Present Condition of the Watershed

The Headwaters of Raccoon Creek is a HUC-12 Subwatershed (05040006 03 01) located in Licking County, Ohio. It covers 27 square miles and 1,287 acres and is the primary watershed of Johnstown, Ohio. The creek flows south through Granville and Newark, Ohio, and then connects to the north and south forks of the Licking River. This then connects to the Muskingum River, and then to the Ohio river. Nearby features include Bigelow park and the Johnstown trailhead.

In several instances throughout the past years, the portion of the raccoon creek near Granville was observed reaching moderate flood stage levels of around 15-16 foot crests. Normally it runs at around a 3-foot stage. It is an AE-designated flood zone, which means there is a 1% chance of annual-chance flood.

Raccoon creek is located in central Ohio, which is northeast of Columbus and north of Granville. The road and highways located in this area are first, Johnstown-Utica Road and Johnstown-Alexandra Road are the two main road crossing across Johnstown, and second, Worthington road crossing the southern part of the creek through Granville and Newark.

In addition, there are also railroad stations located in this area. In the past, there were many in use, but now there are only four of them still active, and two of them are in civic use. They were built around 1850 and went through Newark, Johnstown, and Outville.

Within Licking County, the county in which Raccoon Creek resides, there are about 178,519 people. A break down of people who identify as one race is: 154,070 are white, 7,213 Black or African American, 452 American Indian and Alaska Natives, 5,028 Asian, some other race 1,930, and 52 Native Hawaiian and pacific islander. The county also hosts a per capita income of $33,514 and a median household income (in 2020's dollar value) of $67,736.

Model my watershed shows the current land usage of the Headwaters of Raccoon Creek. Diagrams are shown below. In addition, this USGS map shows visually where they are located. The highest coverage of the land is by cultivated crops by about 91km2 which is 34% of the whole creek. The second highest coverage of the land is a deciduous forest by about 65km2 which is 24.36%. The third highest coverage of the land is pasture/hay by about 51 km2 which is 19%. The fourth highest coverage of the land is about 10km2 each of developed open space, developed low intensity, developed medium intensity, and mixed forest. The fifth highest coverage is a small amount of open water, developed high intensity, and evergreen forest.

There is no current plan for restoration for the Headwaters of Raccoon Creek, however through the development of a nine-element plan, this watershed can be responsibly protected and cared for.

The Headwaters of Raccoon Creek is an impaired warmwater habitat, meaning the water quality parameters of this watershed do not meet state water quality standards due to ammonia, nutrient, and sedimentation pollution. Primary contact recreation is also impaired due to the presence of E. Coli in the watershed.

There are five identified permitted dischargers in the raccoon creek, two from a farm, one from a golf course, and two from a water treatment plant. One of the wastewater treatment plants, listed as the Johnstown WWTP, has been listed as violating their permit, as a result of numerously exceeding the allowed limit of E.coli, MTECMF and increasing amounts of nitrogen ammonia discharge, sampled from the facility within the past few years. Another point source in violation of its permit is Trillium Farm Holdings LLC who has released a violating amount of Nitrogen ammonia total, Phosphorus total, and Solids, total suspended, within the past few years.