Welcome to the Trout Creek Watershed Webpage!
About Trout Creek
The Trout Creek Watershed is a 5,440 acre system, 72 percent of which is located within the borders of Tredyffrin Township, while the remaining 28 percent is located in Upper Merion Township.
The hills at South border of the Township serve as the headwaters of Trout Creek. The highest point in the Township is 668 feet on the North Hills with some dramatic steep slopes. On the South Hills, some ravines up to 100 feet deep gouge into the surrounding uplands.
Within the hill areas, the Trout Creek system serves as a natural collection point for water and a conduit to viable creek habitats on the valley floor below. Six of the seven watershed systems within the Township are headwaters which eventually empty into the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers.
Several agencies, including the Pennsylvania DEP and the Chester County Water Resources Authority, have determined Trout Creek to be an impaired watershed. Impairments to this watershed include heavy erosion and sedimentation, poor water quality, and flooding.
Front Yard/Back Yard Watershed Solutions
In May of 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection awarded a grant to Tredyffrin Township for the work in Trout Creek. As a part of this grant, the Township hired Cahill Associates to help compile an educational brochure with information about how residents in Trout Creek can help improve the watershed through projects in their own yards.
The brochures contain information on how residents can construct stormwater best management practices (BMPs)on a residential level. BMPs are methods for reducing and infiltrating stormwater runoff, a process through which the water is filtered by plants and permeates through the soil before it reaches our streams. These ations can greatly slow and reduce the volume of runoff generated by impervious surfaces within the Watershed. The brochures highligh nine different BMPs that can easily be incorporated into many residential properties in Trout Creek.
We hope that you take time to review the information on the brochures, and eventually use some of the suggestions to become better stewards of Trout Creek. Please do not hesitate to contact the Township to let us know if the brochures have been helpful to you.
- Introduction (13 pages, 9.2 MB)
- Rain Gardens (10 pages, 7.03 MB)
- Vegetated Swale (9 pages, 3.03 MB)
- Dry Well (7 pages, 1.19 MB)
- Infiltration Bed (12 pages, 7.44 MB)
- Infiltration Trench (6 pages, 5.12 MB)
- Planter Box (7 pages, 5.05 MB)
- Rain Barrel (4 pages, 2.38 MB)
- Riparian Buffer Plantings (14 pages, 9.35 MB)
- Native Landscape Restoration (9 pages, 5.33 MB)
Trout Creek Watershed Restoration & Protection Plan
In 2003, the Township hired The Ratsep Group, through partial funding from a PA DEP Growing Greener Grant, to create
a plan that:
- Assessed problems within the watershed
- Identified areas where restoration/protection measures would be most beneficial
- Determined the types of remedies that would be most practical
The Township has used the Ratsep study, along with other studies and data, to plan the implementation of restoration/protection projects to improve the quality of the watershed over short term and long term time frames.
This project has been funded in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Department of Environmental Protection
- Executive Summary (5 pages, 64 KB)
- Final Report Text (40 pages, 252 KB)
Figures from the Report
- Figure 2 Stream Order (1 page, 695 KB)
- Figure 3 Trout Creek Observed Stream Flow Conditions (1 page, 706 KB)
- Figure 5 Channel Alterations (1 page, 757 KB)
- Figure 6 Erosion Sites (1 page, 855 KB)
- Figure 7 Exposed Pipes (1 page, 770 KB)
- Figure 8 Fish Migration Barriers (1 page, 871 KB)
- Figure 9 Inadequate Buffers (1 page, 818 KB)
- Figure 10 Pipe Outfalls (1 page, 252 KB)
- Figure 11 Trash Dumping Sites (1 page, 758 KB)
- Figure 12 Tree Blockages (1 page, 837 KB)
- Figure 13 Unusual Conditions or Comments (1 page, 861 KB)
- Figure 14 Pond Sites (1 page, 700 KB)
- Figure 15 Stream Habitat Assessment of Representative Sites (1 page, 768 KB)
Tables from the Report
- Table 1 Results Summary Stream Corridor Assessment Survey (1 page, 33 KB)
- Table 2 Trout Creek Watercourses within Tredyffrin Township (1 page, 23 KB)
- Table 6 Channel Alteration Results (1 page, 31 KB)
- Table 9 Erosion Site Results (1 page, 32 KB)
- Table 12 Exposed Pipe Results (1 page, 33 KB)
- Table 15 Fish Migration Barrier Results (1 page, 32 KB)
- Table 18 Inadequate Buffer Results (1 page, 35 KB)
- Table 21 Pipe Outfall Results (1 page, 30 KB)
- Table 24 Trash Dumping Site Results (1 page, 29 KB)
- Table 27 Tree Blockage Results (1 page, 62 KB)
- Table 30 Unusual Condition and Comment Site Resuls (1 page, 28 KB)
- Table 32 Pond Site Results (1 page, 25 KB)
- Table 34 Stream Habitat Assessment of Representative Site Summary Results (1 page, 31 KB)
- Table 35 Problem Category Severity Rating Summary Results (1 page, 35 KB)
Links
Where are you in the Trout Creek Watershed?
- Trout Creek Watershed Map (1 page(s), 505 KB)
Learn more about watersheds and the Trout Creek Watershed:
Join the Community Watershed Association:
If you have questions or comments, please email us, tredyffrin@tredyffrin.org or call (610) 408-3625.
