Stroud Water Research Center researchers were asked to provide evidence of the relationship between changes in land use and changes in stream quality. The Stroud Center’s data from hundreds of sites in the Schuylkill River, upper Delaware River, and Hudson River basins illustrated the decline in stream quality as land cover was converted from forest to agricultural, urban, and/or industrial uses. This relationship has direct implications for the potential for stream degradation resulting from future changes in Delaware River watersheds, including those associated with the local and regional development of natural gas reserves in Marcellus Shale.
Funded by: Delaware River Basin Commission
Principal Investigators: John K. Jackson and Bernard W. Sweeney
Project Year: 2010
