Water Resources in the Potomac River Basin

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Water Resources in thePotomac River Basin

• Karin Bencala
• Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin
• April 20, 2009

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Outline

• Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin
  ICPRB
• Potomac River Drinking Water Source Protection
  Partnership
• Middle Potomac River Watershed Assessment

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Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin

• Established by member states, approved by
  Congress in 1940
• Water quality, water supply, living resources
• Section for Cooperative Water Supply Operations
  on the Potomac (CO-OP)

• Mission Enhance, protect, and conserve the water
  and associated land resources of the Potomac
  River and its tributaries through regional and
  interstate cooperation.

www.potomacriver.org
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Drinking Water Source Protection Partnership

• Fairfax Water (VA)
• Washington Aqueduct (DC)
• WSSC (MD)
• Loudoun Water (VA)
• City of Frederick (MD)
• City of Hagerstown (MD)
• City of Rockville (MD)
• Frederick Co DUSWM (MD)
• Town of Leesburg (VA)
• Washington Co (MD) DDOE
• MDE
• PADEP
• VADEQ, VDH
• WVDEP, WVDHHR
• EPA
• USGS
• ICPRB

www.potomacdwspp.org
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Partnership Strategy
Develop strategies to protect source water
Determine issues of concern
Identify sources

• Pathogens (Crypto)
• Emerging contaminants
• Disinfection by-products
• Hazardous spills

• Drawing on knowledge from experts via workshops
• Scientific studies (ECs, Crypto)

• Simulations (spill exercise)
• Crypto education materials

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Benefits for West Virginia

• WV interests represented by
• Bill Toomey and David Smith WVDHHR
• Alana Hartman WVDEP
• West Virginia water utilities are invited to join
  
• Spill notification travel time calculations

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Middle Potomac Watershed Assessment

• Water resources analysis
• Current and future human activities
• Ecological flow analysis
• Identify ecological needs
• Climate change, land use change

• Benefits
• Scientific assessment
• Stakeholder relationships and basis for
  cooperation
• Groundwork for water resources plan

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Partners
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Stakeholder Involvement

• Federal Agencies U.S. Geological Survey, U.S.
  Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service,
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
  Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S.
  Environmental Protection Agency
• Metropolitan Washington Council of Government
  (MWCOG) including its Water Supply Task Force
  (all MWCOG jurisdictions)
• Three CO-OP Water Providers (Fairfax Water,
  Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, and
  USACEs Washington Aqueduct)
• District of Columbia Agencies Department of
  Environment
• Maryland Agencies Department of the Environment,
  Department of Natural Resources, Geological
  Survey

• Pennsylvania Agencies Department of
  Environmental Protection, Department of
  Conservation and Natural Resources, Fish and Boat
  Commission
• Virginia Agencies Department of Environmental
  Quality, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries,
  Department of Conservation and Recreation
• West Virginia Agencies Department of
  Environmental Protection, Department of Health
  and Human Resources
• Northern Virginia Regional Commission
• Montgomery County (MD) Department of
  Environmental Protection
• Academic Partners University of Maryland, George
  Mason University, Virginia Tech, Virginia
  Commonwealth University, and others
• Power Companies Mirant Corporation and other
  power generating utilities that may become
  involved
• Non-profits and other stakeholders

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Daily Flows
Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration
Ecological Indicators
Management Scenarios
Flow Alteration-Ecological Response Curves
Decision-Support Tool
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CBPs P5 Watershed Model

• Based on HSPF modeling framework
• Simulates daily flows for 73 Potomac basin stream
  reaches
• Used by CBP to compute nutrient and sediment
  loads to Bay

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Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity

• Basin-wide stream health indicator
• Standardized state data to a common scale
• Compare conditions across boundaries

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Outcomes

• Potomac River basin water resources assessment
  for scientific understanding
• Potomac-wide water use database for evaluation of
  cumulative impact of upstream use
• Decision support tool to enable more informed
  decision-making
• Scoping of water resources plan

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Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration