Benthic Macroinvertebrates as Indexes of Water Quality in Whetstone Creek, Morrow County, Ohio (Scioto River Basin)

Abstract

During the summer of 1966, Whetstone Creek, a tributary of the Olentangy River in central Ohio, received (1) domestic wastes from a secondary sewage-treatment plant at Mt. Gilead, (2) septic-tank drainage near Cardington, (3) brines from oil-field operations between Mt. Gilead and Cardington, and (4) stormwater runoff from agricultural lands. Dissolved-oxygen levels as low as 4.3 ppm and total-phosphate concentrations as high as 4.2 ppm were noted 1 km below Mt. Gilead. Chlorides ranging from 105-270 ppm were recorded in the stream between Mt. Gilead and the Delaware Reservoir.