Aquetong Creek

The Aquetong Creek Watershed is located in Solebury Township and New Hope Borough, Bucks County .  The watershed covers 7.5 square miles and is classified as a High Quality – Cold Water Fishery by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection.  The central portions of the watershed are underlain by limestone and dolomite geology.

The source of Aquetong Creek is Ingham Spring, a 2000 gallon per minute limestone spring. Several hundred yards downstream of Ingham Spring is a dam built in the early 1870’s that creates the 9 acre Aquetong Lake .  In 2004 Bucks County Trout Unlimited funded temperature monitoring and water quality analysis above and below Aquetong Lake .  The data gathered indicates that groundwater inputs to the stream are subject to severe thermal pollution as a result of the impoundment.  To view the full results of this study go to our chapter’s website www.buckstu.org and click on Conservation News.  In summer 2005, Bucks County TU began a more extensive temperature monitoring program in downstream reaches of Aquetong Creek and in a major tributary.

While we have been intensely engaged in studying the impacts of Aquetong Lake , we will use the Coldwater Heritage Partnership Grant to expand our focus to consider more broadly the opportunities and constraints to restoring a wild trout population to the entire Aquetong Creek Watershed.  For instance, we know little about the quality of the physical stream habitats throughout the watershed, or the sources or causes of impairments to physical habitats.  From our review of USGS topographic maps of the watershed, we believe there are at least four other impoundments that may be causing thermal stress within the creek system.

Our purpose in requesting a Coldwater Heritage Grant is three-fold.  First, the grant will allow us to conduct a review of existing watershed and stream conditions to characterize the current health of the stream with respect to water and habitat quality.  Second, the grant will allow us to identify and evaluate other potential stressors in the watershed including recently constructed and proposed developments, existing impoundments, degraded riparian buffers and hydrologic modifications.  Third, the grant will help us to build a dialogue with other potential stakeholders and partners in the watershed including the watershed municipalities of Solebury Township and New Hope Borough, state and local resource management agencies including PA DEP, PA FBC and the Bucks County Conservation District and local land conservancies to work together to develop a plan for improving the cold water fishery.  This plan will identify important next steps including additional data collection needs, public outreach projects, land preservation priorities and stream restoration projects.

Contact:

Joe Mihok, Conservation Chairman, Bucks County TU

412 Manor Drive

Dublin , PA 18917

 Email: jmihok@netzero.net   

 Phone: 215-249-3033