West Branch Little Calumet

The West Branch Little Calumet River watershed planning area covers an area of approximately 54 square miles in northern Lake and Porter Counties.  The plan includes three subwatersheds along the mainstem of the West Branch Little Calumet River.  It also incorporates the sub-basin split in which one portion of the drainage area flows to Lake Michigan and the other which eventually empties into the Gulf of Mexico.  Historically each of these subwatershed drained to Lake Michigan before human alteration.  The plan’s development was coordinated by the Gary Storm Water Management District and was approved by IDEM in 2008.  The primary concerns identified by stakeholders include combined sewer overflows (CSOs), pathogens, sedimentation/erosion, flooding, altered hydrology, and impacts to recreational uses, habitat and fisheries.  Efforts are currently underway to reenergize and update the plan (Deep River-Portage Burns Waterway watershed) while also meeting the current IDEM Watershed Management Plan Checklist requirements.

For more information about the West Branch Little Calumet River Watershed Management Plan please visit the following site.  http://garysan.com/GSWMD_lcr.asp