Stormwater Partners Network

FORCE (Friends of Rock Creek Environment) reported in their Winter 2007 Rock Creek Current that the Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPWT) recently completed $350,000 stream stabilization of Boiling Brook. Boiling Brook is a tributary of Rock Creek and is located in the Randolph Hills community in North Bethesda. The DPWT stream stabilization project included extensive use of gabion baskets of stone along a 1,000 foot segment of Boiling Brook. Stormwater runoff from nearby parking lots, roads, driveways and other hard surfaces was causing serious stream bank erosion along Boiling Brook. The erosion was serious enough to threaten Boiling Brook Parkway and the utilities that run on either side of the brook. Rather than addressing the stormwater runoff at the source, DPWT turned that segment of Boiling Brook into a lifeless drainage ditch. Were alternatives to controlling stormwater runoff seriously considered by DPWT and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)? Was this the only solution?

Boiling Brook - A portion of the newly armored Rock Creek Tributary

Randolph Hills Shopping Center Parking Lot with Boiling Brook in the background.
The Shopping Center, which was built before for stormwater controls were required, sends torrents of polluted runoff from its acres of impervious surfaces into Boiling Brook whenever it rains.

Boiling Brook had been neglected for years. The County originally addressed increased stormwater runoff by installing concrete “aprons” and “drop steps” across it in the stretch from Schuykill Road to Ashley Drive, but over time nearly all the concrete structures had collapsed. To make matters worse, the blockages created by these collapsed structure accelerated the erosion on the stream banks.

“Before” photo of Boiling Brook

After last June’s (2006) flooding, Boiling Brook Parkway and utility poles along the parkway were in jeopardy of facing serious damage. According to DEP, environmentally sensitive options were considered, but not pursued because of lengthy design and permitting times, costly diversion structures, massive utility relocations, roadway reconstruction, and significant disruption to the community. After the June flood, Boiling Brook was a serious safety and erosion issue that required an immediate response. It was too late to seriously consider stream restoration and reducing stormwater runoff from the surrounding impervious surfaces.

Serious erosion that was threatening utilities and the parkway

If Boiling Brook’s troubles had been addressed earlier, we might have had more options. There were many sustainable options available. Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties for example has been experimenting with alternatives that not only retain stormwater runoff parking lots, but also cleanses the runoff before it enters the nearby waterway. Examples shown below of landscape practices in parking lots in the area that retain and cleanse stormwater runoff. Hopefully, what happened to Boiling Brook can serve as a wake call for the need to start addressing stormwater runoff and its symptoms in a planned and cost effective manner. If so, Boiling Brook will not have died in vain.

Tree box at the Dennis Ave Health Center parking lot

Landscape island that collects runoff from a parking lot at Fairland Recreation Center parking lot

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 9:02 am and is filed under Rock Creek, Restoration Projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.