Chiques Creek Restoration Initiative
The Commission is partnering with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center, Lancaster County Conservation District, local municipalities, and many other interested stakeholders to collaborate on an innovative approach for achieving water quality improvements in the Chiques Creek Watershed, Lancaster and Lebanon Counties, Pennsylvania.
Instead of pursuing the more prescriptive Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) approach of assigning pollutant allocation loads and dictating restoration goals, this diverse stakeholder group will develop a restoration plan for restoring the watershed’s streams and creeks through a collaborative process established under a new TMDL-Alternative framework.
Throughout the process, checkpoints will be established to evaluate progress and make adjustments to the approach in support of the adaptive management model. Upon successful completion, the model will be implemented in other areas.
For more information, please see the following:
- Summary of Water Quality Monitoring Activities in the Chiques Creek Watershed: 2015-2019
- Chiques Creek Restoration Initiative Fact Sheet
- Chiques Creek Map
- Chiques Creek Watershed Profile (Continuous Instream Monitoring)
- Little Chiques Creek Watershed Profile (Continuous Instream Monitoring)
- TMDL Withdrawal Rationale
- U.S. EPA's Clean Water Act Section 303(d): Impaired Waters and TMDLs