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Greetings,
As you look through this issue of the Envirocast-Weather and Watershed Newsletter, you may notice some changes. Although the response to our first three issues has been very positive, we have decided to make some improvements to the format of the newsletter. We have scaled back the overall length of the newsletter in order to provide our target audience, the TV weathercasters in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, with the most important information to pass on to viewers. We have also added a new Image of the Month feature to showcase some of the other products we offer relating to the environment. We hope you enjoy the new format of the newsletter and would appreciate any feedback that you may have.
Impervious Surfaces: Paving the Bay
For those of us who live in urban or suburban areas of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, it is often easy to take for granted the fact that development of shopping centers, highways and other structures that add convenience to our lives didn't always exist. The concrete and other hard surfaces that make up our cities and towns alter the natural state of the environment and can have significant impacts on the health of the Bay watershed.
ToolKit: Impervious Cover by the Numbers
How much impervious cover is created by an average parking lot or by your home, office or local shopping mall?
Consider these examples (numbers denote square feet):
A typical ...
parking lot covers 400 sq. ft. per car
house covers 2,200 sq. ft.
fast food outlet covers 4,800 sq. ft.
office building covers 20,000 sq. ft.
high school covers 150,000 sq. ft.
superstore covers 120,000 to 170,000 sq. ft.
regional shopping mall covers 1,000,000 sq. ft.
Did You Know? Hard Numbers
Nationally, urban flash floods kill an average of 45 people each year, half of whom are carried away trying to cross swollen roadways in their cars.
Studies have shown that about two-thirds of all impervious cover created in new development is car habitat (i.e., devoted to parking or driving a car).
More than 12 million cars and trucks now exist in the Bay watershed. Per capita car ownership is 0.78 cars per person (or one car for every 1.3 people).
Despite the fact that the average household size has declined, our homes have gotten bigger in the last fifty years, nearly doubling in size from 1,140 square feet to 2,225 square feet.
Tips For Viewers: Drain the Rain and Plant a Tree
Although we may not be able to eliminate the impervious surfaces that already exist in our areas, there are things that you can do to help manage the impervious surfaces around your home. The simple acts of controlling the rain that falls on your roof or planting a tree can have a direct effect on the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Watershed Radio: Defining Sprawl
Urban sprawl is defined as "the conversion of agricultural and forest land to urban land" and presents real concerns for the health of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. One of the results of urban sprawl is an increase in storm water runoff, which is the main source of pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay. To help combat this problem, the Chesapeake Bay 2000 Agreement calls for a 30% reduction in the rate of harmful sprawl by the year 2012.
Upcoming Events
Urban Land Conservation Working Group (2/13/2003)
Manassas, VA
with Paul Gilbert, Northern Virginia Conservation Trust
The Occoquan Watershed Working Group includes citizens, government, organizations and businesses that share information and resources focused on the headwaters area of the Occoquan Reservoir. Current projects include information sharing and ideas on Low Impact Development.
7:30pm meeting will be held at the Prince William Hospital, 4th Floor Conference Room, 8700 Sudley Rd., Manassas, VA
Come and bring your ideas and questions or contact Kim Hosen at 703.367.0069 or khosen@pwconserve.org.
Prince William Conservation Alliance
www.pwconserve.org
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