Opequon Creek Project Team

Virginia Projects

Jim Lawrence, watershed coordinator for the Opequon Targeted Watershed Project has had a busy summer 2009.  On December 2, 2009, Jim spoke to the Project Team at their monthly meeting and he presented the stormwater retrofit projects he has been working on in the Virginia Opequon watershed.  Click here for a description of the now complete project at Shenandoah University. 

In a report Jim submitted as part of the 2007 Early Action Compact status report to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Jim described the plan for the Opequon Targeted Watershed Grant.  An excerpt from that report follows.  (http://www.valleyairnow.com/NSVEAP_200712.pdf). 

"The Virginia Tech Biological Systems Engineering Department and its local partners received a Targeted Watershed Grant from the EPA in 2006. The grant which is administered by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation is entitled “Effective Strategies for Reducing Nutrient Loads in the Opequon Creek Watershed” and is a 3-year, $998,000 grant.

In year one a comprehensive monitoring program was developed for the Virginia portion of the watershed. Currently 38 sites are being monitored bi-weekly for both nutrients and bacteria. In addition the project has installed two floodplain wetlands and will monitor them for their ability to remove pollutants from the stream during storm events.

The overall goal for the project is to develop a comprehensive nutrient reduction plan for the entire watershed and set up an off set trading program for the Winchester-Frederick Service Authority which operates two WWTPs on the Opequon.

In year two a monitoring program for West Virginia will be developed along with the installation of additional innovative stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs)."





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