Lowest March Flow Ever Recorded For Potomac River - Times-Dispatch

[hatrack]

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Spring is usually the wettest season, but a record dry March left the Potomac at Point of Rocks, Md., with its lowest March flow in 109 years of monitoring. The Virginia forecast predicts continued dry conditions. "The water levels are more like summer levels," said Pitcher, president of Potomac Paddle Sports, a Potomac, Md.-based business that offers kayak and canoe tours and instruction.

"There's a lot less white water," agreed Daniel J. Soeder, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist who keeps tabs on the Potomac, which flows through the heart of the Chesapeake Bay's vast watershed. Dry weather across the mid-Atlantic region choked streamflow to the bay to a record low last month.

The bay received 33.3 billion gallons of freshwater per day in March, or about a third of what is normal for the month. Rainfall is expected to remain in short supply into summer. "Right now, we're expecting the drought to either persist or intensify," said Keith Lynch, a hydrologist at the U.S. Weather Service's Wakefield office.

While low river flows trouble Pitcher, whose business depends on running water, the reduced volume should help the bay, which suffers from nutrient pollution washing off fields, highways and subdivision neighborhoods during rainstorms. Scott Phillips, the USGS' Chesapeake Bay coordinator, says low flows "mean less nutrients delivered from the watershed to the bay and less sediments. The consequence of those reduced loads is we'll see an improvement in the bay's water quality." That means fewer algae blooms and less mud, which translates to clearer water. Fish should literally breathe easier. Ample sunlight should be able to penetrate the bay's shallows to encourage the growth of underwater grasses that are critical to the bay's ecology.

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http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835255066&path=!news&s=1045855934842

[demnan]

1. Yes but we just got a soaking rain over the weekend

I think the draught is coming to an end.