide better information on the distribution of wetlands and the impacts from urbanization and streamside modifications causing habitat alteration. The focus of this project is the development of current and accurate wetland maps utilizing satellite imagery and remote sensing techniques. The new wetlands inventory maps would then be integrated into GIS database and placed on a public accessible website so as to provide additional information on the issue of wetland loss and impacts in the Maumee AOC and to assist in decision-making. Training workshops for local planning authorities and education outreach programs will be implemented. Additional information is available on the Wetlands Classification & Inventory GIS Maps of Lucas County.
• "Buy-Down" Program for Farmers to Purchase Conservation Tillage Equipment
  A $641,000 federal grant for nonpoint source pollution abatement was used in 1992 to encourage conservation tillage. The RAP Agricultural Runoff Action Group collaborated with Ohio EPA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and 17 Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) in the program, which provided farmers with "buy-down" money to be applied toward the purchase of conservation tillage equipment. More than 400 participants received money from this highly successful program, with farmers matching funds at a rate of nearly nine to one.

Partners' Activities:

• City of Toledo's CSO Abatement Tunnels
  The City of Toledo has spent nearly $82 million to abate the effects of CSOs on the Ottawa River and Swan Creek. Most of this expenditure has been for the Ten Mile Creek Relief Interceptor (Ottawa River) and to construct the Swan Creek North and South storage tunnels. These massive storage tunnels have been constructed to hold most of the combined sewage and storm water overflows and prevent it from flowing directly into the rivers. Although there still are other areas within the Maumee AOC which could greatly benefit from the removal of CSOs, the elimination of CSOs in the Maumee River/Swan Creek area was a major step in the right direction.
• Landfill Closure and Cleanup
  Two Ottawa River landfill sites, Tyler Street and Stickney Avenue, were selected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) for remediation under Superfund's Accelerated Cleanup Model (SACM) program. These sites were grubbed, capped and covered in 1998 and 1999. In conjunction with the capping of the Stickney Avenue Landfill was the installation of a leachate extraction system and capping of waste lagoons on the adjacent XXKem property. The two landfill sites are currently undergoing a five year performance monitoring period.

The Dura Avenue Landfill is near the Stickney Ave. and Tyler St. Landfills and it was also recently grubbed, capped and covered. In 2000 and 2001 the final remedial measure was implemented. In 1994 an interim remedial measure was conducted on this site with the installation of a $4.8 million containment wall and leachate collection system. The wall was constructed along the banks of the Ottawa River and is 259 meters long and 12 meters high, with another 12 meters extending below ground level. Dura was believed to be a major source of PCB contamination to the Maumee AOC.