Drought to deluge 🌧️, ICPRB is hiring 📢, whale spotted in the river 🐋, and more, in this week’s Potomac News Reservoir – May 22, 2025 >>>

River Report: Drought to deluge

This spike in rain has wreaked havoc up and down the Potomac River. Breakdowns in some wastewater systems has led to raw sewage in the river, especially in the western part of the basin. Officials are advising to avoid fishing, drinking, or coming into direct contact with the waters until further notice.

In addition to raw sewage, dangerous debris such as trees, lumber, and other detritus have made their way down the river and present hazards for river recreation.

At the Point of Rocks USGS gage, the river rose 20 feet in a day and half, peaking at almost 24 feet (154,000 cfs) — Moderate Flood stage — on the afternoon of May 15. As of this morning, it is back down to 4 feet (14,900 cfs). As seen in the graph, the adjusted flow at Little Falls jumped above the 90th percentile during that time.

According to NOAA, the Potomac River above Little Falls has received an average of 5.4 inches of rain since the beginning of the month, with some areas receiving 11 inches or more. This is 75% or more above average.

Not surprisingly, drought conditions in the Potomac Basin improved markedly over the past couple weeks, as seen in the map below. The area under Moderate Drought or worse dropped from 78% to 42%, with Severe Drought shrinking dramatically from 33% to just 0.5%.

Interestingly, this pattern of a dry winter followed by a deluge in the spring was also seen in 2002 (purple dotted line in the Little Falls graph). That summer ended in a severe drought. During that year, staff in ICPRB’s CO-OP worked with the Army Corps of Engineers as well as our water supply partners to release water from upstream reservoirs to alleviate conditions downstream. Only time will tell for 2025.

It takes a village to manage water resources in the basin

What does it take to sustainably manage the lands, waters, and ecological health of the Potomac basin?  A lot of work by a lot of organizations.

As part of the implementation of the Potomac Basin Comprehensive Water Resources Plan, ICPRB recently published an overview of the entities that act in support of the plan’s overall vision, either explicitly or implicitly.

The pamphlet, An Inventory of Potomac Basin Entities with a Role in Sustainable Water Resources Management, explores the governmental agencies, water resources related sectors, private and non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and individuals who have a role to play in the sustainable management of the Potomac basin’s water resources. Each entity fills a vital role — from regulatory agencies to scientists to community education and more.

“The information contained in the inventory, and summarized in the pamphlet, can be used by ICPRB and interested individuals to understand who is doing what, if any gaps exist, and how efforts might be leveraged or coordinated to improve efficiency,” states Dr. Heidi Moltz, author of the pamphlet and the director of program operations at ICPRB.

We’re hiring!

The ICPRB mission is to enhance, protect, and conserve the water and associated land resources of the Potomac River and its tributaries through regional and interstate cooperation. If this sounds like something you are interested in doing, we are currently hiring for two positions:

Water Quality Data Manager: This position is responsible for maintaining, designing, and building relational databases for the Chesapeake Bay Program, verifying and assuring data quality, and facilitating data analysis efforts of the Chesapeake Bay Program.

Environmental Scientist or Engineer: This position will assist with interesting and challenging projects in this program area, an exciting opportunity to apply analytic and geospatial skills in a large river basin context.

Visit our Jobs page for more information on each position and how to apply >>>