The Miami Conservancy District is conducting a comprehensive Benefit Assessment Study to explore how we continue funding the critical flood protection system that has kept our region safe for more than a century. The goal is to ensure that the flood protection system is funded in a way that’s fair, transparent, and equitab ...

Thousands of low dams sit in rivers across the United States, and most of them no longer do the job they were built for. They stopped running mills or generating power decades ago. What they still do is slow rivers down, trap sediment, and create dangerous currents that can trap and drown swimmers, boaters, and paddlers. Removing them is ...

Lake Fishing in the Great Miami River Watershed: A Southwest Ohio Guide The Great Miami River Watershed isn't just a river system — it's home to four major fishing lakes (Indian Lake, Lake Loramie, C.J. Brown Reservoir, and Acton Lake) plus dozens of smaller gravel-pit lakes and metropark ponds across its 15 counties. Anglers her ...

If you bike, walk, or picnic along one of the region's levees, you probably think of it as parkland — a stretch of trail, a place to walk the dog, maybe somewhere the geese have taken up residence. You're not wrong. But that greenspace is doing double duty: every one of those grassy slopes is also a piece of flood infrastructure, en ...

The Great Miami River is gaining recognition as one of Ohio’s premier fishing destinations — and anglers across the state are taking notice. According to the 2025 Fish Ohio program rankings from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, the Great Miami River placed in the Top 10 inland waters in Ohio for ...

    Join us to take an exclusive look inside the over 100-year-old Miami Conservancy District headquarters in downtown Dayton, Ohio.     RegistrationThis event is FREE, however registration is required. Important information regarding arrival, parking, and the accessibility of the building and grounds is on the ...

Take the Portage. Live to Paddle Again. Low head dams may look calm and harmless, but they are one of the most dangerous hazards found on rivers and streams. The water flowing over a dam creates a powerful circulating current that can trap boats and swimmers underwater. Escape from this current is extremely difficult. Recognizing the w ...

Ohio Works: Innovation Through Integration   As Ohio celebrates America 250, the story of innovation is not just about invention — it’s about systems.   In the wake of the devastating Great Flood of 1913, communities across Southwest Ohio faced a critical decision: rebuild the same way and risk repeating his ...

When winter weather limits field work across the Great Miami River Watershed, the Miami Conservancy District does not slow down. Instead, our field staff shift focus—using this season to tackle critical facility improvements, equipment repairs, inspections, and housekeeping tasks that are difficult to complete during the busy spring ...

Nearly 40 years ago, two Miami Conservancy District lab technicians were doing what they did every day—collecting water samples from the Great Miami River near the North Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant* (now called Tri-Cities). As they worked, they noticed something impossible to ignore: trash scattered along the riverbank and f ...

Sometimes the Great Miami River gets all the attention — but the Mad River has a way of stealing hearts. With its groundwater-fed clarity, cold water, scenic wooded corridors, and nationally recognized recreation, the Mad River offers more than just clear water. It’s a place where you can drift past forested banks, hear kingf ...

Across the country, the demand for data centers is growing fast. Every online purchase, video stream, and AI query runs through massive facilities that store and process digital information 24 hours a day. While these centers are key to powering the modern economy, they also raise important questions about water and energy use — esp ...

Twin Creek has long been called one of Ohio’s hidden gems—its clear waters and thriving ecosystems earning the highest praise from the Ohio EPA, which once noted the stream “merits the highest level of protection available” in the state. Today, that protection is possible through a powerful partnership between the ...

Along Southwest Ohio’s rivers, lowhead dams are small, often deceptively calm structures with water flowing over their tops. While modest in appearance, they pose serious hazards—especially to recreational users such as kayakers, swimmers, and anglers. Known as “drowning machines,” the recirculating currents a ...

450 million years in the making. Discovered during a moment of engineering history. Celebrated as a state symbol. In the spring of 1919, while digging deep into the bedrock for Huffman Dam’s outlet structure, a construction crew with the Miami Conservancy District made a truly extraordinary discovery: a perfectly preserved, 14-in ...

New Report Released Since 2006, the Miami Conservancy District has operated an automated water quality sampling station on the Upper Great Miami River, downstream of Taylorsville Dam. The station monitors nutrient concentrations and suspended solids in a river system draining a primarily agricultural watershed of 3,000 square kilometers. ...

Tucked away in the charming community of Springboro, Ohio, E. Milo Beck Park offers a serene retreat for residents and visitors alike. With its expansive prairie, pleasant walking paths, and scenic overlook, the park invites you to unwind, explore, and reconnect with nature. You might not think about how places like this come to be &ndash ...

  We have to get serious for a moment about something that has been impacting the region more and more: E-scooters, e-bikes, and hoverboards (also referred to as micromobility devices) are becoming more popular personal transportation methods and leisure activities, which is great news for lower emissions and increasing trail use.H ...

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has released its 2025 Infrastructure Report Card for Ohio—and the state earned an overall grade of C. That’s up from a C– in 2021, a sign that investments are starting to move the needle. But it’s also a reminder of just how much work remains, especially in areas tied ...

Every time a storm rolls through Southwest Ohio, the Miami Conservancy District’s flood protection system goes to work — and so does our team. With each rain event, our field operations staff measure rising water levels from more than 300 observation wells across all five of our dams.  These readings are used to monito ...