A
stream flowing through Kingstowne in the Alexandria portion
of Fairfax County suffered considerably from upstream
development. The Kingstowne stream is a main tributary
of Dogue Creek. It begins behind Edison High School and
feeds into the Potomac River, less than six miles downstream.
Upstream development has replaced natural vegetation with
more and more impervious (nonporous) surfaces, such as
roofs, roads, and parking lots. Fewer plants, shrubs,
and trees are available to slow down and absorb the flow
and to allow infiltration of stormwater into the soil.
More and faster water flowing into the stream led to erosion
of the material from the bottom and sides of the channel.
On its own, the stream would have reshaped itself over
time to accommodate the larger volume of runoff, but not
before tons of sediment and attached nutrients were carried
downstream to the wetlands of Huntley Meadows, the Potomac
River, and the Chesapeake Bay.
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