Urban development can have detrimental impacts on streams including altering hydrology, increasing nutrient, sediment, and pollutant loadings, and degrading biological integrity. Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) can be used to mitigate the effects of urban development by retaining large volumes of stormwater runoff and treating runoff to remove pollutants. This project focuses on understanding how the presence, type, and spatial pattern of urban stormwater BMPs in a watershed impacts ecosystem processes and function.
Research Objectives:
Better understand the effects of stormwater BMPs on water quality, water quantity, groundwater recharge, geomorphology, denitrification potential, and benthic macroinvertebrate communities.
Study Area:
We are studying the use of stormwater BMPs in watersheds located within the Clarksburg Special Protection Area in Montgomery County, Maryland. Clarksburg is a suburb of Washington, DC, located approximately 30 miles northwest of Washington DC. We are monitoring a forested watershed, an urban control watershed, and three urban treatment watersheds that have housing developments with a high density of stormwater BMPs that were designed to retain and infiltrate stormwater.
The U.S Geological Survey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection have monitored conditions in these watersheds since 2004. The project team is currently expanding this research to include urbanizing areas in the southeastern US.
Streamflow, Groundwater, and Water Quality Monitoring:
We use streamgages and precipitation gages to assess hydrologic alterations by comparing the frequency, magnitude, timing, and rate of change of stormflow events in watersheds with different types and densities of BMPs. We monitor groundwater levels in shallow wells to assess the impacts of infiltration-focused BMPs on groundwater recharge and water table fluctuations. We collect water quality samples during baseflow and stormflow conditions to monitor differences in sediment, nutrient, and bacteria concentrations in the study watersheds. Soil samples are collected to identify soil microbial community structure and function, with a focus on soil denitrifiers.
Detecting Geomorphic Changes:
Repeat lidar-derived digital elevation models and field surveys are being used to assess changes in topography and stream geomorphology in watersheds undergoing urban development. These datasets allow us to track changes to overland flow paths, hydrologic connectivity between impervious surface and the stream network, and stream channel geometry during and after watershed development. Tracking geomorphic change provides insight into the movement water and sediment through the landscape.
Related Publications:
Groundwater recharge amidst focused stormwater infiltration
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Geomorphic metrics across four catchments in Clarksburg, Maryland, 2002-19
Stream cross-section, benthic macroinvertebrate and fish taxa counts and abundance, and water chemistry data for the Clarksburg study area in Montgomery County, Maryland, 1992 - 2020
Lidar-derived digital elevation models in Clarksburg, MD representing the years 2002, 2008, 2013, and 2018
Ephemeral channel heads and digital elevation models used to extract stream networks in Clarksburg, MD (ver. 2.0, October 2021)
Soil characteristics and microbial taxonomy in selected urban stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in Clarksburg, MD, 2015
Streamflow and precipitation event statistics for treatment, urban control, and forested control watersheds in Clarksburg, MD USA (2004-2018)
Land Use Land Cover for Selected Basins in Clarksburg, Montgomery County, MD
Land Use Land Cover, 1998 - 2013, Clarksburg (Montgomery County, MD)
Crystal Rock and Trib. 104 Histogram and Sewershed Data Release
Water quality data for urban (centralized versus distributed stormwater management) and forested reference watersheds in Clarksburg, MD (2004-2016)
Below are publications associated with this project.
Assessing stormwater control measure inventories from 23 cities in the United States
Integrating urban water fluxes and moving beyond impervious surface cover: A review
Urbanization of grasslands in the Denver area affects streamflow responses to rainfall events
Urbanization and stream ecology: Moving the bar on multidisciplinary solutions to wicked urban stream problems
Tracking geomorphic changes after suburban development with a high density of green stormwater infrastructure practices in Montgomery County, Maryland
Closing the gap on wicked urban stream restoration problems: A framework to integrate science and community values
Ephemeral stream network extraction from lidar-derived elevation and topographic attributes in urban and forested landscapes
Lessons learned from 20 y of monitoring suburban development with distributed stormwater management in Clarksburg, Maryland, USA
A call to record stormwater control functions and to share network data
The presence of denitrifiers in bacterial communities of urban stormwater best management practices (BMPs)
Piloting urban ecosystem accounting for the United States
Hydrologic signals and surprises in U.S. streamflow records during urbanization
Below are partners associated with this project.
