GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

CIRCULAR 601-E 

Sediment Problems 

in Urban Areas 

Sediment Problems 

in Urban Areas 

By Harold P. Guy 

WATER IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 601-E 

Washington 1970 
United States Department of the Interior 

ROGERS C. B. MORTON, Secretary 

Geological Survey 

V. E. McKelvey, Director 

first printing 1970 

Second printing 1972 

Third printing 1975 

Free on application to the U.S. Geological Survey, National Center, Reston, Va. 22092 
FOREWORD 

Urbanization-the concentration of people in urban areas and the 

consequent expansion of these areas-is a characteristic of our time. It has 

brought with it a host of new or aggravated problems that often make new 

demands on our natural resources and our physical environment. Problems 

involving water as a vital resource and a powerful environmental agent are 

among the most critical. These problems include the maintenance of both 

the quantity and quality of our water supply for consumption, for 

recreation, and general welfare and the alleviation of hazards caused by 

floods, drainage, erosion, and sedimentation. 

A prerequisite to anticipating, recognizing, and coping intelligently with 

these problems is an adequate base of information. This series of reports is 

intended to show the relevance of water facts to water problems of urban 

areas and to examine the adequacy of the existing base of water information. 

a§.;(_ /dhrd~-~ •• _1 

E. L. Hendricks, 

Chief Hydrologist 

III 

CONTENTS 

Pagt. 

Foreword ..................................................................... .Ill 

Introduction .................................................................... El 

Problem extent ................................................................... 1 

Some aspects of problem solution .................................................... 5 

Conclusions ..................................................................... 7 

References cited .................................................................. 7 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Figure 1. Graph showing effect of construction intensity and drainage area on sediment yield ............................ E2 

2-6. Photographs: 

2. Rill and gully erosion in a new residential area near San Bernardino, Calif., January 1969 ..................... 3 

3. Effect of coarse sediment deposition on flow capacity in urban channels .... · .............................. 3 

4. Examples of channel erosion and deposition from urbanization ........................................ .4 

5. Floodflow deposition on Ledora Avenue, Glendora, Calif., January 1969 ................................. 4 

6. Sediment accumulated in Santa Anita debris basin near Sierra Madre, Calif., January 1969 .................... 6 

TABLE 

Page 

Table 1. Effect of land-use sequence on relative sediment yield and channel stability ................................... E2 

v 

Water 1n the Urban Environment 

Sediment Problems in Urban Areas 

By Harold P. Guy 

INTRODUCTION 

A recognition of and solution to sediment problems in 

urban areas is necessary if society is to have an 

acceptable living environment. Soil erosion and sediment 

deposition in urban areas are as much an environmental 

blight as badly paved and littered streets, dilapidated 

buildings, billboard clutter, inept land use, and air, 

water, and noise pollution. In addition, sediment has 

many direct and indirect effects on streams that may be 

either part of or very remote from the urban 

environment. Sediment, for example, is widely 

recognized as a pollutant of streams and other water 

bodies. 

One obstacle to a scientific recognition and an 

engineering solution to sediment-related environmental 

problems is that such problems are bound in conflicting 

and generally undefinable political and institutional 

restraints. Also, some of the difficulty may involve the 

fact that the scientist or engineer, because of his 

relatively narrow field of investigation, cannot always 

completely envision the less desirable effects of his work 

and communicate alternative solutions to the public. For 

example, the highway and motor-vehicle engineers have 

learned how to provide the means by which one can 

transport himself from one point to another with such 

great efficiency that a person's employment in this 

country is now commonly more than 5 miles from his 

residence. However, providing such efficient personal 

transport has created numerous serious environmental 

problems. Obstacles to recognition of and action to 

control sediment problems in and around urban areas are 

akin to other environmental problems with respect to 

the many scientific, engineering, economic, and social 

aspects. 

