Miami Conservancy District - MCD

09/01/2026

Teachers in our river communities — we need you! 🌊📚

We’re looking for fourth-grade teachers to pilot test the new Great 1913 Flood Curriculum, and we especially want participation from schools in communities along the Great Miami River and throughout the Miami Valley.

Piqua. Troy. Tipp City. Vandalia. Dayton. Moraine. West Carrollton. Miamisburg. Franklin. Middletown. Hamilton. Fairfield. And communities throughout the watershed.

The Great Flood of 1913 is your community’s history — and this new curriculum will help fourth graders understand what happened, how the region responded, and how the flood protection system built afterward continues to shape and protect the Miami Valley today.

Developed in collaboration with the Miami Conservancy District, the curriculum connects this remarkable local story with numerous Ohio fourth-grade science and social studies standards.

We need teachers to help us make it great.

Selected pilot teachers will review and test three lessons, provide feedback, and receive a $125 Amazon gift card upon completion.

Pilot tester training will be held Thursday, September 17, from noon–3/3:30 p.m. at the Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center — and it includes a tour of Huffman Dam.

Interested? Contact [email protected] to schedule a brief phone or video interview.

And when the curriculum is finished? It will be FREE for educators, including homeschool families.

👩‍🏫 Tag a fourth-grade teacher in one of our river communities. We’d love to have their students help us bring this important piece of Miami Valley history to a new generation.

08/30/2026

We've shown you a lot of powerful water lately.

Here's 20 seconds of peaceful water.

No flood update. No numbers. No explanation. Just the Great Miami River doing what rivers do.

Consider this a little cleanse for your feed. 💧

Sound on.

08/29/2026

Don't forget to register for the Clean Sweep of the Great Miami River - Tuesday, September 1st is the last day to be guaranteed a t-shirt!

08/28/2026

Picture Acton Lake at Hueston Woods. Now picture almost two of them.

That's approximately how much water MCD's dams temporarily stored at the peak of the August high-water event: 5.8 billion gallons.

But there's an important difference: MCD's reservoirs aren't lakes. They're normally dry. During high water, the dams temporarily hold back runoff and then gradually release it as river conditions improve.

During this event, four MCD dams created enough temporary storage to hold the equivalent of nearly two Acton Lakes.

That's what regional flood protection can look like when the water rises.

08/27/2026

Please watch this video from Cambridge City Indiana. They show the devastating impact the recent floods had on their community. Instead of getting ready for their annual festival, they are now focused on cleanup. It's going to take awhile. This is exactly why the Miami Conservancy District was created, and why we are so passionate about our mission to protect Southwest ohio. Our thoughts are with the communities trying to recover during this hard time.

08/26/2026

You may never see Germantown Dam’s auxiliary spillway carry water. That’s the idea. But it still has to be ready. 💧

MCD is investing $1.14 million to rehabilitate the auxiliary spillway at Germantown Dam — an emergency safety feature designed to safely carry excess water during an extreme flood.

After more than 100 years of Ohio weather and repeated freeze-thaw cycles, concrete in the spillway has deteriorated. Inspections and engineering evaluations identified improvements needed to meet current dam safety requirements.

Crews are:
🔹 Replacing deteriorated concrete
🔹 Extending protection along the spillway slopes
🔹 Improving drainage beneath the spillway
🔹 Replacing aging concrete weirs

The auxiliary spillway has never been used. But emergency infrastructure has to be maintained before the emergency happens.

It’s part of the ongoing work required to keep a 100+ year-old flood protection system reliable and ready for the communities that depend on it.

📍 Germantown Dam
💰 Making sure it is ready when we need it
📅 Completion expected by October 31

08/26/2026

5.8 BILLION gallons. 💧

That’s how much water four MCD dams stored at the peak of this month’s high-water event — the largest of 2026.

Over a 30-day period, the Great Miami River Watershed received 10 to 15 inches of rain, with most of it falling between August 11 and 20. For more than 10 days, our flood protection system — and the people who operate and maintain it — were hard at work.

This was MCD’s 11th high-water event of 2026. It was also an unusual one: the last August high-water event was nearly 30 years ago, in 1998.

Germantown, Englewood, Lockington and Taylorsville dams stored floodwater. Crews monitored river levels and levees, closed and reopened floodgates, and kept watch as billions of gallons of water moved through the watershed.

And when the water goes down, the work isn’t over.

High water leaves behind huge logs and accumulated drift, mud and debris, damaged trails and riverfront areas, and flood protection infrastructure that needs to be inspected. Crews are now working their way through the system — clearing, inspecting, cleaning and repairing.

Flood protection isn’t just five dams. It’s a regional system — and year-round work to make sure it’s ready when the water rises again.

08/26/2026

Dolly Parton + the Miami Conservancy District? Yep. There’s a connection. 📚💧

You probably know Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which puts free books into the hands of young children. That love of reading has also found its way outdoors, including right here along the Great Miami River.

Ohio DNR’s Storybook Trails let kids read a book one page at a time as they explore a trail. Ours features a book created by University of Dayton River Stewards with help from local schoolchildren, who contributed ideas and artwork. "Into the River" introduces young readers to great blue herons, beavers, snapping turtles and other creatures that depend on a healthy Great Miami River.

MCD helped sponsor the original book and later received an ODNR grant to turn it into a Storybook Trail.

📍 You can read the whole book while walking or biking the Great Miami River Recreation Trail between Carillon Boulevard and the Stewart Street bridge.

So what does Dolly Parton have to do with MCD?

She helped inspire a love-of-reading movement. And we have a pretty great place to take that love of reading outside. 📖💧

Grab a kid and go "Into the River", with no life jacket required for this adventure.

08/25/2026

Greene County well owners — this is a great opportunity to learn more about what’s in your drinking water. 💧

MCD is pleased to partner again on the 2026 Test Your Well event, where Greene County residents can bring a well water sample for testing and receive results in about 30 minutes.

📅 September 3 | 5–7 p.m.
📍 OSU Extension Office, 100 Fairground Rd., Xenia

Testing includes FREE nitrite/nitrate and total iron, with additional testing available for metals and bacteria.

Registration is required by August 27, and space is limited. See the Farm Bureau post below for registration details, costs and sample information.

Knowing what’s in your well water is an important part of protecting your household and our region’s groundwater. We’re glad to work with Greene Soil and Water Conservation District and other vCounty partners to make this testing available. 💧

Attention Greene County Members! We are once again partnering with Greene County SWCD and OSU Extension Greene County to provide the "Test your Well Event". Details below!