- Overview
Urban development can have detrimental impacts on streams including altering hydrology, increasing nutrient, sediment, and pollutant loadings, and degrading biological integrity. Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) can be used to mitigate the effects of urban development by retaining large volumes of stormwater runoff and treating runoff to remove pollutants. This project focuses on understanding how the presence, type, and spatial pattern of urban stormwater BMPs in a watershed impacts ecosystem processes and function.
Aerial view of development. (Public domain.) Research Objectives:
Location of study watersheds in Clarksburg, Maryland. (Public domain.) Better understand the effects of stormwater BMPs on water quality, water quantity, groundwater recharge, geomorphology, denitrification potential, and benthic macroinvertebrate communities.
Study Area:
We are studying the use of stormwater BMPs in watersheds located within the Clarksburg Special Protection Area in Montgomery County, Maryland. Clarksburg is a suburb of Washington, DC, located approximately 30 miles northwest of Washington DC. We are monitoring a forested watershed, an urban control watershed, and three urban treatment watersheds that have housing developments with a high density of stormwater BMPs that were designed to retain and infiltrate stormwater.
The U.S Geological Survey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection have monitored conditions in these watersheds since 2004. The project team is currently expanding this research to include urbanizing areas in the southeastern US.
Streamflow, Groundwater, and Water Quality Monitoring:
We use streamgages and precipitation gages to assess hydrologic alterations by comparing the frequency, magnitude, timing, and rate of change of stormflow events in watersheds with different types and densities of BMPs. We monitor groundwater levels in shallow wells to assess the impacts of infiltration-focused BMPs on groundwater recharge and water table fluctuations. We collect water quality samples during baseflow and stormflow conditions to monitor differences in sediment, nutrient, and bacteria concentrations in the study watersheds. Soil samples are collected to identify soil microbial community structure and function, with a focus on soil denitrifiers.
Monitoring water quality, hydrology, and soils to understand the effects of stormwater management practices. (Public domain.) Detecting Geomorphic Changes:
Hillshade showing topographic changes before and after suburban develop in Tributary 104 located in Clarksburg, MD. Left photo is from 2002 (pre-development) and right photo is from 2013 (post-development). (Public domain.) Repeat lidar-derived digital elevation models and field surveys are being used to assess changes in topography and stream geomorphology in watersheds undergoing urban development. These datasets allow us to track changes to overland flow paths, hydrologic connectivity between impervious surface and the stream network, and stream channel geometry during and after watershed development. Tracking geomorphic change provides insight into the movement water and sediment through the landscape.
Related Publications:
Groundwater recharge amidst focused stormwater infiltration
- Data
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Geomorphic metrics across four catchments in Clarksburg, Maryland, 2002-19
This dataset contains geomorphic metrics across 32 cross-sections at four catchments within the Clarksburg Special Protection Area in Montgomery County, Maryland. These data were derived from raw cross-sectional data collected by the Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Environmental Protection. Geomorphic metrics include channel area, bed location, channel depth, channel width, and bank moveStream cross-section, benthic macroinvertebrate and fish taxa counts and abundance, and water chemistry data for the Clarksburg study area in Montgomery County, Maryland, 1992 - 2020
Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Environmental Protection has collected datasets to assess the health of streams since the early 1990s. Datasets include geomorphic stream cross-sectional surveys, fish and benthic macroinvertebrate counts and taxa abundance, and water chemistry data collected at the time of benthic and fish sampling (dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance, air temperatLidar-derived digital elevation models in Clarksburg, MD representing the years 2002, 2008, 2013, and 2018
This is a collection of 3 ft resolution digital elevation model derived from light detection and ranging (lidar). Lidar was collected in 2002, 2008, 2013, and 2018. Coverage includes a portion of Clarksburg, Maryland, focused around the Clarksburg Special Protection Area (CSPA). Overall extent varies between each dataset, but all digital elevation models are aligned together with consistent overlaEphemeral channel heads and digital elevation models used to extract stream networks in Clarksburg, MD (ver. 2.0, October 2021)
This dataset describes the location of channel heads survyed in two headwater watersheds in Clarksburg, Montgomery County, Maryland, and the digital elevation models derived from light detection and ranging (lidar) covering the two watersheds. The digital elevation models were used to derive topographic attributes used to delineate drainage networks that were then assessed for accuracy using the fSoil characteristics and microbial taxonomy in selected urban stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in Clarksburg, MD, 2015
