Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project

Program Description

The Jones Falls Monitoring Program, also known as the Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project (JFURP), was a nearly two-year (November 1980 through September 1982) field study conducted on the Jones Falls watershed in the Baltimore, Maryland, area. The Jones Falls watershed, encompassing an area of approximately 38,000 acres, begins as a spring in central Baltimore County and flows through highly urbanized Baltimore City to the Inner Harbor. The field study was a cooperative effort between the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (formerly the Baltimore Regional Planning Council), Baltimore City and County, and the U.S. Geological Survey. The project was funded through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant under the Nationwide Urban Runoff Program. The JFURP was designed to achieve three primary goals: 1) describe the characteristics and impacts of urban runoff in the lower Jones Falls system; 2) compare urban runoff to other watershed pollution sources: and 3) examine certain currently used management practices for control of urban runoff. An important aspect of this project was the measurement of atmospheric deposition in the watershed.

The deposition sample monitoring network consisted of four sites -- Lake Roland, Mt. Washington, Bolton Hill, and Oldtown -- in the Jones Falls watershed. The latter three sites were located in Baltimore City.  The Lake Roland monitoring site (sampler elevation 247 ft msl) was located at latitude 39º 22'41" north and longitude 76º 38'36" west. The Mt. Washington monitoring site (sampler elevation 191 ft msl) was located at latitude 39º 21'41" north and longitude 76º 40'43" west. The Bolton Hill monitoring site (sampler elevation 192 ft msl) was located at latitude 39º 18'16" north and longitude 76º 37'52" west. The Oldtown monitoring site (sampler elevation 84 ft msl) was located at latitude 39º 17'48" north and longitude 76º 36'20" west. Deposition sample collection activities at the sites included:

• Collection of wet and dry deposition samples using an Aerochem Metrics Model 301 collector, and

• Measurement of precipitation amount using Forrester-type non-recording raingauges and tipping bucket raingauges with digital recorders; and using float-well type gauges with digital recorders at 9 additional sites around the watershed.

The deposition stations were operated to collect separate wet and dry samples using different criteria. Dryfall buckets were collected on the first Tuesday of each month, while wetfall samples were collected as soon as possible following a storm event.

The chemical parameters measured in the wet and dry deposition samples included nitrate, sulfate, pH, and various trace metals (iron, lead, zinc, copper, chromium, and cadmium). The Martel Laboratory, Inc. of Baltimore, a private environmental laboratory, analyzed the deposition samples.

Additionally, other activities conducted for this project included: analysis of historic hourly rainfall patterns; characterization of urban stormwater runoff at five small catchments (10 to 28 acres) in the watershed; investigation of microbiological sources in urban areas; analysis and quantification of watershed pollutant sources including four types of sanitary discharges and NPDES-permitted sources; measurement of pollutants in stream sediments; and analyses of receiving water quality and urban runoff impact.

For additional detail regarding the monitoring and analysis programs of the JFURP please see the attached Technical Summary. The Technical Summary may be downloaded in its entirety (8.2 MB) or in parts (Part 1 (960 KB), Part 2 (890 KB), Part 3 (1.2 MB), and Part 4 (990 KB). For additional information please consult the documents listed in the "Related Reports" section on this website. Note that Volume III (Compendium of Project Methods and Data) of the JFURP Final Report was unavailable from the government agencies that participated in the project. Please email Dr. John Sherwell, or call him at 410-260-8660 if you are aware of an available copy of this volume.

Related Reports

Except as indicated, the following documents associated with the JFURP are available from the Baltimore Metropolitan Council Regional Information Center (410-732-9570):

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Progress Report I-1.0, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council, April, 1980.

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Quarterly Progress Report I-2.0, May-September, 1980, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council.

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Quarterly Progress Report II-1.0, October-December, 1980, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council.  (This document currently is unavailable from the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.)

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Quarterly Progress Report II-2.0, January-March, 1981, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council.

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Quarterly Progress Report II-3.0, April-June, 1981, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council.

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Quarterly Progress Report II-4.0, July-September, 1981, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council.

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Quarterly Progress Report III-1.0, October-December, 1981, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council.

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Quarterly Progress Report III-2.0, January-March, 1982, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council.

• Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Quarterly Progress Report III-3.0, April-June, 1982, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council.

• Jones Falls Watershed Urban Stormwater Runoff Project, Volume I - Interim Report, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council, September, 1982.

• Jones Falls Urban Stormwater Runoff Project, Technical Summary, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council, December, 1986. Avialable online from this site.

• Jones Falls Watershed Urban Stormwater Runoff Project, Volume II - Report of Project Results, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council, January, 1987.

• Jones Falls Watershed Urban Stormwater Runoff Project, Volume III - Compendium of Project Methods and Data, Prepared by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council. (This document currently is unavailable from the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.)

Go to the Jones Falls Urban Runoff Project, Precipitation Chemistry Data Page