The Chartiers Creek Watershed Association (ChCWA) represents the upper Chartiers
Creek Watershed (the Watershed) in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
The ChCWA was formally organized at a meeting on September 29, 1999 with the adoption
of by-laws and election of officers. Membership in the ChCWA is open to anyone living
within the Watershed, as well as individuals, businesses and organizations that own
property or are actively involved within the boundaries of the Watershed. The ChCWA
is a member of the Washington County Watershed Alliance (WCWA), which is a nonprofit,
umbrella organization for Washington County designed to coordinate and enhance the
efforts of individual watershed associations.
Area: approximately 137 square miles (87,680 acres) in the central and north-central
portion of Washington County.
Population living in the watershed: 77,122 people.
Municipalities within the watershed: part or all of 19 municipalities, of which 10
make up approximately 74% of the municipal land area within the watershed. These
municipalities include the main population centers of the county with urban and
suburban housing, extensive commercial and industrial development, and the Arden
Landfill. The watershed contains the bulk of the county’s asset real estate value.
Agricultural Security Areas: As of the beginning of 2006, more than 160 farm
properties are enrolled in Agricultural Security Areas in Cecil, Chartiers, North
Strabane, and Peters Townships, all townships that are entirely within the watershed.
Additional farms are enrolled in other townships that are partly within watershed
boundaries.
Water resources include: 36 public water supply wells, two large lakes for
golf courses, 6 former water supply reservoirs, and a 76-acre lake maintained by
the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
Some problems and concerns:
- Coal mining: abandoned mine drainage from past mining
activity; potential mine subsidence from current long-wall mining.
Several treatment facilities, such as the Consolidation Coal facility
located adjacent to Chartiers Creek on Hahn Road in North Strabane Township,
can be found within the Watershed.
- Brownfield sites, including decommissioning of the Molycorp site by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection and Chevron/Unocal and Molycorp. The site is in Canton Township.
- Flood Prevention: a recurring problem along Chartiers Creek and its tributaries.
- Wetlands Preservation: many acres of wetlands, an essential part of the natural
environment of the watershed, have been lost to development. Preservation of remaining
wetlands is an essential tool to reduce the potential for flooding.
- Improvement of water quality in Chartiers Creek and its tributaries.
|