PROBLEM EXTENT 

In a study of sediment problems in urban are.as, it is 

necessary to remember that sediment movemrttt and 

deposition was a part of the natural environment before 

the intervention of civilization. like flooding, the 

sediment problems become important only wher man is 

affected. Sometimes the problems result from natural 

conditions, but usually they result when the natural 

circumstances are altered to effect such a differ~nt kind 

of environment that previous small unnoticed p·oblems 

are greatly magnified. Severe sediment problem~ occur, 

for example, when covering vegetation is rem·:wed in 

construction areas, when the flow regime in chrnnels is 

altered by realinement or by increased or decreased 

flow, or when fill, buildings, or bridges obstruct the 

natural flowway. 

The average sediment yield from the landscape and 

the condition of the stream channels tend to change 

with the advancing forms of man's land-use activity, as 

indicated by table 1. As in many other situations 

involving intensive use of resources and rapid growth, 

one can expect that sediment problems will be most 

serious during the urban construction period (E). This is 

not to say that problems are not likely to occur during 

the stable period (G) because physical and esthetic 

values or quality standards with respect to bot.h water 

and property are expected to increase with time. For 

example, a stream carrying an average 

suspended-sediment concentration of 200 mg/1 

(milligrams per liter) after 2 years into the stable period 

may be more acceptable than I 00 mg/1 after 20 years 

into the stable period. 

It is impossible to isolate sediment r .. oblems 

completely from the many interrelated r .. oblems 

El 
Table 1.-Effect of land-use sequence on relative sediment yield 

and channel stability 

[Modified from Wolman (1967)] 

Land use Sediment yield Channel stability 

A. N:itural forest or Low __________________ Relatively stable with 

grassland. some bank erosion. 

B. Heavily grazed Low to moderate___ Somewhat less stable 

areas. than A. 

C. Croppin~-------- Moderate to heavy __ Some aggradation and 

increased bank 

erosion. 

D. Retirement of Low to moderate ___ Increasing stability. 

land from 

cropping. 

E. Urban construe~ Very heavy __________ Rapid aggradation and 

tion. some bank erosion, 

F. Stabilization.. ____ Moderate _____________ Degradation and 

severe bank erosion, 

G. Stable urban.. ____ Low to moderate ____ Relatively stable. 

associated with urban development, especially with 

respect to water (Anderson, 1968; Leopold, 1968). 

However, the sediment problems can usually be classed 

0.01 0.1 1 

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J.nto groups related to land and channel erosion, stream 

transport, and deposition processes (Guy, 1967), 

regardless of the land-use phases mentioned in table 1. 

Land erosion, including the sheet, rill, and gully forms, is 

likely to be most severe during the urban construction 

period (E), though it may be present to some degree 

regardless of land use. Channel erosj~on is most severe 

during the stabilization period (F), especially when 

channels have been realined, wate .. ways have been 

constricted, and (or) the amount and intensity of runoff 

have been increased because of imperviousness and 

"improved" drainage. Sediment trans.,ort problems are 

usually associated with the pollueon of water by 

sediment from either or both the esthetic or physical 

utilization viewpoin!s. Transport problems also occur in 

regard to coarse sediment when the trznsport capacity in 

a stream section does not match the input supply of the 

coarse sediment-hence, aggradation or degradation. 

The sorting and differential transport of sediment result 

in deposition problems ranging from the fan deposits at 

the base of graded banks to deposits in reservoirs and 

estuaries. 

10 

10 

100 

SQ'JARE 

1000 KILOMETERS 

EXPLANATION 

Watershed • undergoing 

construction 

0 

Natural watershed 

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DRAINAGE AREA 

100( SQUARE 

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Figure 1.-Effect of construction intensity and drainage area on sediment yield (from Wolman and Schick, 1967, p. 455). Most of 

the data are from the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas. The term "dilution" refers to draimtge from relatively 

stable nonconstruction areas. 

E2 
The following is a list of some of the urban sediment 

erosion, transport, and deposition problems: 

1. Public health may be affected in a number of ways. 

3. Dispersion of soil particles by raindrop impact seals 

the land surface and thereby reduces infiltration, 

increases stream runoff, and decreases groundwater 

Efforts to control mosquito breeding have been recharge. 

ineffective because sediment has ftlled drainage 

channels. Also harmful bacteria, toxic chemicals, 4 · 

and radionuclides tend to be absorbed onto sediDeposition of coarse sediments may reduce the flow 

capacity or completely plug natural and manmade 

open channels (fig. 3) as well as subsurface drains. ment particles. The absorbed substances may not be 

harmful in their original residence but become 

hazardous when transported into a water supply or 

deposited and perhaps concentrated at a new 

location. 

