- The watershed includes 7000 square miles of drainage in all
or part of forty-two counties. (KY DOW)
- 63 municipal water supplies draw from the river, serving more
than 600,000 people--or about 1 out of every 6 Kentuckians. (KY
DOW)
- The Kentucky River has a system of fourteen locks and dams,
many of which were built over one hundred years ago.
- Thousands of point source permit violations occur along the
Kentucky River monthly.
- The watershed includes both the fastest growing county (Madison)
and the most impoverished county (Owsley) in Kentucky.
- 255 miles of main channel but a total
of 420 miles including the tributaries.
- 710,000 people live in Kentucky River
Basin and depend on it for water source.
- 68 municipal water intakes on the
Kentucky River supply these 710,000 people.
- Improvements to the water facilities
on the river are financed by water user fees currently $00.16
per 1000 gallons of water taken from the river (about $400,000
per year for entire river). (KRA)
- Water supply and management determine
and sustain the economics of any area.
- Between January 2000 through May 2003, there were more than
17,000 KPDES pollution violations on the Kentucky River. (KY
DOW)
Kentucky River Basin Map 1
:by Jack Phillips, EKU Geography |
