overview of the watershed
The Papillion Creek Watershed is a 402 square mile watershed that spans three counties and includes 11 cities or towns. The headwaters of the Papillion Creek lie in rural Washington County, several miles west and north of Blair, Nebraska. The main stem, the Big Papillion Creek, has six major tributaries and a number of minor tributaries throughout the watershed. Major tributaries include the Little Papillion Creek, Thomas Creek, Cole Creek, NW Branch of the West Papillion, West Papillion and South Papillion creeks. Butter Flat Creek, Hell Creek, and Copper Creek are but a few of the other tributaries that comprise the system. Big Papillion Creek, Thomas Creek and the NW Branch arise in north central Washington County. All tributaries throughout the system flow to the Big Papillion Creek, which leaves Washington County and flows southeasterly through Douglas and Sarpy counties until its confluence with the Missouri River about two miles south of Bellevue, Nebraska. (Click here to view map.) This stream system conveys water to the Missouri River, including rain and snowmelt from within the basin.
Major municipalities located partly or totally within the watershed are Omaha, Bellevue, Bennington, Elkhorn, Gretna, LaVista, Papillion and Ralston. Smaller communities include Girls and Boys Town, Kennard and Washington. Population of the watershed is approximately 531,000.
Four lake sub-watersheds are located in the Papillion Creek watershed. The four urban reservoirs built for flood control are: Glen Cunningham (390 acres), Standing Bear (135 acres), Wehrspann (245), and Zorinsky (253 acres). These reservoirs are manmade lakes.
Land use in the watershed is a diverse mixture of agriculture, acreages, suburban, urban, industrial, commercial, and residential. The headwater reaches of the streams originate in agricultural cropland, but as the streams enter the northern and western portions of Douglas County, the watershed becomes a mixture of pastures and fields, acreages, light industrial and residential developments, finally converting into a fully urbanized landscape. Thus, the Papillion Creek stream system is a classic mix of agriculture and urban – and receives all of the impacts unique to each.
Omaha has and continues to experience a significant population growth in recent years. The western portion of the Papillion Creek system in western Douglas County and the western and lower portion in Sarpy County are rapidly urbanizing. New growth is currently consuming 4.5 square miles of land per year in the watershed. This rate of growth causes increased surface runoff and increases the likelihood of greater water quality impairment. Full build-out of the two counties is expected by 2040, converting pervious surfaces (land that allows infiltration of rain water) to impervious surfaces (hard surfaces such as roofs and paving which do not absorb rain water).
Urbanizing of the watershed has increased the impacts on water quality of the streams. Pollution from many sources directly impacts both urban and rural creeks in the Papillion Creek system. The headwater reaches of the main stem and upper tributaries receive pollutants from agricultural and livestock land use, specifically sediment, nutrients, pesticides, and pathogens. As the streams enter the fully urbanized areas—and encounter stormwater runoff from streets, large parking lots, commercial and industrial sites, golf courses, and urban lawns—petroleum and other chemical products as well as additional sediment, nutrients, and pathogens are swept into the receiving streams via storm drains and surface flow. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) also contribute to the pollutants entering the Papio.
What is a watershed? It’s a region in which all land drains to a particular body of water or common point. It could be as small as your backyard, field, a dozen city blocks, county, state, or region, such as the Missouri River Basin. Everyone shares a watershed!