2. Sheet, rill, and gully erosion and associated deposition 

may cause undesirable changes in graded areas typical of urban construction sites. Figure 1, from 

Wolman and Schick (1967, p. 455), shows the effect 

of the intensity of construction and drainage-basin 

size on sediment yield. In figure 2 it will be rather 

expensive to remove the deposit in the yard, to 

repair the erosion damage on the graded bank, and 

to repair the drainage channel on the terrace . Erosion and subsequent deposition in cut-and-flll areas 

can easily exceed 1 cubic yard for each 100 square 

feet. 

Figure 2.-Severe rill and gully erosion from the January 1969 

storms in a new residential area near San Bernardino, Calif. 

5. Floodwater damage is increased manyfold in homes, 

stores, and factories because of sediment. Evaporation can erase many of the effects of a "pure water" 

flood, but it cannot do so when the flow contains 

suspended sediment. 

6. Streams and other bodies of water are damaged 

esthetically by unsightly deposits as well as by fine 

sediment in suspension. Though stream esthetics are 

A 

B 

Figure 3.-Effect of coarse-sediment deposition on flow capacity in urban channels. A, Flow of·sediment in floodwater 

from the January 1969 storms plugged a Glendora, Calif., 

concrete-lined channel and caused overflow and deposition on 

nearby property. The channel had been partly cleaned after 

the flood and before the picture was taken. B, Three feet of 

deposition in the lower part of this boulevard channel in 

Boulder, Colo., caused flooding by a flow of less than onefifth the design capacity of the channel. 

E3 
considered much more inclusive than recreation 

alone, Brown (1948 , p. 79) has estimated that recreation losses in the Meramec River basin near St. 

Louis, Mo., in 1940 amounted to 49,090 persondays as a result of above-normal flows (but less than 

floodflows) of high turbidity. 

7. Water-treatment costs for domestic and industrial 

uses are increased. Reduction of Potomac River sediment turbidity to optimum could produce an 

annual savings of $25,000 per year (1963 values) for 

Washington, D.C. (Wolman, 1964, p. 68). 

8. Erosion and (or) deposition in channels (fig. 4), 

estuaries, and other water bodies may cause bridge 

or culvert failure as well as serious ecological 

changes by alteration of species composition and 

population density (Peters, 1967). 

A 

Figure 4.- Examples of channel erosion and deposition resulting from urbanization. A, Bank erosion and degradation 

from increased runoff from impervious areas, tributary to 

Montclair Creek, Mobile, Ala. B, Deposition and plugging of 

drain from intensive sediment movement during residential 

construction, tributary to Rock Creek near Washington, D.C. 

E4 

9. Impoundments for municipal water storage are 

often built upstream from cities. The release of 

clear water from such impoundments can create 

serious degradation and bank erosion in downstream areas where picnic and other recreational 

facilities are planned. 

10. Reservoir storage and channel conveyance for water 

supply are lost. Wolman (1964, p. 63) indicated 

that the alternative cost per acre-foot of storage 

lost to sediment in water storage and recreation 

reservoirs in Maryland ranges from less than $100 

to over $78,000. 

11. Maintenance costs are increased for streets, highways, and other public-use areas. (See fig. 5.) 

12. As implied in the introduction, perhaps the most 

serious urban sediment problem is the general 

deterioration of the total environment- a condition usually not recognized by the public. 

As with many hydrologic problems, most urban sediment problems have visual impact for relatively short 

periods of time because they are rainstorm related (Guy, 

1964). Also, because these problems are usually rooted 

within the urban or urbanizing area, they are limited to 

relatively small areas of the country. However, because 

of the intense capital investment in and human use of 

urban areas, the recognition of and solution to sediment 

problems become socially and economically very important. 

