WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP — A recent report on the East Branch of Antietam
Creek concludes that the watershed is in generally good condition.
Paul
Sturm, author of the study and a biologist with the Center for
Watershed Protection in Ellicott City, Md., said he saw trout in
mid-September in many of the streams in the watershed east of
Waynesboro.
"Those trout have made it through the summer, and summer is the time
when trout would normally die," Sturm said. "These streams would
support a year-round trout fishery."
Sturm presented his report Wednesday to Washington Township
Supervisors. A $100,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation legacy
grant awarded to the Antietam Watershed Association paid for the
report. Part of the grant also is to pay for restoring some of the
stream.
"The key is to minimize future impacts, to reduce the impact of new development on the creek," Sturm said.
He
encouraged the association and supervisors to advocate conservation
design standards for new developments and to encourage restricted
development of flood plains.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection lists the East Branch as an impaired water-
way. Much of the impairment comes from wastewater treatment plants in the lower reaches of the stream, according to Sturm.
Township
supervisors drafted a stream-bank-buffer ordinance. They also are
working on development-by-design standards that would cluster new homes
and provide more open space.
Township Manager Michael Christopher
said the watershed is in good condition partly because of storm water
control policies enacted by supervisors in the late 1970s:
Nearly 3,000 underground tanks and stone pits have been installed to manage storm water across the township.Township ordinance encourages green swales beside streets, instead of curbing and gutters.The Food Lion and Lowe's shopping centers have wetlands to help control storm water temperature.Storm runoff heated on parking lots in summer can shock cold water fisheries such as the East Branch.Construction of the Beartown sewer stopped an annual algae bloom in Red Run Lake.He said that when he started the study he had expected to see more negative impacts from development.
Sturm encouraged planting trees at storm water detention areas and along streams.
"Leaves start the food chain," he said. Bugs feed on the leaves and fish feed on the bugs. The trees also shade the water.
For
the report, a team of technicians from the center and volunteers from
the watershed association looked at the conditions in more than 10
miles of streams from Sept. 15 to 18. They walked and collected data in
a 28-square-mile area drained by the East Branch of Antietam Creek,
including tributaries Red Run and Falls Creek.
Suburban development, dairy farms and row crops impact the streams most, according to the report.
The report recommends planting vegetation on stream banks on six farms.
Three of the six farms are being developed, according to Stephen Rettig, president of the Antietam Watershed Association.
"Probably the other three aren't long for farming, either," Rettig said.
He
also said the association has applied for grant money to study the West
Branch of Antietam Creek in Pennsylvania, a watershed that already felt
the impact of development.
"The creek is under assault," said Pat
O'Connor, watershed association member. "The township has done a good
job. It's an ongoing project to make sure the creek isn't threatened."
"The
existing impairments are expected to be exacerbated by the traditional
form of new development being employed, where inadequate stream
buffers, mass grading, wide streets and curb and gutter significantly
increase storm water runoff and pollutant loading," according to the
report.
The report recommends demonstration projects for storm
water management at schools as a precursor to improving runoff from
large paved parking lots.
Most of those paved areas were built prior to the 1970s and many are in the Borough of Waynesboro, Christopher said.
Sturm is not related to Carroll Sturm, chairman of the Washington Township board of supervisors.
His study recommended:
Ordinances to limit development on flood plains.Conservation by design standards — more grass swales and less curbing and gutters.More shade trees with storm water controls; fewer storm water ponds that warm streams.Call
for greater treatment of phosphorus at the Washington Township
treatment plant and nitrogen and phosphorous at the Waynesboro plant.Check
permits and regulations governing the pumping of stream water for
irrigation. At least five landowners were pumping from streams.Establish growth boundaries in the township and preserve farmland.Antietam Watershed Association should hire a watershed coordinator.
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