Thank You to the Volunteers

Thank you to all of the volunteers who have and continue to generously donated time and effort! 

A couple of examples...

Last Thursday, members of the agricultural community volunteered to attend a meeting at the Knouse Foods Orrtanna plant.  The purpose of the meeting was to verify agricultural water use estimates in the Marsh and Rock creek watersheds. 

Critical Area Advisory Committee members continue to volunteer time and expertise to ensure consideration of key issues and identification of practical solutions.

After the advisory committee meeting in April, several members volunteered to record weekly staff gage readings.  The readings are necessary to understand the amount of water available in the watersheds. 

Thank You!

May Well Monitoring

On May 18th, we collected the eighth round of ground water measurements for the Critical Area Resources Plan. USGS's Ground Water Monitoring website


It appears that the ground water table was the highest sometime between the middle of April and the beginning of May. I think it is safe to say that our water table will be dropping from now until the beginning of September.

High water in the watershed

In case you hadn't noticed, there's been a lot of rain lately and the water level in the streams has come up quite a bit. But almost as quickly, it's fallen again. That's one of the things that's special about the watershed. The water that falls as rain isn't held very long. It either runs off the surface quickly or what little soaks in discharges quickly to the streams as baseflow.

Here's a photo at one of the bridges showing how high the water is. I've also put some more on the slideshow. Just click on the changing photos in the upper right of the page to go to the slideshow on the Flickr site.

Do you have any shots of the high water? Let us know at marshrockpa@gmail.com and we'll post them.

FREE EVENT- Conserving Treasured Landscapes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed



Click on the image
for an event flier.


You are invited to attend "Conserving Treasured Landscapes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed", a free event hosted by the South Mountain Partnership as part of the South Mountain Speakers Series. 

The event will be held Thursday, May 12th, 2011 at 7pm at the Agricultural and Natural Resources Center (670 Old Harrisburg Rd, Gettysburg, PA 17325).

Watershed Pictures

Do you have pictures of the Marsh and Rock creek watersheds that can be posted to the project's Flickr site?  Please share them! 

To submit pictures, email them to marshrockpa@gmail.com along with instructions on how you'd like the photo credits to appear.

Pharmaceutical Take Back Event - April 30, 2011

DEA take back event logo

Medicines that are flushed down a toilet or sink can contaminate water resources and can have a negative impact on fish and other aquatic species. Septic systems and public wastewater facilities are not designed to treat these products and eventually they can impact wells and community drinking water supplies.  Currently, there has been no evidence found of adverse effects on human health from pharmaceuticals in the environment but the long-term effects of pharmaceuticals and similar chemicals on humans are still being researched.  Unused and expired medications should be properly disposed of at community take-back events or by following guidelines established by the federal government.  For more info about pharmaceuticals in the environment, visit www.epa.gov/ppcp.

Does your family have any unused or expired medications?  Drop by a pharmaceutical take back location on April 30, 2011 from 10am - 2pm to properly dispose of these potential environmental contaminants.  Local sites include the Fairfield Fire Department* and the Agriculture and Natural Resources Center in Gettysburg**.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) website contains information on the program as well as a national database of participating locations.  A map of take back locations in the Potomac River Basin is available here.

*The Fairfield Fire Department is located at 106 Steelman St, Fairfield, PA 17320.

**The Agriculture and Natural Resources Center is located at 670 Old Harrisburg Rd, Gettysburg, PA 17325.

April 13 Meeting Follow-Up

Thanks to all those who attended the April 13th advisory committee meeting!  The purpose was to discuss water quality issues in the watersheds.  The meeting agenda is available to download.  Draft meeting minutes are also available to download.  Presentations on water quality given at the meeting are listed below.

Dave Jostenski (DEP) - "Role of Water Quality in Development of CARP"
Pat Bowling (DEP) - "Water Quality in the Marsh Creek and Rock Creek Basins: Background Information"
Adam McClain (ACCD) - "Water Quality Issues with Private Supply Wells"
Rusty Ryan (ACCD) - "Stormwater Issues and Water Quality"

You are encouraged to post any lingering questions or comments from the meeting on this blog by clicking the blue "comments" button below the posting.

The next advisory committee meeting will be Wednesday, July 13th from 1-3pm at the Ag Center in Gettysburg.