Kentucky is known worldwide for its bourbon distilleries and thoroughbred racehorses. Now, one community has a unique plan to protect one of the region's greatest assets that unites Kentucky's signature industries: limestone water.
Glenns Creek, which winds through Franklin and Woodford counties, is at the heart of bourbon and horse culture. Bourbon was born at the source of Glenns Creek, Big Spring, located behind the courthouse in Versailles. Elijah Pepper started his first distillery at Big Spring in 1790. The sour mash process was modernized by James Crow near its mouth in 1820. Its drainage area is the home of numerous Kentucky Derby winning thoroughbreds, including American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018).
The uniqueness of the limestone geology makes for strong bones in horses, and the mineral content enhances bourbon's taste.
In 2019, a lightning strike triggered a spill of 45,000 gallons of bourbon into Glenns Creek and the Kentucky River, impacting water quality and killing fish. The strike energized the community to study whether the stream had recovered and determine how to ensure future waterway health.
In 2021, the Kentucky Water Research Institute (KWRI), University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service and the Kentucky Division of Water initiated a year-long monitoring project and planning effort to assess the health of the waterways, identify causes and sources of pollution and develop solutions for improvement.
The result is Kentucky's first interactive watershed plan, available at www.gcwatershed.org. The Glenns Creek Watershed Plan project engaged rural and urban partners to create a state-of-the-art planning tool that will open up opportunities to implement on-the-ground practices.
"Our goal for this project was to transform how watershed planning was approached in the state by providing new tools and visualizations to watershed managers," said Steve Evans, KWRI associate director and project lead. "People care about water but often aren't aware of the threats to water resources or how to manage land more sustainably. We wanted to make this process more accessible to the public."
The plan uses virtual stream walks and an interactive dashboard to enhance public understanding and engagement with the information.
Michaela Lambert, nonpoint source and basin team supervisor at Kentucky Division of Water, said this plan marks a milestone in state watershed planning.
"We are excited to see the first fully virtual watershed plan come online," Lambert said. "Once approved (by the EPA), the Glenns Creek Watershed Plan will provide a far more interactive and easily updated platform for future watershed plans. I hope to see more community engagement with watershed planning and water resources as a result of plans like this."
The project revealed that while the ecosystem has recovered from the bourbon spill, there remains a need for improvement to ensure thriving aquatic diversity and safe play for children wading in creeks.
Versailles has taken strides to improve water quality including a recent upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant and a $7 million investment in improvements to Big Spring Park. But like many communities, it is looking at additional steps to address common pollution sources such as leaky sanitary sewer lines, pet waste runoff, excessive lawn fertilization, road salt management, littering, increased runoff from paved surfaces and invasive plants growing along streams.
"The city of Versailles is very happy to have the watershed plan complete," said Mary Beth Robson, Versailles' senior engineer. "It provides us a roadmap for future improvements to water quality in Big Spring Park and beyond. It will also make us eligible for federal nonpoint source funding,"
Amanda Gumbert, extension specialist for water quality with UK Extension, said the agricultural community has shown a strong commitment to water quality, with most producers in the area already implementing best management practices. Additional improvement areas include manure management, stream protection from livestock access, septic systems repair and maintenance, fertilizer management, legacy soil nutrients, stream bank erosion and vegetation along stream banks.
The watershed project team plans to engage the agriculture community in farmer leadership training.
"Farmer-to-farmer learning is an effective way to share information about conservation practices," Gumbert said. "We aim to provide opportunities for farmers to not only learn how to engage as leaders in watershed projects but also to exchange ideas with one another and pave the way for additional conservation practice implementation."
This project was funded in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Kentucky Division of Water, Agreement No. PON2-129-2200000339, and the U.S. Geological Survey, Grant No. G21AP10631-03.