Sediment damage is apparent when a storm-drain inlet 

becomes clogged, rill erosion cuts a graded area , a traffic 

accident occurs because of a wet fine-sediment deposit 

on a street, a swimming area must be closed because of 

Figure 5.-More than 1,000 cubic yards of debris deposited on 

a short section of Ledora Avenue, Glendora, Calif., during 

the January 1969 storms by sediment flow and floodflow 

from nearby recently burned foothill area. 
turbid water, a water-treatment plant cannot clarify 

water, or a recreation lake is filled with sediment (Guy 

and Ferguson, 1962). Because sediment is often part of a 

complex environmental problem (Guy and Ferguson, 

1970), many other sediment problems go unnoticed 

even though they may be economically significant. A 

study of air pollution in Chicago showed that dustfall 

amounts ranged from 21 to 61 tons per square mile per 

month at 20 stations during 1966 (American Public 

Works Association, 1969, p. 25). The Chicago study also 

showed that street-litter sweepings consisted of more 

than 70 percent dirt and rock by weight-the remainder was classified as metal, paper, vegetation, wood, and 

glass. Higher percentages of dirt occurred in the litter 

after rainstorms, even in a business area that was 100 

percent built up. 

A sound sediment-measurement program in and adjacent to urban areas will help people to recognize what 

the problems are, where they occur, and when to expect 

them. Such a sediment-measurement program should 

document erosion sources and amounts, concentration 

in runoff, stream-channel changes, and the location and 

amounts of deposition. The measurement program, 

though mostly a documentation of the nature of conditions, will provide the basis upon which research needs 

(Guy, 1967) can be evaluated. 

There are many laws concerning problems of-sedimentation (Busby, 1962, 1967). In general the cases make it 

eminently clear that downstream owners can recover 

damages if changes and costs are well documented. In 

States where the civil law rule applies, a higher land is 

entitled to have flow discharge across the property of a 

lower landowner as it does in nature. Sometimes, however, a "reasonableness of use" rule is applied (Sainato v. 

Potter, 159 A. 2d 632, 222, Md. 263) where strict application of the civil law rule would result in hardship to 

eithe1 party. In considering aspects of sedimentation 

law, the following quotation from the decision in 

Neubauer v. Overlea Reality Co. (142 Md. 87, 98, 120 

A. 69, 73) is of additional interest, 

It is no answer to a complaint of nuisance that a great many 

others are committing similar acts of nuisance upon a stream. 

Each and every one is, liable to a separate action, and to be 

restrained. 

Roalman {1969) described "a bounty on water 

polluters" based on the Harbor Act of June 29, 1888 

(25 Stat. 209), as amended on June 7, 1924 (S. 1942), 

whereby any private citizen can bring action against 

almost any water polluter. Though it has been little used 

for the past 80 years, it provides for a stiff fine and a jail 

sentence for the polluter, and it specifically directs that 

a bounty be paid to the citizen who proves his caseliterally a bounty law on water polluters. 

SOME ASPECTS OF PROBLEM SOLUTION 

Of the many facets of sediment problems in urban 

areas, the foremost are recognition and evaluation. 

Recognition would be easier if specific data on the cost 

of the many kinds of sediment problems in urban areas 

were available. The costs of sediment problems are rarely 

computed, and then they are generally estimated, even 

under the relatively less dynamic and more familiar rural 

conditions. Moore and Smith (1968) showed that "rural 

erosion and sediment" problems in the United States 

cause more than a $1-billion loss each year, $800 million 

of which occurs from erosion of cropland. Brown ( 1948) 

reported that annual damage from sediment deposition 

alone in rural areas amounts to $175 million. This in 

itself is 1.7 times the average annual flood damages for 

the 20-year period 1925-44. In the accounting of flood 

damages, sediment deposition was apparently not 

considered a flood cost. 

