More Information
The Polecat Creek watershed is located in the south central section of Caroline County, Virginia, within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America and is the target of intensive restoration efforts. Over the past two decades, a federal, state, and local partnership has evolved to address water quality problems in the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to initiatives created to address existing water quality problems, efforts have been made to prevent future degradation of the Bay by developing regulations for local landuse and development.
The Polecat Creek watershed monitoring project was initiated in 1993 by the Virginia Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department [CBLAD, now the Division of Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance (DCBLA) within the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)], with the assistance of the Virginia Coastal Program (VCP), to provide information about future water quality trends resulting from landuse change and implementation of local landuse regulations. The goal of the project was to describe the efficacy of emerging landuse regulations and policies adopted pursuant to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act in protecting water quality during urban land development activities.
The Polecat Creek drainage area is about 30,000 acres and is located in the headwaters of the Mattaponi River which is one of the main tributaries to the York River. The headwaters rise in the piedmont, flow through the fall zone, and converge with the Mattaponi river in the coastal plain. The predominant land cover in the watershed is forest, followed by open fields and pastureland. The Polecat Creek watershed was selected for this study for several reasons. At the onset of the project the watershed was predominately rural and undeveloped, however, it lies on the I-95 and Route 301 corridors between Richmond, Virginia and Washington D.C. About two-thirds of the watershed was designated as the primary growth area in the County comprehensive plan. Also, a regional wastewater treatment plant was going on-line. Currently, this plant is servicing much of the area, and more feeder lines are being laid. These factors made it likely that development would occur.
The Polecat Creek Monitoring Program was divided into four components. The first component was a system of water quality monitoring networks that provided quantitative information about the chemical, physical, and biological parameters of surface and rain water. Physical and chemical parameters included, but were not limited to, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), conductivity, nutrients, sediment, and bacteria. Biological communities were assessed using EPA's Rapid Bioassessment Protocol III (benthic macroinvertebrate community structure) and an Index of Biotic Integrity (fish community structure). Secondly, a database of land use activities and land cover characteristics in the watershed was maintained. These data were updated annually until 2000. Thirdly, a geographic information system (GIS) was developed. This component was used to assess annual data sets to develop a nonpoint source pollution model for the watershed. Lastly, a ground water monitoring network was initiated in 1997 with two transects, near row crops and pasture lands. These wells were located in both Coastal Plain and Piedmont geology. A third transect was installed in 1998 in a residential area.
