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Which Watershed Do You Live In?
 A Watershed is
an area of land in which
all water sources flow into a common body of water. The boundary of a
watershed is formed by the
topography of an area, and they’re usually divided by hills and ridges.
Small watersheds are part of larger watersheds,
which in turn are part of even larger watersheds. Washington County’s
watersheds are part of the Ohio River watershed, which is part of the
Mississippi River watershed, which flows into the Gulf
of Mexico. What happens in one watershed effects water quality on a
much larger scale. Washington County has fifteen main watersheds, some
of
which are shared with neighboring
counties and West Virginia.
The Conservation District supports the Washington County Watershed Alliance and its individual watershed association members through the assistance of the District Manager and the Watershed Specialist. Alliance member associations are the Buffalo Creek Watershed Association, the Chartiers Creek Watershed Association, the Cross Creek Watershed Association, the Peters Creek Watershed Association, the Pike Run Watershed Association, the Raccoon Creek Watershed Association, and the Wheeling Creek Watershed Conservancy. The Watershed Alliance is an umbrella organization which serves as the fiscal agent for grants and coordinates the county-wide efforts of its member watershed associations. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and is registered with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations. The Conservation District holds active membership in the Alliance. Our District Manager currently serves as president, and our Watershed Specialist is the central contact person for the organization. Children's
Groundwater Festival
For fourteen years, the Children's Groundwater Festival was a
major activity of the Alliance. The
Festival,
was held every spring at California University.
Unfortunately,
2009 marked the first year in fourteen consecutive years
that the
festival was not held. Lack of sufficient numbers of
participating students, due to budget cuts by schools caused the
festival steering committee to cancel the Festival. Members
of the steering committee will still visit the
schools upon request to provide a presentation on groundwater; as they
have done in
the past.  The Buffalo Creek Watershed has been designated a High Quality Watershed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The watershed contains a variety of valuable natural, man-made, and historical assets, making it a great location for various outdoor activities.  One
of the current main concerns of the association is Dutch Fork Lake.
Once very popular for fishing and boating, the lake was
drained due to damage caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The association
continually makes efforts to promote awareness of the lake at various
events thoughout the year, in addition to searching for sources of
funding to have the dam rebuilt and the lake restored. If you
are interested in helping, see contact info below.Contact: 724-228-0754 buffalocreekwa@gmail.com P.O. Box 408 Claysville, PA 15323 Meetings are the second Thursday of each month, 7:00 PM at the Buffalo Township Building. The association is very active in water quality monitoring, educational programs, various projects, and they continue to publish a quarterly newsletter. For more information, visit their website. Contact: 724-941-9370 Mail to: 2800 North Main Street, Suite 105 Washington, PA 15301 Meetings are the second Wednesday of each month, 7:00 PM at the Conservation District Office. Canonsburg Lake Canonsburg Lake is a man-made lake created by a dam on Little Chartiers Creek. Over the years a great deal of sediment has been building up in the lake to the point where depths in much of the lake are less than two feet. A Canonsburg Lake Restoration and Enhancement Committee has been created to help find funding and to get projects underway. Recreational improvements around the lake continue to advance. Click here to view the Master Site Plan on the Chartiers Creek Watershed Association website. In 2008 two informational kiosks were built and placed near the parking lots at the lake, and a small footbridge was built to connect two portions of the walking trail around the lake.  The
lake is also listed as an Army Corps of Engineers Section 206
Habitat Restoration project, but before work can begin to improve the
lake (including dredging a portion of it), 35% of the project cost must
be obtained by the committee to match the Army Corps 65%.
This
35% match is estimated to be about $2.1 million dollars. The
committee continues to research funding sources. Click the
"Save Canonsburg Lake" link to the left to find out more.Interested in helping with work or fundraising? Contact: 724-746-4664 760 Lakeside Dr. McMurray, PA 15317-2483 The Cross Creek Watershed Association is involved in various projects throughout the watershed. They routinely do water q  uality
testing and macroinvertebrate sampling. They work closely
with
Avella Area High School on educational projects including
macroinvertebrate identification and the recently completed school
nature trail and footbridge. The most recently completed project is a stream stabilization project on Cross Creek at the site of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter. A cross rock vane was installed to direct the flow of water in order to prevent bank erosion. Historically native species of trees were also planted on the bank and surrounding areas.  Contact: 724-356-2232 35 Perry Road Burgettstown, PA 15021 Meetings are the last Wednesday of each month, 7:00 PM at the Cross Creek Township Building. The Pike Run Watershed Association is largely run by professors and students from California University of PA, but there is currently an effort to establish a more community-based group. Recently, a water quality assessment was performed on a portion of Pike Run. Contact: Dr. Fredrick 724-938-4463 fredrick@calu.edu The PCWA remains very actively involved in educational projects, stream restoration and cleanups, public awareness, and a variety of other projects. For more information, visit their website by clicking the link on the left. Contact: 412-233-6628 peterscreekwsa@verizon.net P.O. Box 18007 Pittsburgh, PA 15236 Meetings are the second Monday of each month, 8:30 PM at the Clairton American Legion. The RCWA is involved in the creation and maintenance of multiple Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) treatment systems in the watershed, as well as educational programs, macroinvertebrate collection, cleanups, and encouraging public participation and awareness. For more information, visit their website by clicking the link on the left.  For details on the multiple AMD treatment projects in the watershed, visit the Datashed project page. JB#2 AMD Treatment System Redesign Complete: The treatment system, located in the Raccoon Creek watershed in Smith Township, has been redesigned to more efficiently remove iron, aluminum, and manganese from an abandoned mine discharge which previously flowed directly into a tributary of Raccoon Creek. The upper treatment pond has been extended and a new drainage system installed. For more information on JB#2 and other AMD systems, visit the datashed.org project page. The project was funded by a DEP Growing Greener grant, and work was completed by BKG Industries. Thanks also to Independence Conservancy, Moran Excavating, and the Raccoon Creek Watershed Association. Contact: 724-947-3859 IndMarshFdn@aol.com P.O. Box 251 Clinton, PA 15026 Meetings are the last Tuesday of each month, 5:30 PM at Raccoon Creek State Park. The
Ten Mile Creek Watershed Association was officially formed in May of
2011. This group is newly started and would love to have new
members. They are interested in the entire Ten Mile Watershed,
spanning both Washington and Greene Counties. If you are
interested in attending at meeting they are held on the first Monday of
each month at the School House in the Morris Township Community Park;
6:30pm. For more Information call: 724-222-3060 x5. Upper Wheeling Creek Watershed Association The
Upper Wheeling Creek Watershed Association was officially formed in
January of 2011. The group is working to maintain, improve, and
monitor the water quality of the Wheeling Creek Watershed that lies
within Washington County. If you are interested in joining or
just attending a meeting to see what projects the group is working on
please meet at the East Finley Township Municipal Building on the first
Wednesday of the month, 6:30pm. For more information please call: 724-705-7098. Contact: 724-627-7871 P.O. Box 191 Nineveh, PA 15353 Contact Conservancy for meeting times. |
Additional Information Water Cycle Presentation (pdf) Dutch Fork Lake Fact Sheet (pdf) Canonsburg Lake Brochure (pdf) Washington County Watershed Roadmap (pdf) |
| © 2011 Washington County Conservation District |
Washington
County Watershed Alliance