The data were gathered as a preliminary assessment of soil microbiology and conditions in selected urban stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in Clarksburg, MD. Four bioretention facilities (BF), four dry ponds (DP), and four surface sand filters (SSF) were selected. Three samples were taken from each BMP (a single sample from one dry swale (DS) was also collected). BMPs were selected basedStreamflow and precipitation event statistics for treatment, urban control, and forested control watersheds in Clarksburg, MD USA (2004-2018)
This dataset describes streamflow and precipitation event statistics for four watersheds located in Clarksburg, Maryland, USA. Streamflow and precipitation events were identified from fourteen years of sub-daily (5- and 15-minute) monitoring data from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2018. A 6-hour inter-event window was used to define discrete streamflow and precipitation events. The followiLand Use Land Cover for Selected Basins in Clarksburg, Montgomery County, MD
This dataset contains digitized land use/land cover (LULC) for the years 2011, 2015, and 2017. The dataset contains a 1-meter resolution raster maps for each year covering the geographic area for six watersheds within and near the Clarksburg Special Protection Area located in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. The area includes LULC within 500-foot buffered watersheds. Watershed boundaries for CabiLand Use Land Cover, 1998 - 2013, Clarksburg (Montgomery County, MD)
This dataset contains digitized land use/land cover (LULC) polygons for years between 1998 and 2013 for six watersheds within and near the Clarksburg Special Protection Area located in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. Each polygon is representative of the LULC for a specific year within 500-foot buffered watersheds. Watershed boundaries for Cabin Branch (CB), Crystal Rock (CR), Soper Branch (SB),Crystal Rock and Trib. 104 Histogram and Sewershed Data Release
This USGS data release represents the Monte Carlo modeling output for 1) the watershed histograms and 2) mean pollutant removals in the sewersheds in two study watersheds with differing spatial patterns of BMP design (traditional and LID). The data release was produced in compliance with the "open data" requirements as a way to make the scientific products associated with USGS research efforts andWater quality data for urban (centralized versus distributed stormwater management) and forested reference watersheds in Clarksburg, MD (2004-2016)
This dataset describes baseflow and stormflow concentration data for the constituents of nitrogen and phosphorus and suspended sediments for watersheds included in a paired watershed study including a forested reference watershed and two urban watersheds with centralized or decentralized stormwater management in Clarksburg, Maryland USA USA. Surface water samples were collected between the years 2 - Multimedia
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 26Assessing stormwater control measure inventories from 23 cities in the United States
Since the 1987 Clean Water Act Section 319 amendment, the United States Government has required and funded the development of nonpoint source pollution programs with about $5 billion dollars. Despite these expenditures, nonpoint source pollution from urban watersheds is still a significant cause of impaired waters in the United States. Urban stormwater management has rapidly evolved over recent deAuthorsBenjamin Choat, Amber Pulido, Aditi S. Bhaskar, Rebecca L. Hale, Harry X. Zhang, Thomas Meixner, Lauren McPhillips, Kristina G. Hopkins, Jennifer Cherrier, Chingwen ChengIntegrating urban water fluxes and moving beyond impervious surface cover: A review
Though urban areas represent a small fraction of global land cover, they have an outsized impact on hydrological processes. Within these areas, the pathways that water follows are fundamentally transformed by the disturbance of soils, land cover, vegetation, topography, and built infrastructure. While progress has been made across many cities to quantify interactions between hydrological processesAuthorsClaire Oswald, Christa Kelleher, Sarah Ledford, Kristina G. Hopkins, Anneliese Sytsma, Doerthe Tetzlaff, Laura Toran, Carolyn VoterUrbanization of grasslands in the Denver area affects streamflow responses to rainfall events
A thorough understanding of how urbanization affects stream hydrology is crucial for effective and sustainable water management, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of changes in streamflow response to rainfall events across a rural to urban gradient in the semi-arid area of Denver, Colorado. We used 8 years of April to October instantaneous strAuthorsStacy Wilson, Aditi S. Bhaskar, Benjamin Choat, Stephanie K. Kampf, Timothy Green, Kristina G. HopkinsUrbanization and stream ecology: Moving the bar on multidisciplinary solutions to wicked urban stream problems
