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Water quality in our streams and rivers both affects and reflects the health of our regional environment. We depend on water resources for nearly every aspect of our lives – drinking, food production, sanitation, recreation, commerce, and industry.

In the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, population growth, related land use changes, and past water manage-ment practices have been linked directly to the decline in water quality and the decline in environmental and economic resources of the Bay itself. Past development in the Gwynns Falls Watershed has caused significant deterioration of water quality in the streams. New construction changes the existing hydrology of an area. Areas that were once open land are replaced by roofs, roads, gutters, and storm drains that quickly divert water into streams. The increase in impervious surfaces greatly alters the volume and timing of runoff, and thus the magnitude of stream flows. These conditions create abnormally low dry weather flows and abnor-mally high storm flows. Rainwater traveling across urbanized areas picks up pollutants, including oil, sedi-ment, fertilizers, and lawn pesticides, and often brings them, unfiltered, directly into the stream.

Water Quality in the Gwynns Falls Sub-Watersheds based on Macroinvertebrate Sampling (by Maryland Save Our Streams) Upper Gwynns Falls Fair to Poor Red Run Fair to Poor Horsehead Branch Fair Scotts Level Branch Mostly Fair Middle Gwynns Falls Fair to Poor Powder Mill Mostly Poor Dead Run Mostly Poor Maiden’s Choice Ru Poor Lower Gwynns Falls Poor Gwynns Run No Data

Water Quality Definitions

Good:	Water quality generally supports designated uses and pollution is minimal.
Fair:	Water quality is characterized by intermittent severe degradation or by continued low level degradation. Waters are considered marginal with respect to designated uses.
Poor:	Water quality does not support designated uses and severe degradation is often experienced. Pollution-tolerant benthic macroinvertebrate species are dominant, if insects are present at all.