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Geonarrative: How and why are conditions changing in Fairfax streams?

June 16, 2023

About this Tool

This tool is an interactive narrative that summarizes key findings from a new U.S. Geological Survey report, produced in collaboration with the Fairfax County Stormwater Planning Division. The report uses monitoring data collected between 2007 and 2018 to provide insights into the changing water quality of urban streams in Fairfax County and the potential role of water-quality management practices.

The report answers the following key questions:

  1.  How did landscape and climatic conditions change? 
  2.  What management practices were used? 
  3.  Were management-practice effects observed? 
  4.  What factors affected water-quality and benthic-macroinvertebrate responses? 
  5.  How did hydrology vary during storm events? 

Answers to these questions provided insights that could help inform future management activities in Fairfax County and in similar settings within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

A USGS hydrologic technician kneels near a small urban stream while she prepares a sonde for deployment.