Street to Stream

Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:34:29 -0400
clarksburg, creek, development, little, maryland, mile, ovpr-news-2014, quality, seneca, ten, water, watershed

Clarksburg, Maryland is a small, unincorporated area in northern Montgomery County. Last spring, the Montgomery County Council made the decision to limit new development in Clarksburg’s Ten Mile Creek watershed, a tributary to Little Seneca Creek. The reason: Despite state-of-the-art efforts to control stormwater in previous developments, concern remains about the water quality impacts of additional hard surfaces such as roofs, parking lots and roads that prevent water from seeping into the ground, increasing surface runoff. The question is: will limiting such surfaces (referred to as impervious surfaces by scientists) be enough to protect the Ten Mile Creek and others like it?