The Darby Creek Watershed

 Kentucky Waterways Alliance (KWA) was awarded a Clean Water Act Section 319(h) grant through the Kentucky Division of Water in 2004 to develop a Watershed Planning Guidebook for Kentucky.  To do this, KWA worked with communities in  four small watersheds, including Darby Creek, to create watershed plans. The feedback generated during this planning process was used to develop the guidebook First Edition (2010).

The Darby Creek Watershed is a 9.4 square mile (6,017 acres) area located in the Harrods Creek watershed in Oldham County, Kentucky.  Most of the watershed is forested (50 percent), with approximately 13 percent developed and the rest in pasture and cultivated crops. There are several artificial lakes in the area, including Lake Lotawata. The developed portion of the watershed is located in the upper watershed near Buckner, including the Oldham County Country Club, surrounding subdivisions, and commercial and institutional development along Kentucky Highway 146. I-71 cuts across the upper watershed. Scattered homes are located along the roads crossing the watershed. Limited water quality sampling was conducted in the stream in 2008. The data show elevated pathogens and nutrient levels, but overall a high quality stream. This is due in part to the sparse development within the watershed.

 The Darby Creek Watershed Planning Team met regularly for over two years to create the Darby Creek Watershed Plan.  Two community round tables were held to gather information about the watershed and later to present the guidebook to the community.  The plan was finished in June 2010.

 Gary Keibler taking park in a Darby Stream Walk

Final Watershed Plan (Completed June 2010)

Darby Creek Final Watershed Plan (PDF 7.35 MB)

Darby Creek Watershed Roundtable Presentations

Introduction to Watershed Planning and How You Can Protect the Watershed (PDF 797 KB)
Background on Darby Creek Watershed (PDF 54 KB)
Water Quality in Darby Creek (PDF 731 KB)

Darby Creek in the News

Article on the Darby Creek Roundtable from The Courier Journal (PDF 111 KB)P