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Octoraro Story Map
A new story map entitled State of the Octoraro Creek Watershed is now available on our website. Environmental Scientist Johanna Hripto and GIS Developer Jeff Zimmerman created the interactive content to highlight the work our scientists are doing in this important watershed that covers more than 200 square miles across three counties in two states at the southeast corner of our basin.
Nearly 75% of the 375 miles of stream here are listed as impaired by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Maryland Department of the Environment. The Octoraro Creek Watershed is dominated by agricultural land use, so it’s no surprise that siltation and nutrients are the top causes of impairment. The story map uses video, images, maps, charts and more to tell the watershed’s tale through water quality monitoring data we’ve collected over decades.
Learn about the Octoraro Reservoir that supplies drinking water to more than 200,000 people, a breakdown of stream impairments and causes, downstream impacts of nutrients, and harmful algal blooms. But also learn what’s being done to combat adverse influences and enhance the waters of this watershed, from the role of farmers to the partnerships created through the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.
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Octoraro Creek Watershed story map
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Stream Salinization Study
by Luanne Steffy
Throughout the last year, SRBC staff have been examining the impacts of salinization in freshwater streams. A large majority of salt inputs to freshwater systems originates from road salt applied to streets and sidewalks for de-icing. During rain or snowmelt events, where roads were pre-treated to prevent ice formation, a portion of that salt runs off into local streams and rivers.
After years and years of increased salt entering surface waters, scientists are beginning to notice long term impacts. In the Susquehanna River Basin, monthly sampling paired with continuous conductance monitoring at 12 sites (see map) allowed staff to evaluate typical and peak chloride concentrations, duration of peaks, and the volume of chloride delivered downstream (i.e. yield).
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Mean concentrations across all experimental sites range from 22-116 mg/L with a single sample maximum of 152 mg/L, while maximum yields (lbs/day/mi2) across all experimental sites range from 132-2,737. Maximum yields occur consistently in winter/early spring at all sites. Moose Creek is a small, highly forested watershed that receives significant road runoff from Interstate 80, west of Clearfield, PA. Estimated calculations from continuous conductivity data show Moose Creek often has a chloride concentration hovering around 50 mg/L, which already falls in the top 5 percent across the Basin, but can experience peaks of over 200 mg/L primarily in the winter. Peaks are lasting two to three days in streams after significant runoff events and can occur with high frequency during winter months.
Occasionally, estimated concentrations of chloride briefly exceeded the Pennsylvania state drinking water standard of 250 mg/L after runoff events at some sites. Aquatic life criteria for chloride vary across states, but the current national guidelines recommend 230 mg/L as an aquatic life use threshold, while some literature suggest impacts occur at lower concentrations.
One of the goals of the project is to take a closer look at the macroinvertebrate data from the past two decades at both Deer Creek and Cayuta Creek to evaluate if any changes in the types of macroinvertebrates living in a stream could be attributed to increased salinization. This may be reflected in IBI scores (a measure of biological conditions), but more likely in the presence of sensitive taxa or abundance of taxa that are more salt tolerant. Initial results across all sites show lower IBI scores (poorer ecological conditions) at sites with higher chloride concentrations.
Staff will continue to sample throughout the winter months with the intention of capturing runoff events after roads have been treated with salt. Remember when you salt your driveways and sidewalks – use as little salt as possible or move to alternative options such as sand, coffee grounds or beet juice!
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Stream running parallel to a roadway treated with salt
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Blossburg Couple Honored
We recently honored a couple whose devotion to the restoration of the Tioga River Watershed will soon turn its orange, polluted waters into clear, healthy flows. Charlie and Joyce Andrews of Blossburg, Pennsylvania received the William Jeanes Sr. Award from SRBC Commissioners on December 14th, 2023 at our quarterly business meeting held in Corning, New York.
For more than a century, much of the Tioga River and many of its tributaries have been devoid of aquatic life, polluted by acid mine drainage left behind from decades of coal mining. Since the 1980s, Charlie and Joyce, backbones of the Tioga County Concerned Citizens Committee (TCCCC), have maintained an unwavering commitment to heal their area waterways.
The Andrews, knowing an active treatment plant costing millions of dollars would be needed to restore the Tioga watershed, kept their community active and engaged during the long search for funding. “This patience and passion for their river, their town, and their neighbors is why after all these years the Tioga community is set to finally see recreational fishing restored, wildlife habitat improved and value added to their properties,” said Tom Clark, former SRBC Mine Drainage Coordinator and Kleinfelder Inc. Project Development Manager, who nominated the couple.
The current project, which includes an active treatment plant that will restore more than 20 miles of streams and tributaries, is being funded by The PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR), SRBC, The Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy and more than $125,000 of raised dollars by the Andrews and the TCCCC. The plant is being designed by Kleinfelder Inc. and is slated to begin operations by early 2026.
Charlie and Joyce have donated countless personal hours coordinating multiple agencies, organizations and private companies, creating community outreach signage and activities, performing water quality monitoring, and even spearheading a passive treatment system on Fall Brook, a tributary of the Tioga River. “The Andrews are outstanding examples of what it takes to volunteer and make life and the environment a better place for everyone,” said Todd Wood, BAMR Mining Engineer Manager, who has witnessed their hard work for more than two decades.
The William Jeanes Sr. Award is named after the late William Jeanes, Sr., a Pennsylvania native who as a Maryland resident was a strong advocate of water quality protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Learn more about the Tioga River Abandoned Mine Drainage Treatment Plant project through this story map or on the TCCCC’s website. And watch a short video honoring the Andrews’ efforts on our YouTube page.
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Charlie & Joyce Andrews of Blossburg, PA
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Conowingo Pay for Success Program
The deadline is fast approaching for a request for proposals (RFP) for projects that mitigate water quality impacts of the Conowingo Reservoir on the Chesapeake Bay. Through a memorandum of understanding, the Commission will act as financing authority to administer more than $20 million provided by the state of Maryland to meet nutrient reduction goals of the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan (CWIP).
The CWIP addresses nutrient loads entering the Chesapeake Bay as a result of Conowingo Dam reaching its trapping capacity. It has been determined that the reservoir has reached dynamic equilibrium and is no longer preventing a portion of the pollutant load from flowing downstream.
“This initiative marks an exciting foray into innovative approaches, both financial and scientific, to achieve Chesapeake Bay restoration goals,” said SRBC Executive Director Andrew Dehoff. “This multi-state effort to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous loading to the Bay comes in the form of a groundbreaking Pay for Success Program.”
This type of contracting is a proven method of procuring verified environmental outcomes in a cost-effective manner. Through the program, Maryland is able to finance projects upstream and count those nutrient reductions against its CWIP obligations.
The process is a “reverse auction” where restoration projects with measured and validated nitrogen reductions will propose a cost per pound in the application process, with the successful proposals being those with the most cost-effective reductions. Projects anywhere in the Susquehanna River Basin are eligible with additional prioritization given to ones in Harford and Cecil Counties in Maryland, as well as those located in the sub-watersheds of Deer Creek, Conowingo Creek or Octoraro Creek in Pennsylvania. Proposals involving dredging will be considered as well.
Proposals must be submitted by January 22nd, 2024. For more information on the RFP, please visit our website at www.srbc.gov. Any questions may be submitted to ConowingoWIP@srbc.gov .
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Conowingo Dam, Darlington, MD
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The newsletter derives its name from the book Susquehanna Compact: Guardian of the River's Future, written by William Voigt,1972.
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