The Upper Western Shore Basin
The Upper Western Shore basin drains approximately 920 square miles of land, including all of Harford County and portions of Carroll, Baltimore, and Cecil Counties.

Larger water bodies in the basin include the Susquehanna River, Bush River, Gunpowder River, Little Gunpowder Falls, Deer and Octoraro Creeks, Conowingo Pool, Loch Raven and Pretty-Boy Reservoirs, and tidal embayments in the lower portions of the basin, including Middle River.

The Upper Western Shore, along with all tributary basins in the Chesapeake, contribute to and are impacted by nutrient pollution. Nutrient pollution can be divided into two major categories – point sources (pollution that comes from a single, definable location, such as a wastewater treatment plant or industrial discharge) and non-point sources (pollution that cannot be attributed to a clearly identifiable, specific physical location, such as runoff from land and atmospheric deposition). Runoff from different land uses, point sources, and atmospheric deposition are the major sources of nutrients within the Bay watershed.

In the Upper Western Shore basin, land use is primarily agricultural and forests in addition to large amounts of developed land. Approximately 33% of the nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants come from agriculture sources, while urban non-point sources contribute 17% of the nitrogen and 29% of the phosphorus and point source loadings which account for 16% and 21% of the nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Forest and wetlands are a land use that releases few nutrients to rivers and the Bay. Baywide, approximately 33% of nitrogen loads come from atmospheric sources; however, this figure varies from basin to basin and is included in land based loads.

Download the complete Basin Overview to learn more about the Upper Western Shore Basin. See the latest Upper Western Shore water quality (Gunpowder River) data (charts for water temperature, salinity, water clarity and dissolved oxygen) or see water quality for other Bay tributaries. For water quality status and long-term trends, see our status and trends maps. Also, please check out the Basin Summary for the Upper Western Shore Tributary Basin.

Other Interesting Links:

• Gunpowder Watershed Clearinghouse
  http://www.towson.edu/gwc/

• The Gunpowder Valley Conservancy
  at: http://www.gunpowdervalley.org

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