Decades of research on the effects of urbanization on stream ecology have shown that urban stream problems are inherently wicked. These problems are wicked in the sense that they are difficult to solve because information is incomplete, changing, or conflicting and because finding potential solutions often requires input from stakeholders who can have conflicting and competing values. The 5th SympAuthorsMegan L. Fork, Kristina G. Hopkins, Jessica Chappell, Robert J. Hawley, Sujay S. Kaushal, Brian M. Murphy, Blanca Ríos-Touma, Allison H. RoyTracking geomorphic changes after suburban development with a high density of green stormwater infrastructure practices in Montgomery County, Maryland
Stream morphology is affected by changes on the surrounding landscape. Understanding the effects of urbanization on stream morphology is a critical factor for land managers to maintain and improve vulnerable stream corridors in urbanizing landscapes. Stormwater practices are used in urban landscapes to manage runoff volumes and peak flows, potentially mitigating alterations to the flow regime thatAuthorsBrianna Williams, Kristina G. Hopkins, Marina Metes, Daniel Jones, Stephanie Gordon, William Bradley HamiltonClosing the gap on wicked urban stream restoration problems: A framework to integrate science and community values
Restoring the health of urban streams has many of the characteristics of a wicked problem. Addressing a wicked problem requires managers, academics, practitioners, and community members to make negotiated tradeoffs and compromises to satisfy the values and perspectives of diverse stakeholders involved in setting restoration project goals and objectives. We conducted a gap analysis on 11 urban streAuthorsBrian M. Murphy, Kathryn L Russell, Charles C. Stillwell, Robert J. Hawley, Mateo Scoggins, Kristina G. Hopkins, Matthew J. Burns, Kristine T. Taniguchi-Quan, Kate H Macneale, Robert F. SmithEphemeral stream network extraction from lidar-derived elevation and topographic attributes in urban and forested landscapes
Under-representations of headwater channels in digital stream networks can result in uncertainty in the magnitude of headwater habitat loss, stream burial, and watershed function. Increased availability of high-resolution (<2 m) elevation data makes the delineation of headwater channels more attainable. In this study, elevation data derived from light detection and ranging was used to predict epheAuthorsMarina Metes, Daniel Jones, Matthew E. Baker, Andrew J. Miller, Dianna M. Hogan, J.V. Loperfido, Kristina G. HopkinsLessons learned from 20 y of monitoring suburban development with distributed stormwater management in Clarksburg, Maryland, USA
Urban development is a well-known stressor for stream ecosystems, presenting a challenge to managers tasked with mitigating its effects. For the past 20 y, streamflow, water quality, geomorphology, and benthic communities were monitored in 5 watersheds in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. This study presents a synthesis of multiple studies of monitoring efforts in the study area and new analysis oAuthorsKristina G. Hopkins, Sean Woznicki, Brianna Williams, Charles C. Stillwell, Eric Naibert, Marina Metes, Daniel Jones, Dianna M. Hogan, Natalie Celeste Hall, Rosemary M. Fanelli, Aditi S. BhaskarA call to record stormwater control functions and to share network data
Urban stormwater is an ongoing contributor to the degradation of the health of many watersheds and water bodies. In the United States, federal regulations (e.g., Clean Water Act) require monitoring and reporting of relevant water quality metrics in regulated waterbodies to ensure standards are being met, but decisions about how to manage urban stormwater are left up to state or other local agencieAuthorsBenjamin Choat, Amber Pulido, Aditi S. Bhaskar, Rebecca L. Hale, Harry X. Zhang, Thomas Meixner, Lauren McPhillips, Kristina G. Hopkins, Jennifer Cherrier, Chingwen ChengThe presence of denitrifiers in bacterial communities of urban stormwater best management practices (BMPs)
Stormwater best management practices (BMPs) are engineered structures that attempt to mitigate the impacts of stormwater, which can include nitrogen inputs from the surrounding drainage area. The goal of this study was to assess bacterial community composition in different types of stormwater BMP soils to establish whether a particular BMP type harbors more denitrification potential. Soil samplingAuthorsNatalie Hall, Masoumeh Sikaroodi, Dianna M. Hogan, R. Christian Jones, Patrick GillevetPiloting urban ecosystem accounting for the United States
In this study, we develop urban ecosystem accounts in the U.S., using the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA) framework. Most ecosystem accounts focus on regional and national scales, which are appropriate for many ecosystem services. However, ecosystems provide substantial services in cities, improving quality of life and contributing to resiliAuthorsMehdi Heris, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Charles Rhodes, Austin Troy, Ariane Middel, Kristina G. Hopkins, John MatuszakHydrologic signals and surprises in U.S. streamflow records during urbanization
Urban development has been observed to lead to variable magnitudes of change for stormflow volume and directions of baseflow change across cities. This work examines temporal streamflow trends across the flow duration curve in 53 watersheds during periods of peak urban development, which ranged from 1939 to 2016. We used U.S. Geological Survey streamgage records combined with pre‐development and uAuthorsAditi S. Bhaskar, Kristina G. Hopkins, Brianne K Smith, Tim A Stephens, Andy J Miller - Partners
Below are partners associated with this project.