Field Trip: NERB in Clark County

A hidden gem on the outskirts of Winchester could become a local and regional recreational destination

If it weren’t for the 350 bil­lion gal­lons of water stretch­ing out before us, it would have been a clas­sic Kentucky sum­mer view. On all sides we were sur­round­ed by hay fields. Below us, the grass was just a mil­lime­ter short of need­ing a mow. Above, a slight breeze pushed mounds of clouds across a blue sky. As the tem­per­a­ture approached 90 degrees, it was all I could do to not jump into the water’s rip­pling expanse.

I was at the North Effluent Retention Basin (NERB) with a club that aims to get out­side to appre­ci­ate Clark County’s nat­ur­al beau­ty. This August, we set out to learn more about the hid­den gem behind the Kroger Soccer Fields. Our guide was Kevin Ryan, the Aquatics Director for Winchester-Clark County Parks and Recreation. Kevin learned about NERB dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, while indoor pools were closed. As coach to the Swimchester Sailfish, and a com­pet­i­tive swim­mer him­self, he was amazed to find a body of water ide­al for water-sports tucked away in our home­town. Since then, he has advo­cat­ed turn­ing the basin into a region­al­ly unique recre­ation­al area.

NERB is a man-made body of water. Kevin believes it was dug out in the 1970s around an exist­ing spring-fed pond. The bot­tom is tiered, start­ing at 10 feet and drop­ping off at reg­u­lar inter­vals down to 60 feet at its deep­est. The main­te­nance trail along its perime­ter is over a mile long. All this vol­ume was meant to act as an over­flow basin for a water pro­cess­ing plant that serves the Industrial Park. However, the pipes once con­nect­ing NERB to the plant have been filled with con­crete. The City of Winchester must have spent mil­lions of dol­lars dig­ging out NERB, so why dis­con­nect it from its pur­pose? Perhaps the near­by treat­ment plant doesn’t receive enough stormwa­ter or sewage to jus­ti­fy dis­charg­ing into NERB. But, as I walked the east­ern edge of the basin, I noticed a few things that would make it a poor over­flow area.

First, the basin’s dam offers a vista view of farm­land and Strode Creek. Meaning, NERB sits at a high point in the coun­ty. Second, even dur­ing this hot sum­mer, the water lev­el was at the basin’s top. If the pipes were still con­nect­ed, any addi­tion­al water pumped in would flow out of the basin into the adja­cent hay fields. My guess of what made NERB unvi­able as waste­water over­flow is that the orig­i­nal under­ground spring con­tin­ues to fill it.

To be clear: there is no hard evi­dence NERB is filled with clear, lime­stone-fil­tered water. We do know the only rain­fall that enters the basin is what lands on the basin. Sitting on a high point means there is no run-off from the neigh­bor­ing fields going into the basin. This is fur­ther proven with pre­lim­i­nary lab test­ing show­ing tox­in (e. Coli) lev­els to be well below the state-allow­able amount for pri­ma­ry con­tact recre­ation. And per­son­al­ly, there was no scum, no smell, no murk­i­ness that would make me hes­i­tate before jump­ing in. 

In fact, it was easy to see Kevin’s vision as we walked NERB. As he explained how he planned to install a “beach,” I thought of the sto­ries I’ve heard about Boonesboro Beach, and how future gen­er­a­tions could make their own here. When Kevin showed us around the shore, I imag­ined my hus­band and I throw­ing our canoes in the truck for an after­noon on NERB, instead of trekking out to Cave Run to brave the speed-boat wakes. As he explained the depth of the water, I remem­bered fish­ing a farm pond with my dad, and the thrill of reel­ing in even the small­est of fish.

Kevin’s vision flowed fur­ther than sim­ple relax­ation, though. He talked about swim lanes and on-water struc­tures that would make NERB a region­al des­ti­na­tion. People from cities like Cincinnati, Louisville, and Ashland would trav­el to our hum­ble coun­ty for sport­ing events. Open-water swim meets, triathlons, and sail­ing regat­tas were just some of the orga­nized events that Winchester could host. With the Olympics just end­ing and GRC Athletics kick­ing off, I grasped how devel­op­ing NERB could make Clark County an élite water-sports destination. 

Of course, whether these imag­i­na­tions come true or not is up in the air. The City of Winchester owns NERB and the sur­round­ing farm­lands. The City has placed its care under Winchester Municipal Utilities (WMU). The only way to see NERB with­out a guide is to peek at it through the chain link fence and over­grown tree­line from the Kroger Youth Soccer Complex. Otherwise, access is restrict­ed by a locked gate and per­mis­sion from WMU. To move for­ward as a recre­ation­al area, WMU, city, coun­ty, and state enti­ties need to agree on safe­ty, man­age­ment, and fund­ing parameters. 

This is what stopped me from jump­ing in. I did not want to damp­en Kevin’s chances of get­ting all the gov­ern­men­tal enti­ties on-board. A moment of self-indul­gence was not worth com­pro­mis­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty for every­one. Kevin’s vision for NERB is ambi­tious, yet entire­ly achiev­able with the sup­port of peo­ple who care about the well-being of our peo­ple and our land. There’s a future where NERB is not just a hid­den gem, but a cel­e­brat­ed des­ti­na­tion, where fam­i­lies gath­er, ath­letes train, and we all find inspi­ra­tion in nature.

Our small group left NERB with a light sheen of sweat on our sun-soaked skin, and clar­i­ty in our minds. This prop­er­ty holds more than just water – it holds the poten­tial to bring peo­ple togeth­er. I’m grate­ful Kevin took the time to share NERB with us, and even more grate­ful for his pas­sion and deter­mi­na­tion to see it become more than just an aban­doned reten­tion basin. With its clear waters and serene sur­round­ings, NERB offers a rare oppor­tu­ni­ty for recre­ation and con­nec­tion with nature. As I turned onto the four-plank fenced road and the mow­ers roared on in the soc­cer-field, a sense of hope set­tled upon me.

Since the writ­ing of this arti­cle, Clark County Fiscal Court has approved ear­mark­ing $100,000 of ARPA fund­ing for devel­op­ing the NERB. Please con­tact Kevin Ryan, wccpr.aquatics@gmail.com, if you are inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about NERB or water sports in Clark County.