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 MWCD Takes Steps to Develop Assessment Credits System Landowners in the Muskingum River Watershed who have or eventually take steps to improve the management of runoff water from their properties could receive some financial relief from the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. The MWCD, which is in the final stages of preparation of a plan for maintenance of the system of dams and reservoirs in the Muskingum River Watershed that is funded through an assessment of property owners, will develop a credits program to acknowledge efforts to both reduce the quantity and improve the quality of runoff water. Both the MWCD Board of Directors and MWCD Board of Appraisers have approved resolutions pledging to develop a credits system. Updates and recommendations are expected to be presented to both boards in upcoming months. “There is going to be some kind of credits and the details are being reviewed and considered,” said James Rozelle, MWCD interim chief engineer. “The credits system has not been defined yet and we have not reviewed all of the details involved, but this resolution confirms the desire of the MWCD to take this action.” In recent months, representatives of a few communities and businesses informed the MWCD that they support its plans to maintain the system of dams and reservoirs, and improve flood reduction and water quality in the region, but also would like consideration for possible credits toward the assessments they would pay to the MWCD for the water management work they have completed on their own properties and/or are planning in the future. Members of the MWCD Board of Directors and Board of Appraisers agreed that the requests should be considered and will research them and the potential for implementation of criteria for a credits program that could reduce the amounts of assessments paid by eligible property owners. “The Amendment to the Official Plan (of the MWCD) is built on the concept of partnering,” said John M. Hoopingarner, MWCD executive director/secretary. “We are committed to work with the federal, state and local levels of government, as well as other entities that also are interested in reducing flooding and improving water quality.” David E. Brightbill of Lower Salem near Marietta in Washington County and a member of the MWCD Board of Directors since 1994, said he is hopeful that the eventual credits program will serve as an incentive toward improved watershed management. “The good thing in developing a credits program is that you encourage people to take a proactive approach to doing things that make good sense in the watershed,” Brightbill said. The MWCD has proposed a $270-million plan to maintain and improve the near 70-year-old system of reservoirs and dams in the Muskingum River Basin to protect the flood reduction and water conservation benefits they were designed to create. Since the system’s construction, it has saved more than $6 billion worth of potential property damage from flooding in the region. Through Ohio law, funding for the plan is collected by an assessment of property owners in the 18-county MWCD region. The MWCD Board of Appraisers is the body that by law develops the methodology of assessments for the conservancy district. The MWCD plans to begin collection of the assessment and projects as part of the plan of maintenance and improvements as early as 2008. For more information about the MWCD and its plan of maintenance and improvements in the Muskingum River Basin, visit www.mwcd.org or call toll-free (877) 363-8500. In other business, during a meeting today (March 16) in the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, members of the MWCD Board of Directors:
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