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Watts Branch (Potomac River tributary)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Watts Branch
Location of the mouth in Maryland
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMaryland
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationRockville, Maryland
 • coordinates39°05′48″N 77°09′26″W / 39.0967748°N 77.1572024°W / 39.0967748; -77.1572024
MouthPotomac River
 • location
Montgomery County, Maryland
 • coordinates
39°02′23″N 77°15′36″W / 39.0398312°N 77.2599817°W / 39.0398312; -77.2599817
 • elevation
167 ft (51 m)
Length11.2 mi (18.0 km)
Basin size22 sq mi (57 km2)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftFallsmead, Horizon Hill, Cold Spring, Fallsreach, Kilgour Branch
 • rightResearch Blvd., Lakewood, Valley Dr., Piney Branch, Sandy Branch

Watts Branch is a tributary stream of the Potomac River in Montgomery County, Maryland.

YouTube Encyclopedic

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  • From the Field: Restoring Washington, D.C.'s Urban Streams

Transcription

We are in Southeast D.C. This is Algier Park and it's part of the Texas Avenue tributary, which ultimately drains to the Anacostia. and it's part of the Texas Avenue tributary, which ultimately drains to the Anacostia. Here we have a very dramatic example of the impacts of uncontrolled stormwater. In Southeast D.C. we have these Christiana soils, which are predominantly sand. When uncontrolled stormwater hits this sand, It just blows it out. And all this sediment is going to end up down in the Anacostia, and eventually, likely down in the Bay, which is not what we want. My name is Stephen Reiling, I'm an environmental protection specialist with the District of Columbia Department of the Environment. So this technique is called regenerative stormwater conveyance, District of Columbia Department of the Environment. So this technique is called regenerative stormwater conveyance, and the regenerate part of it is that over time this will just get better. The vegetation we'll come back, we have all these plantings that will mature. And the conveyance part of it, as you can see, it's a series of step pools, weir's, these cobble weirs, step pool, weir. We just have a away a slowing the stormwater down, letting it settle, let the sediment set on these pools. And these ponds, they act to slow the water down. They also act to infiltrate the water back into the ground. And then also, obviously, by looking at it you can see it's great habitat for wildlife, so that's one of the other goals is is habitat creation. Total costs for this project here is close to $700,000 and impressively it only took, actual construction, close to $700,000 and impressively it only took, actual construction, less than three months to do the bulk of the construction. Then plantings have been sort of sporadic as needed. This tributary, which is Milkhouse Ford, this will make it's way into Rock Creek, which is maybe a mile downstream, and eventually into the Potomac and then the Bay, so if we can stem the problems here at the headwaters, Potomac and then the Bay, so if we can stem the problems here at the headwaters, that's the best place to do it. We have a very impervious watershed up here and so there's grease and oil from vehicles, sediment, any kind of fertilizers that are coming off the lawns. And so we'd like to slow that down and hopefully keep it here before it makes its way into the Bay. [Hill] We're in Watts Branch, which is in Northeast D.C. This stream had a history of sewer leaks, a lot of trash, a lot of dumping. Not a lot of biological life and just very, very poor quality stream. This is what you might call a traditional natural channel design. These stream restoration structures are designed to deal with high flows and to keep the channel relatively stable. During low flow like what we have right now, water flows through here. It's possible for fish to pass through. When we have a storm, what will happen essentially is the water will rise up here. When we have a storm, what will happen essentially is the water will rise up here. As it comes over here, due to the grading, it will tend to fall back into the center of the stream, so essentially the drop of water comes up here and then it's going to fall in this way over these stones as opposed to coming in and tearing out this bank. This is a Bandalong litter trap. And these basically float on top of the stream and the trash that comes down from upstream will get caught in the east these structures. We're doing it because we really want people to value the stream and we know that people's impression of litter and just general appearance really impacts people's thoughts and their ideas about what their local water bodies are. There's a lot of work to do the District in terms of stream restoration. We restored three in the last year in 2011. We have four other stream projects in design, and we think we can make a real positive impact on the Anacostia and the Bay overall. It's going to take some time and money, but we're well on our way and we expect to do many more. to do many more.

Course

The headwaters of the stream originate in the city of Rockville, and the branch flows southwest for 11.2 miles (18.0 km),[1] under the C&O Canal near Swain's Lock, to the Potomac River, which drains to the Chesapeake Bay. The watershed area is about 22 square miles (57 km2).[2]: p. 1–3 

Portions of Watts Branch flow through a stream valley park, a mostly undeveloped natural area which acts as a riparian buffer zone to help minimize stream bank erosion and filter pollutants from stormwater runoff.[3]

Development impacts on water quality

While some parts of the Watts Branch watershed are parkland or remain forested, the area is adjacent to Rockville town center and the Interstate 270 corridor. This community has experienced extensive residential and commercial development over the past several decades. Population in the Rockville city limits (of which only a portion is in the Watts Branch watershed) more than doubled between 1960 and 2010, from approximately 26,000 to 61,000.[4] These development trends have led to degraded water quality due to stormwater pollution in some portions of the Watts Branch mainstem and tributaries. The stream and watershed have been the subject of extensive studies and planning by Montgomery County and the City of Rockville.[2][5] A number of stream restoration projects have been undertaken by both governments.[6][7]

In order to preserve water quality in a partially developed area, the county imposed some restrictions on development (i.e. designation of a "Special Protection Area") in part of the Piney Branch sub-watershed in 1994. Following intensive land development after 1998, county scientists found that the special restrictions had only a limited effect, and water quality declined where development had occurred.[8]

Tributaries of Watts Branch

Major tributaries of Watts Branch include:

  • Research Boulevard Tributary
  • Valley Drive Tributary
  • Cold Spring Tributary
  • Fallsreach Tributary
  • Potomac Green Tributary
  • Kilgour Branch
  • Potomac View Branch
  • Piney Branch
  • Piney Glen Tributary
  • Greenbriar Branch
  • Sandy Branch

See also

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed August 15, 2011
  2. ^ a b City of Rockville, MD. Watts Branch Watershed Study and Management Plan Final Report. August 6, 2001.
  3. ^ Montgomery County Department of Parks (2011). "Watts Branch Stream Valley Park."
  4. ^ "Population Trends". City of Rockville, Maryland. 2012.
  5. ^ Watts Branch Restoration Study: Task 1 Report (PDF) (Report). Rockville, MD: Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (MCDEP). March 2003.
  6. ^ "Muddy Branch and Watts Branch Subwatersheds Inplementation Plan" (PDF). MCDEP. 2012.
  7. ^ "Falls Reach". Active Watershed Construction Projects. MCDEP. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
  8. ^ Special Protection Area Program Annual Report 2011 (PDF) (Report). MCDEP. 2013-04-08. AR-SPA-11.

External links

This page was last edited on 13 April 2023, at 22:48
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