Source Water Protection for Municipal Officials

For more information, click here.

Time:
6pm - 9pm

Where:
PA State Association of Boroughs
2941 North Front St
Harrisburg, PA 17110
(Dauphin County)

Registration:
Coming soon at the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs Training Schedule website.

1/11 Advisory Committee Follow-Up

Approximately 26 people attended the January 11th advisory committee meeting.  Thanks to all those who attended! 

The main purpose of the meeting was to compile a list of potential management alternatives for evaluation and prioritization.  The draft meeting minutes are now available for download here.  Two handouts were provided at the meeting.  The first was a synthesis of water resources issues facing the Marsh and Rock creek watersheds.  The second was a draft list of management actions that may be appropriate for addressing the water resources issues.  Comments on any/all of these documents are welcome.

In order to include all proposed management alternatives in the evaluation and prioritization process, please submit additional ideas by February 10th via email (marshrockpa@gmail.com), phone (301.274.8116), or mail (ICPRB, 51 Monroe St. PE-08, Rockville, MD 20850).

The next meeting of the Critical Area Advisory Committee will be February 15th from 9am-3pm at the Ag Center in Gettysburg.  Hope to see you there!

Wednesday's (1/11) Critical Area Advisory Committee Meeting

Wednesday, January 11th, will be the next meeting of the Critical Area Advisory Committee.  The meeting will be held from 1-3pm at the Ag Center (670 Old Harrisburg Rd) in Gettysburg.  The purpose of the meeting is to compile a list of possible CARP management recommendations.  Recommendations obtained at this meeting will undergo initial technical evaluation through mid-February.  A full feasibility evaluation for selection and prioritization will be conducted at the February 15th workshop.  The draft meeting agenda is available for download here.

Please come to the meeting prepared to share your ideas on management actions that can be implemented in the watersheds to address the water resources issues!  If you are unable to attend the meeting, please submit any ideas before February 10th via email (marshrockpa@gmail.com), phone (301.274.8116), or mail (ICPRB, 51 Monroe St. PE-08, Rockville, MD 20850).

New and Revised Technical Reports

Two new technical reports are available for review and comment.  One focuses on stormwater and floodplain management while the other assesses the water quality conditions in the Marsh and Rock creek watersheds.

Also, two previously released technical reports have been revised based on comments from the advisory committee.  The revised version of the current water uses technical report can be downloaded here.  The revised version of the water availability and future water uses technical report is also available.

As always, feedback on the technical reports is most welcome.

Water Monitoring

In December, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) participated in the Rock and Marsh Creek CARP monthly ground water monitoring . Annually, the USGS must do a Quality Assurance (QA) /Quality Control (QC) inspection on all individuals and programs that provide data to them. As part of the CARP, data is collected monthly and submited to USGS. The data is then uploaded onto their website. Rock/Marsh data

February Workshop Details

Hi Everyone

In case you weren’t there for the Advisory Committee Meeting on October 12^th, or in case you don’t remember me, I’ll just go ahead and give a brief introduction. My name is Beverly Saunders. I am a Masters student in Aquatic Resources at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

I have been researching stakeholder based basin management for the past two years, and I am now working with y’all to help prioritize and evaluate the feasibility of the Water Management Projects that have been and will be proposed as a part of the Critical Area Resource Plan for the Marsh and Rock Creek watershed. This work will be my thesis and will also help determine which projects are implemented in the future. I gave a presentation in October on what I was planning on doing. If you would like to see the full presentation you see it here.  For now though, I will just give a quick and dirty summary:

I will essentially be hosting a working lunch workshop for the Marsh and Rock Creek Basin Stakeholders (you guys :) ) which will be taking place on Wednesday, February 15^th, 2012, from 9 -3 at the Ag. Center. In this workshop we will be using what are known as the “ILBM pillars” to evaluate the feasibility of the management suggestions given in the meeting on January 11^th. These pillars include policy, financing, information, institutions, stakeholder participation and technology and they will form the basis of how we discuss and evaluate each of the project.

PLEASE NOTE: It is very important that all stakeholders are represented at this workshop so that a consensus can be reached and so that everyone’s opinion and knowledge of the watershed can be utilized. Otherwise the conclusions may not be correct or implementable. In short, in order to talk about what needs to happen, everyone who has a stake in the watershed and its management needs to be a part of the discussion.

For a more comprehensive summary of the project please see my thesis proposal here.

I had a couple people ask me for some references on ILBM. The best one I can provide is available here. This is a very large file so please be aware that the download may take a little while. Also keep in mind that even though ILBM stands for Integrated Lake Basin Management… the framework is useful for all watersheds (and has been used in river basins before). Page 64-68 speaks specifically about the process I am using in this thesis project (although in less detail than my thesis proposal will provide).

If you have any more questions please email me at bs1432@txstate.edu. Also, I will be moving to Gettysburg area in January and will stay until the completion of the project, so please feel free to approach me at the meeting in January or to set up a meeting at any time if you have any questions. Thanks so much for your time and patience... I know this was a longer blog than normal.  

Sincerely Beverly =)

Adams County Headwaters Publication

The Headwaters is a periodic newsletter to inform community leaders of various topics related to the protection of water resources. Information is compiled through the collaborative efforts of the Adams County Water Resources Advisory Committee (WRAC), the Adams County Conservation District, and the Adams County Office of Planning and Development. Below are the first two articles that have been published and sent to local community leaders.

1st edition / Winter 2011- Source Water Protection
2nd edition / Fall 2011 - Riparian Buffer Guidance Document