U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2007–3044

July 2007

Prepared in cooperation with the Johnson County Stormwater Management Program

Biological Conditions in Streams of Johnson County, Kansas, 

and Nearby Missouri, 2003 and 2004

Printed on recycled paper

By Barry C. Poulton1, Teresa J. Rasmussen2, and Casey J. Lee2

 Introduction

Johnson County is one of the fastest growing and most 

populated counties in Kansas. Urban development affects 

streams by altering stream hydrology, geomorphology, water 

chemistry, and habitat, which then can lead to adverse effects 

on fish and macroinvertebrate communities. In addition, 

increasing sources of contaminants in urbanizing streams 

results in public-health concerns associated 

with exposure to and consumption of 

contaminated water. 

Biological assessments, or surveys 

of organisms living in aquatic environments, are crucial components of waterquality programs because they provide 

an indication of how well water bodies 

support aquatic life. This fact sheet 

describes current biological conditions 

of Johnson County streams and characterizes stream biology relative to urban 

development. 

Biological conditions were evaluated by collecting macroinvertebrate 

samples from 15 stream sites in Johnson County, Kansas, in 2003 and 2004 

(fig. 1). Data from seven additional 

sites, collected as part of a separate 

study with similar objectives in Kansas 

and Missouri (Wilkison and others, 

2005), were evaluated to provide a 

more comprehensive assessment of 

watersheds that cross State boundaries. 

Land-use and water- and streambedsediment-quality data also were used to 

evaluate factors that may affect macroinvertebrate communities.

Metrics are indices used to measure, or evaluate, macroinvertebrate 

response to various factors such as 

human disturbance. Multimetric scores, 

which integrated 10 different metrics 

that measure various aspects of macroinvertebrate communities, including 

organism diversity, composition, toler1

U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental 

Research Center, Columbia Missouri. 

2

U.S. Geological Survey, Lawrence, Kansas.

ance, and feeding characteristics, were used to evaluate and 

compare biological health of Johnson County streams. 

This information is useful to city and county officials for 

defining current biological conditions, evaluating conditions 

relative to State biological criteria, evaluating effects of urbanization, developing effective water-quality management plans, 

and documenting changes in biological conditions and water 

quality. 

Figure 1. Location of 22 macroinvertebrate sampling sites in Johnson County, Kansas, and 

nearby Missouri, and relative biological impacts (negative responses associated with 

human-induced disturbance or stress) indicated by average multimetric scores for 2003–04.

Wyandotte County

Cass

County

Johnson

County

Enlarged area

Blue River

South Grand River

Jackson

County

EXPLANATION

Watershed boundary

Biological sampling site and level of biological 

impacts from human disturbance

 High

 Moderate 

 Low

Municipal wastewater-treatment facility

95°05’

39°05’

39°

55’

50’

38°45’

95° 55’ 50’ 45’ 40’ 35’ 30’ 94°25’

0 1 2 3 4 5 MILES

0 1 2 3 4 5 KILOMETERS

Base from U.S. Geological Survey digital data, 1987, 1:100,000

Universal Transverse Mercator Projection

Zone 15

Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to the North American

 Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

Jackson

County

Johnson County

Wyandotte

County Leavenworth

County

Kansas City

metropolitan area

Johnson County

Wyandotte County

Cass

County

Jackson

County

Index map

KANSAS MISSOURI

Kansas River

MISSOURI

KANSAS

Wolf Creek

Coffee Creek

River

Blue

Tomahawk Creek

Indian Creek

Dykes Branch

Turkey Creek

Little Mill Creek

Mill Creek

Cedar Creek

Captain Creek

Bull Creek

Little Bull Creek

Kill Creek

Brush Creek

Clear Creek Rock Creek

Cass County

Missouri River
 Important Results

Biological conditions in Johnson County streams generally 

reflected a gradient (a continuum of observed conditions) 

in the cumulative effects of land-use factors upstream from 

sampling sites. As impervious surface area such as paved 

surfaces and rooftops (a general indication of increasing urbanization) increased, biological quality generally 

decreased.

Sites that consistently scored among those least impacted 

by human disturbance included upstream Blue River sites, 

Cedar Creek sites, and upstream Kill Creek sites, which 

demonstrated conditions similar to those at the reference site 

at Captain Creek. Reference streams are streams designated 

by the State as being minimally disturbed by human activity. 

In contrast, Johnson County sites on Indian, Tomahawk, and 

Turkey Creeks, and Missouri sites in downstream reaches 

of the Blue River and Brush Creek, ranked among the sites 

most impacted by human disturbance. 

No sites, including the Captain Creek reference site, met 

State criteria (Kansas Department of Health and Environment, 2006) for full support of aquatic life during 2003 and 

2004. Stream conditions at most rural sites were partially 

supporting of aquatic life, and conditions at most urban sites 

were nonsupportive of aquatic life.

Average macroinvertebrate scores at urban sites with wastewater-treatment facility (WWTF) discharges were slightly 

less than at other urban sites with no WWTF discharges. 

However, average macroinvertebrate scores at both of these 

urban groups of sites were substantially less than rural sites 

(indicating greater impacts from human disturbance). 

The Blue River watershed, which is shared by Kansas and 

Missouri, has a clear upstream-to-downstream gradient in 

relative amount of biological impacts. The most downstream 

Blue River sites in Missouri, which are affected more by 

both urbanization and wastewater discharges, had among the 

lowest multimetric biological condition scores. In contrast, 

the two upstream Blue River sites in Johnson County had 

high multimetric scores and contained a diversity of organisms normally associated with good water quality.

A total of 190 different kinds of macroinvertebrates were 

collected during this study. Most rural sites contained a 

diversity of macroinvertebrates, with representation of the 

insect orders normally associated with healthy communities 

such as mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera), 

caddisflies (Trichoptera), dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), and riffle beetles (Coleoptera) (fig. 2). More urban 

sites had none or very few of these insects and were dominated by pollution-tolerant animals such as leeches (Hirudinea) and worms (Oligochaeta). 

The complete report from which this information was 

taken (Poulton and others, 2007) is available on the Web at 

http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/ 

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References

Kansas Department of Health and Environment, 2006, Kansas 

water quality assessment, report 305b: Topeka, Kansas, 20 p.

Poulton, B.P., Rasmussen, T.J., and Lee, C.J., 2007, Assessment of biological conditions at selected stream sites in 

Johnson County, Kansas, and Cass and Jackson Counties, 

Missouri, 2003 and 2004: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific 

Investigations Report 2007–5108, 68 p.

Wilkison, D.H., Armstrong, D.J., Brown, R.E., Poulton, B.C., 

Cahill, J.D., and Zaugg, S.D., 2005, Water-quality and 

biologic data for the Blue River Basin, Kansas City metropolitan area, Missouri and Kansas, October 2000 to October 

2004: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 127, 158 p.

For additional information visit the USGS Web site at:

http://ks.water.usgs.gov/Kansas/studies/qw/joco/

or contact:

U.S. Geological Survey

Director, Kansas Water Science Center

4821 Quail Crest Place

Lawrence, Kansas 66049–3839

(785) 842–9909 or E-mail: dc_ks.usgs.gov

Prepared by the Lawrence Publishing Service Center

Figure 2. Example of a stream site in Johnson County, Kansas, 

showing minimal impacts from human disturbance and the 

macroinvertebrates generally associated with healthy streams 

(macroinvertebrate photographs from http://www.epa.gov/

bioindicators/html/photos_invertebrates.html).

Blue River at

Kenneth Road

Stoneflies

(Plecoptera)

Mayfly

(Ephemeroptera)