The economic aspects of sedimentation in all its forms 

from erosion to deposition have been discussed recently 

by Maddock (1969). His section with regard to 

municipalities consists of only two paragraphs, as 

follows: 

The economic problems associated with the control of 

turbidity in municipal and industrial water supplies are well 

known. Equally or perhaps more important, however, every 

community has its water courses. As the community grows, it 

seems inevitable that there will be a decision of some kind that 

will modify the behavior of these streams. Discharges are 

diminished or increased, stream channels are straightened or 

confined, and sediment loads are modified. These modifications 

generally result in problems that are solved at relatively high 

expense. The expense for one modification is not very great, but 

there are so many modifications that the aggregate costs are 

large. 

The writer has discussed this phase of the erosion and 

sediment problem with engineers whose practice is largely in the 

municipal engineering field. Almost without exception, they all 

say that the control of natural drainage is one of the most 

irritating and aggravating problems they have to deal with. Many 

high-cost drainage projects result from an inability to cope with 

what appear to be relatively simple problems. Thus an alluvial 

channel must be transformed into a pipe or a lined channel 

because its slope is too steep for the amount of water it is 

expected to carry. Straightening alluvial channels seems to be a 

minor adjustment but it inevitably leads to more serious 

problems. A realization that most natural channels respond to 

the movement of both water and sediment would do much to 

prevent obvious mistakes. 

Evaluation of the sediment problem is also 

complicated because sediment measurements are rather 

expensive and because sediment erosion, movement, and 

deposition are occurring in a highly dynamic and 

complicated environment. For example, in a drainage 

basin undergoing residential development (Guy, 1965), 

the area denuded of vegetative cover and subject to 

E5 
intensive erosion is continually changing. The process is 

complicated by the fact that storms occur as somewhat 

random events. The environment, too, is complicated by 

the fact that subsoils of varied erodibility are exposed to 

varying degrees with time and that manmade drainage 

may concentrate the magnitude and location of channel 

flow. During stabilization after urban construction (table 

1, F), channel instability is marked by serious 

degradation and severe bank erosion as a result of 

increased flows of relatively low sediment concentration 

from impervious areas as indicated by figure 4A. 

As already mentioned, heavy loads of sediment are 

moved into channels below construction areas; the fine 

particles move through rapidly and the coarser particles 

tend to fill the channel system (fig. 4B). In regard to the 

period of returning stability after development, Dawdy 

(1967, p. 242) stated, 

the slug of coarse sediment produced during construction may 

well travel through a channel system as a discrete mass or wave, 

causing geomorphic changes. These, in turn, change the 

hydraulics of the channel, cause bank erosion, and may alter the 

ecology of the stream. No data nor studies of the impact of 

urban sediment on downstream ecology are available, however. 

If a channel system is steep enough and discharge is sufficiently 

great to transport the contributed sediment, the geomorphic and 

hydraulic effects may be short lived, and the impact of the 

sediment and of its associated problems is transferred 

downstream to a major river, a lake or reservior, an estuary, or 

the ocean. 

With our advanced state of technology, solutions to 

the physical urban .sediment problem are usually 

available even though the problem may occur under a 

dynamic and complicated environment. Such solutions 

may seem economically and socially expensive, but in 

the light of our high standard of living the expense will 

prove to be relatively low. Because of the importance of 

sediment control, it is to be hoped that implementation 

will not be fraught with institutional difficulty. 

In many situations, a program to obtain sediment 

knowledge is justified in order to wisely choose a 

suitable solution among many alternatives. A complete 

sediment-evaluation program may, in reality, be a 

complete systems study of input-storage-output 

components. For example, where the problem involves a 

stream channel, it is essential to know the sources of the 

inflowing sediment, the degree and extent of transport 

in the stream, and the nature of the deposit, in terms of 

time and space, at the estuary or other body of water. 

Several steps needed to achieve control of urban 

sediment have been outlined by Guy and others (1963). 

These are: 

1. Public-program adjustments, including a specific 

policy toward potential problems, planning and zoning, 

E6 

local ordinances, and assistance to insure proper judicial 

interpretation. 

2. Erosion-control measures, including the proper use 

of vegetation for both temporary and permanent 

control, diversions and bench terraces, stabilization 

structures, storm drainage systems, storage of excess 

rainfall on lots, floodwater retarding structures, and the 

provision of "blue-green areas," usually parks, along 

streams and in headwater areas having critical runoff. 

