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COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: STREAMFLOW, URBAN RIPARIAN ZONES, BMPS, AND IMPERVIOUS SURFACES
Citation:
JARNAGIN, S. COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: STREAMFLOW, URBAN RIPARIAN ZONES, BMPS, AND IMPERVIOUS SURFACES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/F-08/001, 2008.
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of the LEB research is to correlate the impacts of ongoing development and the mitigating effect of local BMPs on the hydrological, biological, and chemical parameters of the CSPA water resources using a Before-After, Control-Impact (BACI) study design. The project is focused on determining the effectiveness of BMP mitigation on streamflow disturbance, channel erosion and stream sedimentation due to impervious surfaces, sub-surface storm sewers and altered landform due to urbanization.
Description:
The U.S. EPA Landscape Ecology Branch (LEB) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina is currently conducting collaborative landscape/stream ecology research in the Clarksburg Special Protection Area (CSPA) in Montgomery County, Maryland. The CSPA subwatersheds are on the outer edge of the exurban development shockwave expanding outward from the Washington DC metropolitan area and are outlined in yellow on the upper-left of Figure 1. The CSPA is an area of rapid development that we expect will be built out within the next five to ten years. The Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been monitoring stream biology and chemistry in the area streams for a decade and the CSPA involves the use of best management practices (BMPs) that are designed to limit the impact of development on water resources.