Southwest Louisville community members are invited to participate in the Mill Creek Community Study, which is a research study involving in-depth interviews of community members about environmental and community conditions and needs in the Mill Creek watershed.  The Mill Creek watershed is a 34-square-mile area of land within southwestern Louisville that drains to Mill Creek. 

The Mill Creek watershed includes parts or all of the following neighborhoods: Cloverleaf, Hazelwood, Iroquois, Jacobs, Pleasure Ridge Park, Riverport, Rubbertown (southern part), Shively, Southwest Dixie, St. Andrews, Valley Station, Heatherfield, Hunters Trace, Parkwood, St. Denis, Riverside Gardens, Valley Village, Meadow Lawn, Valley Downs, Sylvania, Greenwood, and Waverly Hills.  A map of the Mill Creek watershed appears near the bottom of this page.  Also, two photographs of Mill Creek are shown on this page, and a downloadable electronic PDF of the study’s Informed Consent document is provided.

If you are at least 18 years old and think that you might live, work, or play in the Mill Creek watershed, you are eligible to participate in this study.  It is not necessary to know or investigate whether you are located in the Mill Creek watershed.  You are invited to participate in this study even if you don’t know anything about Mill Creek.  Interviews for this study will be conducted through December 31, 2022. 

The Mill Creek Community Study is conducted by Professor Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold of the University of Louisville and researchers with the University of Louisville Resilience Justice Project.  Professor Tony Arnold is at the Brandeis School of Law, Wyatt Hall, University of Louisville, Louisville,  KY 40292, email: tony.arnold@louisville.edu, phone number: (502) 852-6388.

There are two purposes of this study.  The first purpose is to inclusively gather the views and needs of as many community members as possible about environmental and community conditions and contribute this information to a planning process for the Mill Creek watershed, led by the Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer Department (MSD).  Your answers might contribute to the Mill Creek watershed plan, and this plan might lead to changes or improvements in your community (but this cannot be guaranteed).  The second purpose of the study is to improve knowledge about watershed planning, environmental justice, and community resilience.  This study is partially funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Kentucky Division of Water (KDOW).

MSD and other watershed planning partners (government, environmental, and community organizations) are not involved in designing or conducting the Mill Creek Community Study.  The information you provide will be synthesized or combined with the information provided by all other participants in the study.  These combined results will be published in a written report that will be shared with MSD, other Mill Creek watershed planning partners, and the public, as well as being included in academic publications.  Your identity will not be shared with MSD, watershed planning partners, EPA, KDOW, or others.  Any other watershed planning activities led by MSD and its partners are separate and different than this study. 

If you choose to participate in this study and are eligible to do so, you will be interviewed by a team of two researchers, either online on a virtual video conferencing platform or in person at a mutually agreeable public location (e.g., park, community center, library), depending on your preference.  If you choose an in-person location, every reasonable effort will be made to conduct your interview in a place and manner so that others cannot overhear the interview. 

The interview is estimated to take about 45 minutes and involves mostly open-ended questions that ask for your perspective in your own words.

You will not be compensated for participating in this study.  You might not benefit directly from participating in this study.  Your answers might indirectly help others, such as other community members and the organizations involved in watershed planning.    There are no known risks for participation in this study.  Taking part in this study is voluntary.

If you are interested in participating in this study – being interviewed about environmental and community conditions and needs in the Mill Creek watershed – please email Professor Tony Arnold at tony.arnold@louisville.edu OR call Professor Tony Arnold at (502) 852-6388 to set up an interview.  If you have any questions about this study, you are invited to email Professor Tony Arnold at tony.arnold@louisville.edu OR call Professor Tony Arnold at (502) 852-6388 to ask questions.

A downloadable electronic PDF of the study’s Informed Consent document is available here.