Maryland Department of the Environment (for pda/handhelds)

Final TMDLs Approved by EPA

The Wills Creek watershed is located in Allegany and Garrett Counties in Maryland (MD) and Bedford and Somerset Counties in Pennsylvania (PA).  The total drainage area of Wills Creek is approximately 253.6 square miles (162,284 acres), with 60.5 sq. miles (38,722 acres) in MD and 193.1 sq. miles (123,562 acres) in PA.  The headwaters of Wills Creek originate in the Big Savage Mountains in PA, flowing east toward the city of Hyndman where the creek turns and continues south, entering MD at the town of Ellerslie and eventually emptying into the North Branch Potomac at Cumberland, MD. 

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has identified Wills Creek and its tributaries, North Branch Jennings Run, Jennings Run, and Braddock Run, in the State of Maryland’s 303(d) List as impaired by nutrients (1996), sediments (1996), toxics - cyanide (1996), low pH (1998), fecal bacteria (2002), and impacts to biological communities (2002).  Wills Creek is a designated Use IV-P (Water Contact Recreation, Protection of Aquatic Life, Recreational Trout Waters and Public Water Supply) waterbody, and its tributaries are designated Use III-P (Water Contact Recreation, Protection of Aquatic Life, Non-tidal Cold Water and Public Water Supply) waterbodies.  See Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) 26.08.02.08R.  The document available below establishes a TMDL for fecal bacteria in Wills Creek that will allow for attainment of the beneficial use designation, primary contact recreation.  The listings for nutrients, suspended sediments, impacts to biological communities, and toxics will be addressed separately at a future date.

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