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by Kristina Bostick Friends of Ten Mile Creek Board Member (and Audubon Naturalist Society Water Quality Monitoring Program Coordinator), Cathy Wiss, has produced a brilliant photo essay (Part 1 and Part 2) detailing the short and long-term damage that would be caused by the sewer options that WSSC has proposed.
by Kristina Bostick Sewer Plan Threatens Ten Mile Creek Important Sewer Meeting: Show your support for keeping sewers out of Ten Mile Creek by attending the first meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the WSSC Clarksburg-Ten Mile Creek Sewer Study on Thursday, Feb 12th from 7-9pm. The meeting will take place at the Montgomery County Government Upcounty Regional Services Center, Room A (12900 Middlebrook Road, Suite 1000, Germantown, Maryland 20874). The public is invited to attend and there will be time at the end of the meeting for public comment. Three board members of the Friends of Ten Mile Creek are on the Citizens Advisory Committee and we welcome you to attend and show your support. And if you can't make this meeting, don't worry -- there will be others so please stay tuned.
by Kristina Bostick What has MCA done for me lately? Well... Our Shared Environmental Resources Supporting a Strong Ag Sector Connecting New and Expanding Farmers with Land Strengthening the Producer Community with a Listserve and Summits Successfully Pushing for a New Farm Pilot Program Proud Lead Organization of the Farming at Metro's Edge Conference Supporting A proposed year-round daily farmers market in North Potomac Connecting farmers with new opportunities under the new County Zoning Code Community Producing "Growing Legacy" film about the Reserve for students and the public Creating an Ag Reserve Candidate Questionnaire/Voter Resource Creating an Ag Education Pilot - 180 students reached so farHelping to Found the MoCo Food CouncilKeeping Monocacy Elementary Open Zoning No Commercial Recreation or Camps in the Ag Reserve No Sewer Extension for Mega Churches Battling Back Plans for Massive Cell Towers Currently working on supporting new farm businesses and expansion of sourcing local farm products in County stores/restaurants. We are pushing to add to our farmland inventory for the LandLink program. Our education initiative has expanded and we are working with MC Farm Bureau to secure funding for mobile ag science lab for the use of the County's elementary schools. How about that! Every elementary school student should have exposure to what farming is all about and why our Ag Reserve is so special. And the list goes on and on... help us add more victories to this list- join MCA - a yearly membership is just $25  by Kristina Bostick An article on Peterson Co.'s project "drying up in response to clean water controversy" came out from the Post and has been picked up elsewhere
by Kristina Bostick  Last week, a joint committee of Councilmembers approved a plan that provides protection for fragile Ten Mile Creek and the Little Seneca Reservoir which it feeds (backup water supply for you, me and 4.3 Million in the DC area). Called the "6-15-15 solution" , the joint committee’s plan allows significant residential and commercial development within Clarksburg Stage 4, while setting strict limits on imperviousness, in order to limit future additional damage to Ten Mile Creek. More on the plan here. We support this compromise plan but mitigation criteria (ex- forested buffers to protect wetlands) are an essential addition to properly protect the water supply. A full Council vote that was slated for next week has now been delayed to March 4, among other efforts to derail the process.
That's why we are asking, one more time, for you to contact the Council and get the job done. Click here for a sample email and Council contact info. by Kristina Bostick  UPDATE- A new study has shown that in the 2002 drought, around 25% of the Potomac's flow came from Little Seneca Reservoir and Ten Mile Creek. The idea that this is not a current and future water source for 4.3 Million doesn't...hold water. In an email to supporters, Pulte Homes (one of a few developers looking to start projects in the sensitive Ten Mile Creek watershed) said the following: "The lake is not an emergency drinking water supply. It's a backup source of water for the Potomac River during times of severe drought. The Potomac is a drinking water source." What? That is one serious linguistic shell game. Pulte is just one of a number of people that seem either legitimately or intentionally confused about the importance of the Little Seneca Reservoir and Ten Mile Creek.Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words- like this sign at the edge of the reservoir (again, the fact that its called a "reservoir" should give you a clue that the water is being held for later use): Not only are the reservoir and Ten Mile Creek part of our back-up drinking water supply serving 4.3 million metro area residents, but the reservoir is checked every year to be sure it can still be called upon to supplement our water supply, as this alert from the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin to the County Exec and Council made clear this summer. In fact, water from the Reservoir had to be used for drought abatement in 1999, 2002 and 2010. The Commission also reports that droughts will be getting a lot more common. So that's the Reservoir - what about Ten Mile Creek. When we say that Ten Mile Creek is the "Last, Best Stream" in the county, its not hyperbole. The creek is what is called a "reference" stream- a stream that is still pristine enough that we can compare degraded streams to it to see how bad off they are. As the first Council work session held yesterday showed, the draft planning board plan for development in the watershed would degrade Ten Mile Creek to the point that it will no longer be clean enough to serve as a reference- dirty just like the others. As one supporter asked, "can't we just have one clean creek?"So, how do we know that the proposed development will degrade the creek? Because the green parts on the right of the map below are not golf courses, that is the color of the water in our backup drinking water supply, as impacted by poorly planned development (click to see it bigger). Ten Mile Creek on the left, is still pristine and currently serves to dilute some of the degraded water. The point is- we have done this all before- the removal of forest cover, laying down impervious surface, and we can see the results. We still have a pristine stream that serves 4.3 Million people and will only be more important in the future. The current proposals will impact our drinking water and that is why we are making so much noise. The Council will decide on this in February- make sure they hear from you now.  Join us on Monday, January 27 for a rally in advance of the Council Worksession on the Water Supply issues related to proposed development in Ten Mile Creek's watershed. 9am- The front steps of the Montgomery County Council Building: 100 Maryland Ave. Rockville (google map) Ten Mile Creek is part of the backup drinking water supply for 4.3 Million residents in the DC area.  |
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MCA is proud to announce that we have been recognized for a third time as one of the best small charities in the D.C. region by Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. A panel of 110 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, and peer non-profit organizations evaluated 270 applications.
MCA is known as an effective and innovative non-profit whose efforts to preserve and promote Montgomery County’s nationally recognized 93,000 acre Ag Reserve have brought increased public and governmental support of local food production and farmland and open space preservation. Most importantly, MCA’s efforts are putting more farmers on the ground and keeping them there. |
