Watershed protection provides links to a number of resources developed by Jane Frankenberger and graduate students. It includes maps of public drinking water systems that use surface water, and the county-based "Watershed Connections".

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools have been developed at Purdue for you to use in making watershed maps and predicting land use impacts from development, fertilizer, and pesticides.

To help watershed groups attain their goals, a new program is being develop called Indiana Watershed Leadership. This new initiative will help train watershed coordinators to more effectively plan and deal with barriers to watershed restoration, in addition to strengthening the network of agencies, organizations, and local planning groups. To find out more about Indiana Watershed Leadership, please read our one page bulletin (pdf).

The Watershed Inventory Workbook for Indiana (.pdf format) is designed to help watershed partnerships determine the sources of potential water quality concerns by providing a standard set of questions, specific to Indiana, that helps watershed partnership volunteers understand their watershed.

Farmers can contribute to watershed protection and community health by continuing to improve and implement best management practices. The Farm Assessment program at Purdue offers easy to conduct self-assessment tools for farmstead and field practices, soil monitoring, and livestock and pasture management. Citizens can take advantage of the Home*A*Syst program to conduct an environmental assessment of the home and property.

Watershed Connections is a county-based publication series providing information on local watersheds and water quality. It can be used by educators, county government, plan commissions, and citizen groups who want an overview of local water-related issues and resources. Counties available so far are Allen County, La Porte County, Boone County, Clinton County, Porter County, Pike County, and Warren County.

Land Use Planning
The Planning with POWER project is a statewide educational program that links land use planning with watershed planning at the local level. The project is designed to empower communities to prevent and solve natural resource problems resulting from changing land use in growing watersheds and to empower local officials to incorporate watershed protection measures into comprehensive land use plans. Contact Bob McCormick for more information.

The Impacts of Land Use Change on Water Resources Web resource provides Web-based computer models that can be used to determine short or long-term impacts of urbanization and other land use change. Information is also available for interpreting model results. Contact Bernie Engel for more information.

The Purdue Land Use Team is an award-winning group of Purdue Extension Educators and Specialists who plan and conduct training for Plan Commission Members and others. Contact Christine Nolan for more information.

Drinking Water Systems using Surface Water
Community water systems that use surface water can benefit by developing a watershed protection plan to protect their water supply from current and future contamination. To help communities start developing watershed protection plans, we have developed maps of all Indiana public water supply watersheds (except those that use Lake Michigan or the Ohio River).

Pond Management
In addition to beautifying the landscape, ponds provide important ecosystem services such as storm water management, habitat for aquatic life, and ecosystem health and stability. Proper pond management can prevent problems and ensure a healthy functioning pond habitat. For recommendations and guidance on pond construction and management, see the resources listed on our Ponds page.


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some photos courtesy of NRCS