Research
Rain to Recreation monitors stormwater quality Lenexa to look at the long-term health and sustainability of streams and measure the effectiveness of the city’s green infrastructure.

Water chemistry We are monitoring water chemistry in several of our watersheds, using city staff and university partners. A five-year project was completed in 2007 for the Coon Creek watershed that monitored water quality as the watershed urbanized and Lake Lenexa was constructed. Monitoring results indicated that phosphorus, bacteria and chlorides (from road salts) are the predominant pollutants. Future studies will focus on identifying specific sources for nutrients and bacteria.

Live or work in the area? You can help control these pollutants by limiting fertilizer use and properly disposing of pet waste.

Rain to Recreation is also working with several universities to monitor green infrastructure at Mize Lake. Beginning in 2008, Kansas University staff are monitoring the bioretention cells that treat street runoff along the west side of the lake and Kansas State University staff are monitoring the wetlands along the east and south sides of the lake. Preliminary results indicate that these wetlands are effective at removing sediment and nutrients, protecting the health and sustainability of the lake.

Biological monitoring
There's bugs in the creek, which is a good thing. In 2007, Lenexa initiated a biological monitoring program to assess the health of our streams over time.

Macroinvertebrates, which include aquatic insects, crayfish and clams, spend the majority of their lives in water and their population dynamics vary significantly with changes in water quality and habitat. Additionally, some species are more tolerant to pollution than others, so biological monitoring can be used to assess the long term pollution affect in our streams. Each spring and fall, Rain to Recreation staff takes to the streams with nets, buckets, and jars to conduct biological monitoring at 15 locations across the city.

View Lenexa’s most recent biological monitoring report.

Interested in helping out? Anyone can grab a group of friends and form a stream team to participate in monitoring and other stream stewardship activities.

For more information about Lenexa's monitoring program, contact Rob Beilfuss, water quality specialist.