Maryland Water Resources Research Center

 
 

Water on the Web
Maryland and Adjacent Web-Sites
Maryland Water Resources Research Center
1147 Glenn L. Martin Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland


Table of Contents:

 

 

Dredging

Water Supply

 

Drought

Water Use

 

Education

Watersheds

 

Recreation

Wetlands

 

Water Quality

 

Purpose: The site is intended for any one who has an interest in Maryland water, i.e. Homeowners, Students, Farmers, Watermen, State and Local Administrators, and Residents. For being such a small state, there is an amazing amount of information on our Maryland water resources. Below, there is a listing of sites concerning the above topics, as well as a brief commentary on the content of each site. These listings do not cover in any detail the large amount of information on the Chesapeake Bay.

If you have any other web resources to offer, we would appreciate hearing about other water sites of local interest. Contact us at apdavis@umd.edu or kearneyp@umd.edu 



Sources:
The websites shown below come from many sources, the following alphabetical list of abbreviations should be helpful:

LOC - Local
MDNR - Maryland Department of Natural Resources
MARFCHP - The Middle Atlantic River Forecast, National Weather Service
MDE- Maryland Department of the Environment
MPA - Maryland Port Authority
PGCO - Prince George's County Planning Board
SMCM - St. Mary's College of Maryland
UMCP - University of Maryland, College Park, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
USACE - U.S. Army Corp of Engineering
USDA - U.S. Department of Agriculture
USEPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
USGS - U.S. Geological Survey
WATER - Water Use It Wisely Webpage

To view information concerning all of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Please visit www.chesapeakebay.net. This is an excellent webpage that includes information regarding the topics mentioned above.


Water on the web

Dredging

Dredging: What is it?

The process of dredging

Baltimore Harbor Anchorages and Channels Project:One example of dredging project in Baltimore.

Dredging the Chesapeake Bay: This informative news article focuses on the debate of dredging the Chesapeake Bay.


Drought

Corn Plant Under Drought Stress. From NOAA's Drought Information Center.

 

Palmer Drought Index map of the United States.

Water Watch (USGS): This webpage has information on water resources, including real-time data from select areas throughout the state of Maryland. Drought and flood watches can be found here as well.

MDE: This website provides information for residents of the state of Maryland regarding drought emergencies.

Water Conservation: This site gives information on how you can help with serious droughts in the state of Maryland through water conservation.

Drought Monitor: A site that has great links to other drought resources.

Education

USEPA: Welcome to the EPA Student Center, another great educational site with extensive teaching materials. Here the student can learn how water is polluted, treated, and protected. It also has some spectacular interactive graphs that allows the student, for example, to follow each step of the water treatment process.

MDNR: A link that provides educational links to teachers in regards to natural resources in the state of Maryland.

MD:Educational information on Maryland's Bays and Streams.

WATER: A link that focuses on ways to conserve water.

Recreation

Boating on Maryland's Lakes - A Favorite Form of Recreation

MDNR: Maryland State Forest and Park Service site with water related recreational activities in Maryland's 47 state parks

USACE: The Jennings Randolph Lake is located in Garrett County and provides a campground, two overlooks, a picnic area and boat launch. Special events include whitewater release schedules. Come see one of the best kept secrets in the State-Western Maryland!

MDNR: If you register your boat in Maryland, the MDNR has put together some information that will help when the time comes to process your paper work. There are a number of other recreational activities carried by this site, including the very popular "2000 Bay Game" for kids riding along U.S. 50 and MD 404 to the Eastern Shore beaches. Game available at Bay Bridge toll booths.

LOC-Fishing: A very large site with multiple links for up-to-date fishing information along the Maryland/Delaware Atlantic coast.

LOC-Surfing: Yes - you can go surfing on the Maryland and Delaware Atlantic beaches, and the Eastern Surfing Association has a lot of information at this site on this popular water sport.


Water Quality

USGS Scientist Samples Stream for Water Quality


USGS: Report-Extensive coverage of water quality by the Lower Susquehanna River Basin Study Unit, including nitrates, radon in groundwater, volatile organic compounds and bacteriological quality. During droughts, Maryland takes water from the Susquehanna to fill local reservoirs.

MDNR: This is a very large site with many links that contains a wealth of information about projects in local Maryland communities to improve our water quality. MDNR does a good job of updating this site.

MDE: Maryland Department of the Environment is concluding a review water quality standards. A final report from the Septic System Advisory Committee was due in January 2000. Septic systems are one source of nutrient pollution of Maryland water systems.

MDE: Large number of news releases on improving local Maryland water systems and extensive coverage of the impact of April 7, 2000 oil spill of 111,000 gallons of fuel oil into Swanson Creek along the Patuxent River.

PGCO: The Prince George's County Planning Board outlines it's work program, which includes a Water Resources Policy/Surface Water Quality Program

SMCM: St. Mary's College, in cooperation with the Maryland Environmental Service, conducted over 800 tests for 120 compounds and found that College drinking water met all State and Federal requirements for safety. Chemical analysis is provided.

Water Supply

EPA: Maryland's drinking water page with information on where your water comes from, how to get test results on your drinking water quality from suppliers and how Maryland uses EPA funds to improve your drinking water quality.

EPA: Drinking Water and Health: What you need to know about your drinking water and health related issues, an extensive list of contaminates regulated by EPA with information on each of those contaminates and information on setting standards for safe drinking water.

EPA: An extensive list of frequently asked questions about drinking water quality, and where to go to get more information about specific issues raised by these questions.

MDE: The Maryland Source Water Assessment Program, currently being conducted by the Maryland Department of the Environment, is probably the largest water survey ever conducted in the State. It will use three tools to determine the safety of more than 3,700 public drinking water systems. These three steps include: delineating the drainage area likely to contribute to the drinking water supply, identifying potential contaminants within that area, and assessing the vulnerability of the system to those contaminants. There has been extensive public input into this project.

USACE: The Jennings Randolph Lake in Garrett County supplies water in times of shortage to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, the Fairfax County Water Authority and the District of Columbia.


Water Use

USGS: Detailed report on United States water sources and delivery systems from a 1990 survey. This is a good overview picture of water withdrawls across the US and particularly in three of the largest use areas in the country, which includes the Mid Atlanic region.

Watersheds

PGCO: The Prince George's County Planning Board includes Watershed Planning and Implementation as part of it's work program.

USEPA: Very large site dealing with assistance grants for watershed improvement projects, examples of stream corridor restoration projects, in-depth discussion of the total maximum daily load program and of local interest; the Anacostia and Patuxent River Watershed projects.

USGS: USGS investigates watersheds at scales that range from the small research watersheds of the Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budget (WEBB) Program to the Nation's largest watersheds with data collected as part of the National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN). Of local interest is a project under the Other Small Research Watersheds program, which includes a small watershed in the Catoctin Mountains with extensive chemical analysis of water collected at this site.


Wetlands

Great Blue Heron


USDA: This constructed wetlands bibliography, compiled by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service) and the Water Quality Information Center at the National Agricultural Library at Beltsville MD, consists of more than 600 citations. One hundred and sixty-one of these have abstracts. This and the next site may be all you will ever want to know about wetlands.

USEPA: EPA's extensive coverage of wetlands, including definitions, types, function and value, and status and trends. Much of Maryland's attention is focused on the Chesapeake Bay's wetlands and there role in nutrient reduction and aquatic habitat.