Local R-MA High School Senior Sets Up Experiment to Clean Storm Drain Water in Warren County

This summer Caleb Wilson (Randolph-Macon Academy), the high school Front Royal/Warren County Anti-Litter Council representative, set up an ongoing experiment along Happy Creek. The goal of the experiment is to hopefully identify a successful way to clean storm drain water prior to feeding into Happy Creek.

Wilson visited 4 storm drain sites and installed what appears to be regular burlap sacks. Inside of these sacks is a little magic consisting of straw, mycelium, and coffee grounds. The hope is that sacks and their contents will act as a filter to help clean our storm water leading to cleaner & safer watersheds.

Justin Proctor, Anti-Litter Council member and local nature preserving guru explains: Happy Creek is largely borne out of headwater streams originating in Shenandoah National Park and Harmony Hollow. It then flows northward through Front Royal until it reaches the main branch of the Shenandoah River (very near to the confluence of both the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah). From there, northward to the Potomac, and then southeast to DC and the Chesapeake Bay.

[spacer height=”20px”]We are all connected to the greater Chesapeake Bay Watershed. What we do here directly impacts the Bay! Learn more about the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. Goals of the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint include:

• ensures everyone shares in the responsibility for cleaning up our waterways;
• sets two-year, incremental pollution-reduction goals—known as milestones—to keep progress on track; and
• imposes consequences for failure, ensuring states and localities will meet their responsibilities.

Our care and consideration of our little local creeks can have a huge impact. Ideas to implement that can make a difference:

1. Creation of more pervious surfaces.
2. Better trash receptacles around homes and businesses that don’t allow wind or animals to spread trash.
3. Plant more native plants in residential gardens and in buffer strips around town.

Thank you so much to our Front Royal/Warren County Anti-Litter Council for all they do here in the Shenandoah Valley. Early this summer they installed protection along the fence-line to prevent trash from flying into the creek. Review this Royal Examiner story for more details:

New Greenway Fence Will Help Keep Happy Creek Clean

Resources to reference and learn more about our watersheds: VA’s Interactive Watershed Map