3. Adequate education of both the general public and 

urban officials is essential. Such education in turn 

requires adequate sediment information, without which 

neither 1 nor 2 can be effectively accomplished. 

Attempts to control some of the sediment problems 

in the Los Angeles area have involved the construction 

of numerous "debris" basins on small streams draining 

steep foothill areas. Figure 6 shows debris accumulation 

in Santa Anita basin after the storms of January 1969. 

Sediment yields of as much as 124,000 cubic yards per 

square mile per year have been noted to occur as long as 

5 years after the accidental burning of the vegetal cover 

(Tatum, 1965, p. 891). The primary purpose of these 

debris basins is to prevent heavy sediment loads from 

clogging drains and streams in developed urban areas. 

Bank erosion and other sediment problems are reduced 

in the Los Angeles area by stabilization of banks and 

sometimes streambeds in an attempt to increase the flow 

capacity through urban areas. 

A good example of an institution attempting to 

control sediment in urban development, and thus to 

Figure 6.-Sediment accumulated in Santa Anita debris basin 

near Sierra Madre (Los Angeles area), Calif., as a result of 

the storms occurring during January 1969. Inspection of 

the delta at the spillway and channel downstream indicated 

that much sediment of the larger sizes had overflowed the 

system at the end of the storm period. 
eliminate or reduce many sediment problems, is 

Montgomery County, Md. It was the frrst county (July 

1965) to adopt a "Sediment Control Program" that 

requires approval of subdivision development plans by 

the Department of Public Works, which in turn is in 

consultation with the Soil Conservation Service. If the 

developers' plan for erosion and sediment control seems 

inadequate, then the Soil Conservation Service is asked 

to recommend suitable measures. Sometimes the 

measures may include only revision in timing and 

location of construction activity. In October 1966, the 

Fairfax (Va.) Board of Supervisors adopted a set of 

subdivbion land-erosion-control measures similar to 

those of Montgomery County. 

Sedimentcontrol is also being effected as a result of 

Executive Order 11258 issued in 1966 through the 

authority of the Water Quality Act of 1965. This order 

requires a review of all Federal and federally aided 

operations where there is a significant potential for 

reduction of water pollution by sediment. The reviewers 

may prescribe suitable remedial practices as necessary. 

This should prove particularly significant in view of 

sediment problems in connection with urban and 

suburban highway construction (Vice, Guy, and 

Ferguson, 1969). 

CONCLUSIONS 

Much of the disturbed soil in urban construction areas 

erodes and becomes sediment in streams; the sediment 

damages water-control works and aquatic habitat, 

degrades water quality, increases flood damages, and 

lowers the environmental attractiveness. During the 

process of stabilization of an area after construction, 

streams tend to erode their beds and banks as a result of 

increased runoff. All such sediment, whether from 

construction erosion or from channel erosion, is 

transported by streams and often deposited somewhere 

downstream at a location previously assigned to the 

movement or storage of water. 

Documentation of erosion sources and amounts, of 

sediment concentration in runoff, of stream-channel 

changes, and of the location and amounts of deposition 

together with an economic analysis of sediment damages 

and a pertinent research program will provide the 

knowledge needed to find the best solutions to a wide 

variety of existing and future urban sediment problems. 

Aside from the knowledge needed for better design of 

systems, documentation of sediment conditions will 

provide baseline information from which damages, both 

on site and downstream, can be evaluated. Defense 

against damage claims often rests upon attempts to 

demonstrate that the claimant had no knowledge of 

preexisting conditions, that the source of dama:1es was 

not discernable, or that conditions had always b~en so. 

Increasing numbers of communities will likely 

attempt to alleviate their many sediment problems 

because of the adverse effects of such problems on the 

local environment. The public sentiment neeied to 

support such programs to control sediment is built from 

a series of events that restrict, offend, or ot'--erwise 

concern people. 

REFERENCES CITED 

American Public Works Association, 1969, Water pollution 

aspects of urban runoff: Federal Water Pollution Control 

Adm., Pub. WP-20-15, 272 p. 

