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Project Headwaters: A Watershed Approach To Stormwater Management
The Pennypack Creek Watershed covers 56 square miles in twelve municipalities and includes a population of over 300,000 people. Over the past 30 years, the watershed has undergone a considerable amount of development and suburbanization. Changes to the landscape have led to a number of problems, including ecological degradation and an increased incidence of flooding. No coordinated stormwater management program exists.
What started as an epiphany to Trout Unlimited’s Mike Wilson, however, has evolved into a model approach to stormwater management involving a broad base of stakeholders and focusing on action rather than words. While working on a streambank restoration project in the lower Pennypack Creek, Mike began thinking about the larger Pennypack watershed and realized that his efforts would probably have a greater impact if they were taking place further upstream. At the same time, Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities’ Pennypack Creek Watershed study was underway. Discussions between Wilson, the Temple team, Philadelphia Water Department, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, local municipalities, and others led to a partnership intent on getting things done.
The group’s name embodies its core philosophy: Project Headwaters believes that upstream preservation and restoration efforts can have the greatest trickle down effect. The team established a series of principles to maximize the water quality benefits of their work:
- Implement coordinated projects in close proximity to one another
- Target implementation in headwater areas
- Focus projects on public and institutional lands
- Retrofit stormwater systems before restoring stream channels
Project Headwaters has identified between 20 and 30 priority projects for implementation over the next five years, the first of which was a riparian buffer restoration and reforestation effort in Horsham Township. Initial plantings took place in Fall 2007.
PROFILE
Situation: A strategic approach to restoring urban watersheds through the creation of broad partnerships focused on the implementation of high priority projects in headwater regions.
BMPs:
Riparian Buffer Restoration (BMP Manual reference: BMP 6.7.1)
Numerous others planned throughout headwaters region
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Benefits
- Streambank stabilization
- Pollutant reduction
- Water quality
- Habitat
- Aesthetics
Various sites throughout the Pennypack Creek Watershed This particular site is in Horsham Township, PA
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Players
- Southeast Montgomery County Trout Unlimited
- Philadelphia Water Department
- Keystone Conservation Trust, Temple University
- Montgomery County Conservation District
- Swarthmore College
- Pennsylvania Environmental Council
- College Settlement Camp
- Horsham Township
N/A
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Funding
- Tree Vitalize Watershed grant
- In-kind services from volunteers and partner organizations
BENEFITS
The initial implementation work in Horsham township complements a number of other planned and on-going Project Headwaters initiatives. For instance, the Southeast Montgomery County Trout Unlimited is working with Montgomery CCD to restore riparian buffers on a private land parcel and a Natural Land Trust property through the TreeVitalize program. Both sites are located in the same subwatershed as this riparian buffer restoration effort and will add to the cumulative environmental benefit.
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Quality of Life
- Improved water quality
- Public outreach and engagement
- Ongoing educational programming opportunities
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Environmental
- Improved volume and peak rate control
- Reductions in streambank and channel erosion
- Improved habitat for aquatic wildlife
- Rejuvenation of aquatic communities
- Increased filtration of stormwater pollutants
PLANNING
Project Headwaters is not an organization or site specific project; instead, it is an umbrella that provides a consistent set of guiding principles for urban watershed restoration and a stormwater management framework through which partnering organizations can form long term, but flexible partnerships that extend beyond the life of a single grant cycle.
This approach is particularly important in urban areas where local control creates challenges for implementing the kind of watershed-scale, municipally-based watershed management programs that have arisen in states with strong county-level land use and infrastructure planning (Maryland and Virginia for example). In Pennsylvania, the implementation of watershed programs depends on the ability of municipalities, NGOs, private industry, and universities to form effective watershed restoration partnerships.
Project Headwaters offers a new model for forming and maintaining these kind of partnerships. Its concepts and approach are readily transferred to different watersheds around the region, which of necessity, may involve different participating organizations. Project Headwaters supports and advances the implementation of existing watershed plans and complements existing watershed partnerships: in the Pennypack, it implements key recommendations of the Pennypack Creek Rivers Conservation Plan by focusing on projects identified and prioritized by Temple University’s Pennypack Watershed Study.
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Soon to be implemented Project Headwaters initiatives in Horsham Township include:
- Construction of riparian wetlands along a stretch of headwater stream within the College Settlement Camp
- Retrofit of a 35,000 square foot stormwater detention basin within the Saw Valley development
- Bioretention areas, basin retrofits, and conversion of a grassy swale to naturalized bioinflitration at Lukens Park
BMP’s (Best Management Practices)
A variety of BMP’s will be applied in different site locations over the course of the Project Headwaters initiative. The goal is to implement a series of projects in close proximity to one another in order to create a synergistic and demonstrable improvement in water quality downstream.
The initial site shown primarily focused on Riparian Buffer Restoration BMP Manual reference: BMP 6.7.1
REGULATORY
Each project implemented under the Project Headwaters umbrella is subject to site specific regulatory requirements, including adherence to any applicable local ordinances. An Erosion & Sediment control permit, NPDES stormwater permit, and township approval are typically required.
RESOURCES
Project Headwaters website - (View info at their WEBSITE)
The Project Headwaters partnership has developed a website that discusses its conceptual vision and specific implementation plans in further detail. Stay up to date on their activities,visit their blog, and keep an eye on their calendar for opportunities to get involved.
Pennypack Creek Rivers Conservation Plan Executive Summary - (View PDF)
The Pennypack Creek River Conservation Plan is one of several efforts of the Philadelphia Water Department and the Pennypack Watershed Partnership. It is intened to reconnect residents to the Pennypack through a community-based planning process. The complete plan can be found at the Philadelphia Water Department Office of Watersheds Watershed Information Center - Click here to view this info at their website.
Pennypack Watershed Study - (View PDF)
The 56 square mile Pennypack Creek watershed comprises 12 municipalities and a population of more than 300,000 people. The region has seen a great deal of development and suburbanization over the past 30 years, which has resulted in a number of problems, including environmental degradation and an increased frequency and intensity of floods. Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC) undertook the Peenypack Creek Watershed Study to look at some of the key issues affecting communities within the watershed. The complete study can be found on the CSC site.
The riparian buffer restoration project depicted in the case study is a voluntary measure, but an increasing number of communities are implementing stormwater ordinances, including specific requirements for maintaining buffer zones along waterways. This example riparian buffer was developed for municipalities in Montgomery County.
Protecting Your Water Resources: Guide to a Model Municipal Ordinance - (View PDF)
The Clean Water Fund, Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Green Valleys Association developed this Model Municipal Water Resources Ordinance designed to protect public health, the environment and the economic interests of municipalities in Pennsylvania.
Buffers 100 Campaign - (View info at their WEBSITE)The Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water has undertaken a campaign to protect and create healthy buffers along our streams, creeks, wetlands and rivers. The campaign defines a healthy buffer as “filled with native trees, shrubs, and ground covering plants and is wide enough to filter pollution, hold and absorb flood waters and to create healthy habitat...”
About Montgomery County’s E & S Program
College Settlement Site Plan - Part A (PDF)
College Settlement Site Plan - Part B (PDF)
Saw Mill Valley Concept Design (PDF)
Lukens Park Concept Design (PDF)
