Upper Sligo Creek Water Quality Monitoring Station Page

Biological monitoring

Montgomery County is preparing to start a countywide assessment of conditions in the Montgomery County streams. The assessment will monitor and evaluate the actual presence or absence of biological life (macro invertebrates) and stream channel habitat conditions (conditions of stream riffles, and pools, extent of channel erosion, sedimentation, riparian tree cover) as primary indicators of stream health. As part of that effort, volunteers from Friends of Sligo Creek have recently received training from biologists from Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). A monitoring station for the Upper Sligo Creek watershed has been set up. The results of the monitoring will tell us how well we as a community are protecting our watershed. A practice biological monitoring assessment will occur in the fall of 2003. Residents (including kids) of the Sligo Headwaters Civic Association are welcome to participate. If you are interested in participating or want more information, contact Edward_B_Murtagh@yahoo.com.

In general the water quality in Upper Sligo Creek is poor to fair. This is due the land use changes which resulted in an increase of impervious (non-absorbent/non-permeable) surfaces in our watershed and also due to the lack of stormwater management in the Upper Sligo Creek watershed. Increases in impervious surfaces cause an increase in stormwater run-off. Uncontrolled stormwater run-off carries sediment, nutrients, petroleum products, hazardous waste, trash, and other contaminants into the stream, all of which are detrimental to biological conditions in the stream. Studies show that stream health is directly related to imperviousness.

Recently Montgomery County DEP published a document on restoration in the Anacostia watershed (Sligo Headwaters Civic Association is part of this watershed). See http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mc/services/dep/Publications/pdf/anacostia_restoration.pdf

The document explains what the County has done recently to improve water quality in Sligo Creek. The key, however, to improving our watershed is to decrease the amount of impervious surfaces in our community. There are numerous actions and simple behavior changes residents can do to improve the water quality in our streams. These include the following:

Home

Do

  • sweep the gutters and driveways regularly and place the sweepings in the garden
  • prevent soil or mulch from being washed or blown off the garden
  • rake up leaves or lawn clippings and use them as mulch on the garden or place them in the compost
  • grass or re-plant areas of disturbed soil
  • consider natural alternatives to pest control chemicals
  • dispose of paint and chemicals at approved disposal sites (e.g., Shady Grove Transfer Station

Don't

  • pile sand and soil on areas where it can wash into the stormwater system
  • overuse chemicals (pesticides and herbicides) that could be washed into stormwater from the garden or yard
  • drop packaging or cigarette butts on the ground
  • leave trash where bins are already full
  • Use too much fertilizer

 

Street

Do

  • pick up litter when you see it
  • Clean up pet droppings and dispose of them in the garden, rubbish bins, or in the toilet

Don't

  • hose dirt off hard surfaces (roads, paths, driveways) into gutters
  • hose leaves and grass clippings into gutter

 

Car

 

Do

  • maintain your car, making sure there are no leaks and that fuel is burnt cleanly by keeping it in tune
  • use the minimum amount of detergent for cleaning outside, and wash your car on the grass or on gravel.
  • Take your cat to a car wash, where the water is recycled

Don't

  • work on your car (including oil changing) in a place where oil and grease may wash into gutters
  • Wash the car in the street using detergent

 

 

For additional Information on Biological Monitoring see the following sites.

http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/redir?src=websearch&requestId=e7f258d7dafb5459&clickedItemRank=4&userQuery=2003+Montgomery+County+Stream+Protection+Strategy&clickedItemURN=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epa.gov%2Fmaia%2Fhtml%2Fmontgom.html Montgomery County, Maryland Uses Biological Monitoring to Better Understand and Manage Watersheds EPA web page

http://montgomerycountymd.gov/mc/services/dep/monitoring/home.html Montgomery County Biological Survey Homepage