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Watershed
Alliance
Buffalo
Creek Chartiers
Creek Cross
Creek Peters
Creek Pike Run
Raccoon
Creek Wheeling
Creek
A watershed is an area of land in which all water sources flow into a common body of water. The boundary of a watershed is formed by the topography of an area, and they’re usually divided by hills and ridges. Small watersheds are part of larger watersheds, which in turn are part of even larger watersheds. Washington County’s watersheds are part of the Ohio River watershed, which is part of the Mississippi River watershed, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. What happens in one watershed effects water quality on a much larger scale. Washington County has fifteen main watersheds, some of which are shared with neighboring counties and West Virginia.  The Conservation District supports the Washington County Watershed Alliance and its individual watershed association members through the assistance of the District Manager and the Watershed Specialist. Alliance member associations are the Buffalo Creek Watershed Association, the Chartiers Creek Watershed Association, the Cross Creek Watershed Association, the Peters Creek Watershed Association, the Pike Run Watershed Association, the Raccoon Creek Watershed Association, and the Wheeling Creek Watershed Conservancy. Washington County Watershed Alliance The Watershed Alliance is an umbrella organization which serves as the fiscal agent for grants and coordinates the county-wide efforts of its member watershed associations. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and is registered with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations. The Conservation District holds active membership in the Alliance. Our District Manager currently serves as president, and our Watershed Specialist is the central contact person for the organization. Children's Groundwater Festival For fourteen years, a major activity of the Alliance has been the Children's Groundwater Festival, held every spring at California University. Unfortunately, 2009 marked the first year in fourteen consecutive years that the festival was not held. Lack of sufficient numbers of participating students due to budget cuts by schools caused the festival steering committee to reluctantly cancel the groundwater festival. Members of the steering committee still visited the schools to provide a presentation on groundwater as they have done in the past. There have been discussions on whether or not the festival will be continued in future years. Buffalo Creek Watershed Association: The Buffalo Creek Watershed has been designated a High Quality Watershed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The watershed contains a variety of valuable natural, man-made, and historical assets, making it a great location for various outdoor activities.  One
of the current main concerns of the association is Dutch Fork Lake.
Once very popular for fishing and boating, the lake was
drained due to damage caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The association
continually makes efforts to promote awareness of the lake at various
events thoughout the year, in addition to searching for sources of
funding to have the dam rebuilt and the lake restored. If you
are interested in helping, see contact info below.Contact: 724-228-0754 P.O. Box 408 Claysville, PA 15323 Meetings are the second Thursday of each month, 7:00 PM at the Buffalo Township Building. Chartiers Creek Watershed Association: The association is very active in water quality monitoring, educational programs, various projects, and they continue to publish a quarterly newsletter. For more information, visit their website by clicking the link to the left. Contact: 724-941-9370 Mail to: 100 West Beau Street, Suite 105 Washington, PA 15301 Meetings are the second Wednesday of each month, 7:00 PM (7:30 in the summer) at the Conservation District Ag Office. Canonsburg Lake Canonsburg Lake is a man-made lake created by a dam on Little Chartiers Creek. Over the years a great deal of sediment has been building up in the lake to the point where depths in much of the lake are less than two feet. A Canonsburg Lake Restoration and Enhancement Committee has been created to help find funding and to get projects underway. Recreational improvements around the lake continue to advance. Click here to view the Master Site Plan on the Chartiers Creek Watershed Association website. In 2008 two informational kiosks were built and placed near the parking lots at the lake, and a small footbridge was built to connect two portions of the walking trail around the lake.  The
lake is also listed as an Army Corps of Engineers Section 206
Habitat Restoration project, but before work can begin to improve the
lake (including dredging a portion of it), 35% of the project cost must
be obtained by the committee to match the Army Corps 65%.
This
35% match is estimated to be about $2.1 million dollars. The
committee continues to research funding sources. Click the
"Save Canonsburg Lake" link to the left to find out more.Interested in helping with work or fundraising? Contact: 724-746-4664 760 Lakeside Dr. McMurray, PA 15317-2483 Cross Creek Watershed Association The Cross Creek Watershed Association is involved in various projects throughout the watershed. They routinely do water q  uality
testing and macroinvertebrate sampling. They work closely
with
Avella Area High School on educational projects including
macroinvertebrate identification and the recently completed school
nature trail and footbridge. The most recently completed project is a stream stabilization project on Cross Creek at the site of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter. A cross rock vane was installed to direct the flow of water in order to prevent bank erosion. Historically native species of trees were also planted on the bank and surrounding areas.  Contact: 724-356-2232 35 Perry Road Burgettstown, PA 15021 Meetings are the last Wednesday of each month, 7:00 PM at the Cross Creek Township Building. Pike Run Watershed Association The Pike Run Watershed Association is largely run by professors and students from California University of PA, but there is currently an effort to establish a more community-based group. Recently, a water quality assessment was performed on a portion of Pike Run. Contact: 724-938-4463 fredrick@calu.edu Peters Creek Watershed Association The PCWA remains very actively involved in educational projects, stream restoration and cleanups, public awareness, and a variety of other projects. For more information, visit their website by clicking the link on the left. Contact: 412-233-6628 peterscreekwsa@verizon.net P.O. Box 18007 Pittsburgh, PA 15236 Meetings are the second Monday of each month, 8:30 PM at the Clairton American Legion. Raccoon Creek Watershed Association The RCWA is involved in the creation and maintenance of multiple Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) treatment systems in the watershed, as well as educational programs, macroinvertebrate collection, cleanups, and encouraging public participation and awareness. For more information, visit their website by clicking the link on the left.  For details on the multiple AMD treatment projects in the watershed, visit the Datashed project page. Contact: 724-947-3859 wcumer371@verizon.net P.O. Box 251 Clinton, PA 15026 Meetings are the last Tuesday of each month, 5:30 PM at Raccoon Creek State Park. Wheeling Creek Watershed Conservancy The Conservancy promotes environmental stewardship and public awareness of issues affecting the watershed. They also have a very popular wildflower walk each spring at Enlow Fork. Contact: 724-627-7871 P.O. Box 191 Nineveh, PA 15353 Contact Conservancy for meeting times. |
Additional Information Water Cycle Presentation (pdf) Dutch Fork Lake Fact Sheet (pdf) Canonsburg Lake Brochure (pdf) Washington County Watershed Roadmap (pdf) |
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