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[Music playing]


Faith: We're standing at the top of the


watershed here in a new development


with not a whole lot of pipes in sight.


What's the significance of this
project?


Keith: Well, there are virtually no


pipes. There are a few culvert


crossings here. We've replaced all of


the pipes with this sand bedded, open


stormwater conveyance system, a


regenerative stormwater conveyance


system here. Essentially, the system


you see along the road shoulders and


then what was otherwise going to be


bioretention areas here, are all linked


together in a single train to manage


those water resources.


Faith: And downstream where on the


Jabaz Branch or the Severn Run, you


were mentioning earlier that that's the


last reproducing brook trout population


along the Coastal Plain on the Chesapeake Bay?


Keith: Yes, this is the peninsula


between the two forks of the Jabaz


Branch and in fact, you are correct


there, the Jabaz, those two forks,


support the last reproducing brook


trout population on the Coastal Plain


of the Chesapeake Bay.


Faith: So very important to manage the


water properly in a new development, to


make sure it doesn't negatively impact


the trout downstream.


Keith: Only if we want to have those trout survive.


Faith: Yes, keep them.



Joe: And the real significant value


that this brings, in addition to


meeting minimum management goals, is


for about half of the price of a normal storm-water management system, this development can come in, put these in, have much better landscaping, much better –

Keith: Marketability.


Joe: – yes, marketability. And they


don't have to have a stormwater


management pond because peak control


and water quality management are all


done inside of these systems – through


the sand filtration, through the


sequential stilling of the weirs and


the pools.


Keith: In the conveyance, where


otherwise we have been just piping that


water from one device, one contrivance


to the next, and now we're getting all


those benefits through…


Joe: All along the flow path.


Keith: All along the flow path, exactly.


Faith: Plus the added benefit of the


landscaping that goes along with it.


Keith: Absolutely.


Faith: It adds a value to the property itself.


Keith: The developer co-presents with


us at conferences and he's got one


slide up there with dollars on it but


he tells the story of-- Why is a


developer interested and using these


techniques? well… the ugly storm-water


management pond, goes away, that's


always the last slot to sell, we get


street side landscaping, and we save 50


percent of our dollars.


Faith: The kind of…


Keith: And aside from that, we've


healed the rift with the environmental


community. They're singing our praises now.


Faith: The kind of win-win situation


between the developers and the


environmentalists, storm-water managers


and eventually down to the fish in the habitat.


Keith: Where we all want to be.


Faith: Yes.


[Music playing]


[End of Audio]

Title: Protection of urban headwaters during residential development, Jabaz Branch, Severn, Maryland

Description:

Faith Fitzpatrick (U.S. Geological Survey), Keith Underwood (Underwood and Assoc.), and Joe Berg (BioHabitats, Inc.) discuss regenerative stormwater conveyance, sand seepage berms, and swales used in new "green" residential developments to protect important trout habitat in downstream areas.

Location: Severn, MD, Jabaz Branch, USA

Date Taken: 3/22/2011

Length: 3:30

Video Producer: Douglas A. Harned , National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA), USGS, North Carolina Water Science Center, Raleigh, NC

Note: This video has been released into the public domain by the U.S. Geological Survey for use in its entirety. Some videos may contain pieces of copyrighted material. If you wish to use a portion of the video for any purpose, other than for resharing/reposting the video in its entirety, please contact the Video Producer/Videographer listed with this video. Please refer to the USGS Copyright section for how to credit this video.

Additional Video Credits:

Faith Fitzpatrick: Scriptwriter, Narrator, Scientist Consultant

Gerard McMahon: Producer

Douglas Harned: Producer, Video, Editor

Alan Cressler: Video

Luke Myers: Video

Keith Underwood (Underwood and Assoc.)

Joe Berg (BioHabitats, Inc.)

File Details:

• Quicktime
• Flash Video
• W3C Timed-Text captions file
• YouTube version *
• Text transcript

Suggest an update to the information/tags?

Tags: AquaticEcology BaseFlow BiohabitatsInc DouglasHarned EUSE Ecosystems FaithFitzpatrick Habitat Hydrology Jabaz Maryland NAWQA Severn StreamRehabilitation StreamRestoration USGS Underwood Urbanization WaterQuality WaterResourceManagement Wetlands