goose70
06-08-2007, 09:40 AM
The Severn River Commission (not to be confused with the Severn River Association, which is a private group -- the Commission is a government advisory body made up of nine Commissioners who the County executive appoints to three-year terms) met last evening. Its meetings (4pm-6:30pm, first Thurs of each month, except no July meeting) are open to the public -- esp. the SRRKC! They're held at the Heritage Complex, Riva Rd, 2664 building.
Anyhooo, at this past meeting we heard from Mary Searing, the County's Watershed & Ecosystem Services Program Manager. She gave a presentation on the County's watershed management tool, which is a state-of-the-art computer modeling program that contains every stream (regardless of size), nook and cranny in the County, including identifying and categorizing every piece of forest, impervious surface, residential and agricultural land. The current County Exec. has ordered the Dept. of Public Works to aggressively move forward, using this tool, to develop a new general development plan for the Severn watershed that prevents the 93% reduction in forest throughout the watershed that current zoning would allow. The model can also be used to assess, in detail, the various harms to streams and the Severn that various new development proposals would cause. I doubt that many watersheds in the world are fortunate enough to have such a complex modeling system, and we now appear to have an administration that wants to use it to guide land-use planning.
Here are some interesting stats from the program: Currently, the makeup of the Severn watershed, which includes the area around Whitehall Bay and extends out to Odenton, is as follows: 20% impervious surface (concrete, asphalt, buildings); 38% undeveloped forest; 6% undeveloped, non-agricultural fields/bogs; 3% agricultural fields; 41% residential (I think that this includes soccer/baseball fields). Of the homes in AA County, 26% are on public sewer; 21% on septic but slated by the County to be switched to public sewer; and 52% are on septic and slated to remain that way for the foreseeable future. That's a problem, because septic systems, especially those near the water, leach nitrogen and other bad stuff into the water. The good news is that, to the extent money allows, the County is trying to switch homes near the water to public sewer first.
Mary also noted that, if one plugs into the model various levels of sharp cutbacks in residential lawn fertilizer use, the positive results on water quality tend to be significant. Conversely, if lawn fertilizer use continues as is, then even the hundreds of millions of tax dollars that the County plans to spend on stream restoration, purchasing development rights, stormwater and sewage upgrades, will still not achieve water quality goals for the Severn or anywhere else. That's some food for thought for you.
Anyhooo, at this past meeting we heard from Mary Searing, the County's Watershed & Ecosystem Services Program Manager. She gave a presentation on the County's watershed management tool, which is a state-of-the-art computer modeling program that contains every stream (regardless of size), nook and cranny in the County, including identifying and categorizing every piece of forest, impervious surface, residential and agricultural land. The current County Exec. has ordered the Dept. of Public Works to aggressively move forward, using this tool, to develop a new general development plan for the Severn watershed that prevents the 93% reduction in forest throughout the watershed that current zoning would allow. The model can also be used to assess, in detail, the various harms to streams and the Severn that various new development proposals would cause. I doubt that many watersheds in the world are fortunate enough to have such a complex modeling system, and we now appear to have an administration that wants to use it to guide land-use planning.
Here are some interesting stats from the program: Currently, the makeup of the Severn watershed, which includes the area around Whitehall Bay and extends out to Odenton, is as follows: 20% impervious surface (concrete, asphalt, buildings); 38% undeveloped forest; 6% undeveloped, non-agricultural fields/bogs; 3% agricultural fields; 41% residential (I think that this includes soccer/baseball fields). Of the homes in AA County, 26% are on public sewer; 21% on septic but slated by the County to be switched to public sewer; and 52% are on septic and slated to remain that way for the foreseeable future. That's a problem, because septic systems, especially those near the water, leach nitrogen and other bad stuff into the water. The good news is that, to the extent money allows, the County is trying to switch homes near the water to public sewer first.
Mary also noted that, if one plugs into the model various levels of sharp cutbacks in residential lawn fertilizer use, the positive results on water quality tend to be significant. Conversely, if lawn fertilizer use continues as is, then even the hundreds of millions of tax dollars that the County plans to spend on stream restoration, purchasing development rights, stormwater and sewage upgrades, will still not achieve water quality goals for the Severn or anywhere else. That's some food for thought for you.