The first draft of the Parkers Creek Watershed Implementation Plan was presented Wednesday night during a special meeting at the Courthouse Square Building.
Calvert County Planning and Zoning Director Greg Bowen also presented an update on the condition of the watershed, an 11.4 square mile area on the Chesapeake Bay side of the county, with a small portion on the west side of Route 4. It includes approximately half of the Prince Frederick Town Center.
The vast majority of it, however, is undeveloped. According to the plan, 76 percent of the watershed is forest cover, with only 3.43 percent “impervious surfaces” — roads, buildings, parking lots, etc. The report states that the Center for Watershed Protection “has set less than ten percent (impervious surfaces) as a benchmark for good water quality.”
Parkers Creek is, said Bowen, “one of the most pristine watersheds on the Western Shore of Maryland. The tree canopy and low percentage of impervious surfaces bodes well for water quality.”
The American Chestnut Land Trust has been sampling water quality in the watershed for over ten years, with four additional sites being sampled by the Prince Frederick Wastewater Treatment Plant.
In general, levels for nitrogen, phosphorous, chlorophyll, dissolved solids and suspended solids are at good levels, with occasional spikes taking them outside allowed levels. Of the county’s 22 watersheds, Parkers Creek and Calvert Cliffs State Park are the only two that did not exceed the goals, said Bowen.
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