Section 319
               NONPOINT SOURGF PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
 Restoring Stream Improves Water Quality and Fish Community Health

Waterbodv Improved   During rainstorms, high volumes of rapidly moving stormwater
                                flow off of impervious surfaces and into Maryland's Spring
 Branch, causing destructive erosion of the stream channel and contributing sediments and
 nutrients to a drinking water reservoir. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)
 added Spring Branch to the state's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list in 1996 for nutri-
 ent and sediment impairments and expanded the listing in 2002 to include biological impair-
 ments. Restoring two miles of stream has significantly reduced nutrient and sediment loads and
 improved fish habitat. Water quality continues to  show progress toward meeting the total maxi-
 mum daily load (TMDL) limits for phosphorus and sediment in the Loch Raven Reservoir, which is
 immediately downstream of the project area.
 Problem
 The 1,005-acre Spring Branch watershed drains
 a portion of Baltimore County in the urbanized
 Baltimore metropolitan region and empties into the
 Loch Raven Reservoir. Spring Branch is designated
 for water contact recreation use, aquatic life use
 and public water supply use.

 Spring Branch was once a narrow, shallow trout
 stream. Fifty years of rapid urbanization created
 many impervious surfaces with few stormwater
 controls (Figure 1). Consequently, rainfall gener-
 ates high volumes of runoff  that quickly exceed the
 capacity of Spring Branch. Stormwater flows have
 eroded the stream channel so that it is now 30 feet
 deep and 15 feet wide. Erosion has exposed sewer
 pipes and created high sediment and nutrient loads
 that flow into the Loch Raven Reservoir.

 MDE first added Spring Branch to the CWA sec-
 tion 303(d) list in 1996 for nutrient and sediment
 impairments. On the basis of biological monitoring
 results, MDE expanded the  list of impairments to
 include a biological impairment in 2002.

 In 2007 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
 approved MDE's TMDL for Loch  Raven Reservoir,
 which includes the Spring Branch subwatershed.
 The TMDL requires that total phosphorus be reduced
 by 50 percent to meet water quality standards for
 dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a (to prevent algae
 blooms in the reservoir). The TMDL also requires that
 suspended sediment be reduced by 25 percent to
 preserve the reservoir's volume. A TMDL for biologi-
 cal impairments has not yet been developed.
         Spring Branch Watershed
                                                                          Maryland
Figure 1. Impervious surfaces in northern
Maryland's Spring Branch watershed.


Project Highlights
In 1997 Baltimore County developed a water quality
management plan for the Loch Raven watershed.
The plan identified and evaluated nonpoint sources
of pollution and provided a watershed restora-
tion and management framework. The Baltimore
Metropolitan Council's Reservoir Technical Group
wrote a 2005 Action Strategy for the Loch Raven
Reservoir Watersheds, which called for Baltimore
County to reduce nutrient and sediment inputs to
the reservoir through  a variety of best management
practices, including stream restoration. Baltimore
County chose to focus restoration efforts on Spring
Branch because of its proximity to the reservoir

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             and other factors, and completed a Spring Branch
             Subwatershed Small Watershed Action Plan in 2008.

             The Baltimore County Department of Environmental
             Protection and Resource Management (DEPRM)
             conducted two phases of restoration activities on
             Spring Branch—one beginning in 1997 and the
             second in 2008. Both phases addressed effects of
             urbanization, including the flashy (quick-to-flood)
             flow regime, erosion, declining ecological func-
             tion, failing infrastructure, poor water quality and
             property damage.

             In phase I, DEPRM created a new channel of Spring
             Branch and added step pools, meander patterns
             and flood plains. That and other parts of the stream
             channel were stabilized using natural materials such
             as boulders, tree root wads, brush  mattresses and
             live branch layers. In addition, DEPRM removed
             1,740 feet of concrete channel (Figure 2), stabilized
             or removed sanitary sewer lines, added rock-lined
             step pools below  storm drain pipes to dissipate
             energy from the flow, and constructed a stormwater
             wet pond to treat  runoff from the headwaters.
             Replanting  12 acres with native trees and shrubs
             restored 10,000 linear feet of stream (Figure 3).

             In phase II, DEPRM removed another 524 feet
             of concrete channel and restored 3.23 acres of
             native riparian buffer using 219 trees; 547 shrubs;
             2,133 live stakes; 295 linear feet of live branch layer-
             ing and 102 pounds of native riparian seed. Phase II
             restored 2,814 linear feet of stream.
                                 Figure 2. At this site (looking
                                 toward Pot Spring Road)
                                 before restoration efforts,
                                 Spring Branch flowed
                                 through a concrete channel.
                                 The concrete step seen here
                                 obstructed fish passage.
Results
  Figure 3. After restoration,
the concrete channel seen in
 Figure 2 has been removed.
        Sewer lines running
     along both sides of the
  stream prevented partners
     from  restoring a natural
        meandering pattern.
The phase I work reduced phosphorus loads by
27 percent, nitrogen loads by more than 30 percent
and sediment loads by 45 percent. In 2003 and
2004, monitoring at station SB-2 (downstream end
of the phase I portion of the project) showed that
few or no fish were present, and the fish index of
biotic integrity score (IBI) was classified as very poor
(score of less than  1.9). However, the fish commu-
nity responded to phase II restoration efforts. Fish
monitoring in 2009 (less than one year after phase I
was completed) showed significant increases in fish
biomass and fish IBI at stations SB-2  and SB-8 (head-
waters). Removing the concrete channel (see Figure
2) allowed the fish to swim upstream and colonize
the area. As seen in Figure 4, Fish IBI scores at both
stations improved to a classification of poor (scores
between 2.0 and 2.9).
    Fish IBI (Index of Biological Integrity)
                                                                       2003
                                                                                2004
                                                                                         2008
                                                                                                   2009
Figure 4. After phase II of the restoration
(2008), fish IBI levels increased above (SB-8)
and below (SB-2) the project area.

Although Spring Branch does not yet meet water
quality standards,  reduced pollutant loads and
improving biological data indicate that progress is
being made.
                                                                Partners and Funding
Project costs included $276,473 for a new wet pond
serving 47 acres, $1.9 million for phase I work and
$1.1 million for phase II work. Most of the funding
came from Baltimore County bonds, MDE Small
Creeks and Estuaries Grant and MDE stormwater
cost share funds. A developer fee, required in lieu of
mitigation funds, helped fund plantings. CWA sec-
tion 319(h) funds contributed $240,000 for phase II
work. Baltimore City, which owns and operates the
Loch Raven Reservoir, was also a project partner.
I
                  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                  Office of Water
                  Washington, DC


                  EPA841-F-11-001G
                  February 2011
For additional information contact:
Steve Stewart, Baltimore County DEPRM
Watershed Management and Monitoring
410-887-4488x240 • sstewart@baltimorecountymd.gov
Ken Shanks, Maryland Department of the Environment
410-537-4216 • kshanks@mde.state.md.us

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