Little Seneca Creek
Little Seneca Creek is an 14.0-mile-long (22.5 km)[1] stream in Montgomery County, Maryland, roughly 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Washington, D.C. The creek drains portions of Clarksburg, Germantown, and Boyds. It rises south of Damascus and flows southward about 4.8 miles (7.7 km) to Little Seneca Lake, a reservoir created by construction of a dam on the creek. The reservoir empties to the lower portion of the creek, which flows south about 6.6 miles (10.6 km) to Seneca Creek, which drains to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.
A portion of the creek below the lake is a cold water stream that supports wild rainbow and brown trout populations.
Water quality issues
In 1994, the Montgomery County Council anticipated population growth in the Little Seneca watershed and imposed some restrictions on housing development and other new construction in part of the watershed, in order to preserve water quality before development accelerated. A "Special Protection Area" was designated that requires additional controls for stormwater runoff, beyond those required of all new projects.[2]
However, the county reported that its recent requirements for new construction projects have not been sufficient to prevent water quality impairment. Several large land development projects were constructed in Clarksburg and elsewhere in the watershed over the past several years. The county conducted biological monitoring of stream conditions and has documented declines in water quality associated with the new construction. More comprehensive site designs to minimize stormwater runoff, such as conservation design or low impact development designs, are recommended.[3]
Tributaries
- Boyds Tributary
- Brodsky Tributary
- Bucklodge Branch
- Cabin Branch
- Churchill Tributary
- Germantown Estates Tributary
- Milestone Tributary
- Ten Mile Creek
- Town Center Tributary
See also
References
- ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed August 15, 2011
- ↑ Montgomery County Code. Chapter 19, Article V (Water Quality Review in Special Protection Areas). Section 19-60 et seq.
- ↑ Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (MCDEP), Rockville, MD. Special Protection Area Program Annual Report 2008. January 2010.
External links
- "The Little Seneca Creek Watershed." MCDEP
- Whitewater Info for Little Seneca Creek - Riverfacts.com
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