2005 Targeted Watersheds Grants:
Tuttle Creek Lake
Nebraska and Kansas
WHY IS THIS WATERSHED SPECIAL?
Tuttle Creek Lake is a 14,000-acre impoundment built in 1962 by the U.S Army Corps of
Engineers for flood control, irrigation, water supply, recreation, fish and wildlife management, and
flow augmentation. Tuttle Creek Lake provides up to 50 percent of the flow of the Kansas River,
which serves as a public drinking water source for Kansas City and several other cities. The
watershed covers 9,628 square miles in southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas. Tuttle Creek
Lake is located in Manhattan, Kansas at the lower end of the Big Blue River; however, three-
quarters of the watershed area is in Nebraska.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
• Land use in the Tuttle Creek Lake Watershed is over 70 percent row crop agriculture,
including corn and grain sorghum. With such extensive agricultural uses, water quality
problems have resulted from runoff of nutrients and herbicides.
• In the critical sub-watersheds, slopes often exceed 10 percent, leading to excessive sediment
runoff. Large loads of suspended solids have caused a 30 percent reduction in the volume of
the reservoir's conservation pool.
• About 10 percent of the watershed is pastureland. Livestock waste is believed to be the
primary source of bacteria loadings.
RESTORATION ACTIVITIES
Kansas and Nebraska are working together to address multi-jurisdictional water quality problems
resulting from non-point sources. EPA Targeted Watersheds Grant funds will be used to advance the
goals of the Tuttle Creek Lake Watershed Partners and to implement existing watershed management
plans, including Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). Specifically, partners will:
• Target and implement Best Management Practices (BMPs) for
agriculture in critical sub-watersheds.
• Install continuous no-till farming systems to reduce sediment and
nutrient loading.
• Establish riparian buffer strips and filter strips.
• Enhance educational efforts, including development of nutrient and
herbicide plans and field demonstrations about conservation practices.
• Utilize market-based incentives to encourage and support landowner
adoption of BMPs, including cost-share assistance for planting
specialty forest products in riparian buffer strips.
• Conduct water quality monitoring to inventory reductions in sediment,
nutrient, herbicide, and bacteria runoff due to installation of BMPs.
One of the highest priority conservation
practices in the watershed is shown -
continuous no-till farming. Corn stalks are
left after harvest to protect against water
and wind erosion.
EPA840-F-07-001B
www.epa.gov/twg
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A STRONG PARTNERSHIP FOR CHANGE
This project will build upon the excellent working
relationships between environmental and agricultural
organizations in Nebraska and Kansas. Led by the
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, the
Tuttle Creek Lake Watershed Partners are comprised
of a broad range of diverse partners in both Nebraska
and Kansas, which include:
• Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and
Kansas Department of Health and Environment;
• Nebraska Department of Agriculture and Kansas
Department of Agriculture;
• U.S. Department of Agriculture -Natural Resources
Conservation Service;
• Little Blue, Lower Big Blue, and Upper Big Blue
Natural Resources Districts in Nebraska;
• Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board and the Kansas
Grain Sorghum Producers Association;
• The Groundwater Foundation;
• University of Nebraska - Lincoln and Kansas State
University;
• Kansas Cooperative Council;
• Nebraska Corn Growers Association and Kansas
Corn Growers Association;
• Kansas Farm Bureau;
• Kansas Natural Resources Sub-cabinet;
• Kansas Water Office;
• Kansas State Conservation Commission;
• Nebraska Game and Parks Commission;
• Nebraska Chapter Soil and Water Conservation
Society;
• Nebraska Department of Natural Resources; and
• National Park Service - Homestead National
Monument of America.
For More Information Contact:
Steven R. Walker
Supervisor, Water Quality
Assessment Section
Nebraska Department of
Environmental Quality
steve.walker@ndeq.state.ne.us
(402)471-4227
www deq state ne us/
EPA's Targeted Watersheds Grants
EPA's Targeted Watersheds Grant program is
a competitive grant program designed to
encourage collaborative, community-driven
Riparian buffer strips installed between agricultural land
and a stream.
2005 Targeted Watersheds Grants - Tuttle Creek Lake
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