Anderson, D.G., 1968, Effects of urban development on floods 

in northern Virginia: U.S. Geol. Survey open-ftle repC'rt, 26 p. 

Brown, C.B., 1948, Perspective on sedimentation-purpose of 

conference: Federal Inter-Agency Sedimentatior Conf., 

Denver, Colo., 1947, Proc., U.S. Bur. Reclamation, p. 307. 

Busby, C.E., 1962, Some legal aspects of sedimentathn: Am. 

Soc. Civil Engineers Trans., v. 127, pt. I, p. 1007-1044. 

---1967, Aspects of American sedimentation Ia~v: Jour. 

Soil ~nd Water Conserv., v. 22, no. 3, p. 107-109. 

Dawdy, D.R., 1967, Knowledge of sedimentation in urban 

environments: Am. Soc. Civil Engineers Proc., v. 93, no. 

HY6, p. 235-245. 

Guy, H.P., 1964, An analysis of some storm-period variables 

affecting stream sediment transport: U.S. Geol. Surrey Prof. 

Paper 462-E, 46 p. 

---1965, Residential construction and sedimentation at 

Kensington, Md.: Federal Inter-Agency Sedimentatk'1 Conf., 

Jackson, Miss., 1963, Proc., U.S. Dept. Agriculture Misc. Pub. 

970, p. 30-37. 

---196 7, Research needs regarding sedimo.nt and 

urbanization: Am. Soc. Civil Engineers Proc, v. 93, no. HY6, 

p. 247-254. 

Guy, H.P., and Ferguson, G.E., 1962, Sediment in small 

reservoirs due to urbanization: Am. Soc. Civil Engineers, 

Proc., v. 88, no. HY2, p. 27-37. 

---19 7 0, Sedimentation as an environmental 

problem: Jour. Soil and Water Conserv., v 25, no. 6, 

p. 217-221. 

Guy, H.P., and others, 1963, A program for sediment control in 

the Washington Metropolitan Region: Washingtc n, D.C., 

Interstate Comm. Potomac River Basin, May, 48 p. 

Leopold, L.B., 1968, Hydrology for urban land planning-a 

guidebook on the hydrologic effects of urban land use: U.S. 

Geol. Survey Circ. 554, 18 p. 

Maddock, Thomas, Jr., 1969, Economic as-,ects of 

sedimentation: Am. Soc. Civil Engineers Proc., v. 95, no. 

HY1,p. 191-207. 

Moore, W.R., and Smith, C.E., 1968, Erosion control ir relation 

to watershed management: Am. Soc. Civil Engineers Proc., v. 

94, no. IR3, p. 321-331. 

Peters, J.C., 1967, Effects on a trout stream of sedim~nt from 

agricultural practices: Jour. Wildlife Management, v. 31, no. 4, 

p. 805-812. 

E7 
Roalman, A.R., 1969, A bounty on water polluters: Urbana, Ill., 

Am. Water Resources Assoc., Water Resources Bull., v. 5, no. 

2, p. 62-65. 

Tatum, F.E., 1965, A new method of estimating debris-storage 

requirements for debris basins: U.S. Dept. Agriculture Misc. 

Pub. 970, Paper 89, p. 886-897. 

Vice. R.B., Guy, H.P., and Ferguson, G.E., 1969, Sediment 

movement in an area of suburban highway construction, Scott 

Run Basin, Fairfax County, 1961-64: U.S. Geol. Survey 

Water-Supply Paper 1591-E, 41 p. 

E8 

Wolman, M.G., 1964, Problems posed by se-.diment derived from 

construction activities in Maryland: Anna':lolis, Md., Report to 

the Maryland Water PoUution Control Co<11mission, p. 1-125. 

---1967, A cycle of sedimentation and erosion in urban 

river channels: Geografiska Annaler, v. 49, ser. A, p. 

385-395. 

Wolman, M.G., and Schick, A.P., 1967, Etr~cts of construction 

on fluvial sediment, urban and suburbar areas of Maryland: 

Water Resources Research, v. 3, no. 2, p. 451-464. 

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTrNG OFFICE: 1970 0 - 397-595