Stormwater Quality Monitoring Program
Rain to Recreation has initiated a stormwater quality monitoring program in Lenexa. This program will monitor the long term health and sustainability of Lenexa's streams and measure the effectiveness of "green" stormwater infrastructure implemented throughout the City. Lenexa's program uses several monitoring strategies (chemical and biological) to measure water quality. The following summarizes Lenexa's current monitoring projects.

Water Chemistry
We are monitoring water chemistry in several of our watersheds. A five year monitoring project was recently completed in the Coon Creek watershed. This project 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. Home owners can help control these pollutants by limiting fertilizer use and properly disposing of pet waste.

Rain to Recreation is working with several universities to monitor green infrastructure at Mize Lake. In 2008, Kansas University staff will be monitoring the bioretention cells that treat street runoff along the west side of the lake. Kansas State University staff are currently 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. Macro-invertebrates (aquatic insects, crayfish, clams, etc.) 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 will take to the streams with nets, buckets, and jars to conduct biological monitoring at 15 locations across the City. In the future, the public will be invited to form stream teams that participate in monitoring and other stream stewardship activities.

For more information about Lenexa's monitoring program, contact Rob Beilfuss, Watershed Water Quality Specialist, at 913-477-7666 or email at rbeilfuss@ci.lenexa.ks.us.