Sprawl is harming Patuxent, report says

Storm water runoff a major cause of pollution

Jennifer Bevan-Dangle, executive director of the organization, said storm water and sediment erosion also contributes to the pollution.

When it rains, the water normally settles and runs through the earth before hitting a stream. This causes the water to lose much of its pollutants.

But with many developments, the water is made to rush away as quickly as possible and drain into streams without the natural process of removing the pollutants.

‘‘Older developments tried to get the water away from houses as fast as possible,” Bevan-Dangle said. ‘‘The water picks up car oil, trash and pet waste.”

Such waste pollutes the river with nitrogen and phosphorus.

Prince George’s County plays a critical role in helping this cleanup, according to Bevan-Dangle, since it has the largest landmass in the watershed.

She also said the county is lagging behind more progressive counties like Montgomery and Calvert where officials are designating agricultural districts through more stringent zoning.

‘‘The county believes that there is a pollution problem in the Patuxent River,” Samuel Moki, associate director at the Department of Environmental Resources, wrote in an e-mail. ‘‘In fact, according to the Maryland [Total Maximum Daily Load] Program, every stream in the county and just about every stream in the state is impaired for at least one pollutant.”

Moki said the county, under an EPA grant, is conducting a water quality improvement demonstration project in the upper Patuxent River watershed.

This project utilizes a combination of the Low Impact Development technologies and an innovative decentralized waste water management device to demonstrate how water quality conditions can be improved in the watershed.

In addition, the county is conducting a comprehensive watershed restoration project in the Bear Branch watershed.

The planning and study portions of the Bear Branch project have been completed. The county is working on the design phase of the project. This watershed restoration project will be a model for the county to follow for other parts of the Patuxent River watershed.

Bevan-Dangle did say measures like purchase development rights, which allows farmers to sell development rights to the county so the land cannot be developed, put Prince George’s on the right track.

And with a 30 percent increase in population around the watershed coming in the next 10 years, Bevan-Dangle and the Riverkeeper members feel that there needs to be action quickly.

‘‘The only way we can fix this is by biting away year after year at this big problem,” Bevan-Dangle said. ‘‘We need immediate state legislative change to get this started.”

The only way to fix this problem is to retrofit older developments so water falls and is absorbed without running off into the streams immediately.

But Bevan-Dangle said that would not be a cheap task.

‘‘Statewide, this will take $6 billion,” she said. ‘‘That is why we are asking both state and local governments to dedicate funding to retrofits.”

The second solution is to build new developments that will allow water to seep in naturally. Even the newest developments in the area aren’t helping the problem.

Most new developments run all the water off into a pond, which feeds into a stream. Bevan-Dangle said this doesn’t help solve the runoff issues because no one regulates the pond.

According to Margaret Palmer, a professor at the Center for Environmental Studies and the University of Maryland, College Park, the study has come at a critical time because of all the development planned near the watershed.

‘‘This report is important because it is a scientifically informed action plan,” she said. ‘‘The good news is that we know what the problem is and we know how to fix it. Now we just need to do it.”

Del. Elizabeth Bobo (D-Dist. 12B) of Columbia said legislators in Annapolis know action needs to be taken, but many are not pushing for that action.

‘‘We have to create a critical mass to offset the pressures from developers,” she said. ‘‘Developers are very generous with campaign donations.”