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Pocomoke River Watershed

8 Digit Hydrologic Unit Code - 02060009

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Surf Your Watershed is a service to help you locate, use, and share environmental information about your state and watershed.

Introduction

The Pocomoke River 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) subbasin covers 28,636 acres. The entire Delaware portion of the Pocomoke River Watershed is in Sussex County. There are a total of 59 farms located in the basin. The average farm size is 216 acres, but about 5 percent of the farms are between 500 and 1,000 acres and another 6 percent exceed 1,000 acres in size.

There are 12,753 acres in farms in the watershed with 15 acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. Approximately 83 percent of the farmland or 10,585 acres is cropland. Corn, soybeans and wheat are the primary crops grown on about 82 percent of the acreage. Vegetables are grown on 17 percent of the acreage and hay and pasture account for the remaining one percent. Livestock operations are primarily based on poultry production.

Map of Delaware showing the Location of the Pocomoke River Watershed

Physical Description

Landuse Urban Agriculture Confined Feeding Forest Wetland Water Other Total

Landuse	Urban	Agriculture	Confined Feeding	Forest	Wetland	Water	Other	Total
Acers	646	13,027	34	12,965	241	14	1,709	28,636
Percent	2.3	51.5	0.01	45.2	0.8	0.1	6.0	100.0

Source: Delaware Non-Point Source Pollution Assessment Report, based on 1984 land use.

Soils

Digitized soils map information suitable for use in Toolkit is available for the entire watershed.

Primary soils in the watershed include:

• Pocomoke-Fallsington-Evesboro

The Pocomoke-Fallsington-Evesboro Association covers about 12 percent of Sussex County. Pocomoke soils are very poorly drained and Fallsington soils are moderately permeable and poorly drained. The water table is at or near the surface for long periods during the year for both of these soils. Pocomoke and Fallsington soils occupy nearly flat areas that are wet unless artificially drained. Undrained areas are limited chiefly to woodland and wildlife habitat. High yields, particularly of corn and soybeans, can be obtained in drained areas. Blueberries are a locally important crop. Community owned ditches furnish outlets for drainage systems on individual farms. Generally the drainage systems are adequate, but require good maintenance to remain effective.

Resource Concerns

The primary resource concern in the watershed is nutrient loading to ground and surface waters. In order to meet the basic Tier I requirement for inclusion in the CSP program farm operators must be addressing nutrient and erosion issues in their conservation plans. To qualify for Tier II farm operators must be focused on addressing wildlife habitat issues in their farm plans. The state has designated both the surface and ground waters in the Chincoteague watershed to be of high concern for water quality. The Inland Bays, which include all of Rehoboth and Indian River Bays, and part of the Assawoman Bay are of particular concern due to there importance as fisheries and high use water contact recreation areas. Ground water provided through private and municipal wells is the major source of water for agriculture, industry and residential drinking water in the watershed. Base flow provided by ground water is also considered the primary supplier of fresh water to streams and is a very direct source of nutrients and other pollutants to surface waters.

Map of Delaware showing all watersheds in Delaware

Common Resource Areas

The Common Resource Area for the entire watershed has been designated as 153C.

Studies and Assessments

The state of Delaware’s Division of Natural Resources has completed Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Assessments of the Indian River and its tributaries. Water quality data indicates that Nutrients and bacteria are the primary stressors in the stream system. The installation of filter strips along drainage ways and the use of cover crops have also been strongly promoted through the EQIP program.

Census and Social Data

The total population of the watershed based on the 2000 census is 6,100 people. The annual median household income in the area is $39,208. Approximately 10.5 percent of the people have living standards below the national poverty level. The estimated number and percentage of people by race in the watershed is as follows:

Watershed	Total	White	Black or African American	American Indian	Asian	Some Other Race	Hispanic or Latino
Pocomoke River	6,100	4,789	909	37	43	55	268
Percent	100%	78.5%	14.9%	.6%	.7%	.9%	4.4%

Farm Community

The information in the following table was compiled based on data from the 2002 Census of Agriculture. It can be used to estimate the potential number of limited resource, and beginning or new farmers in the watershed.

Some Other Race

Watershed	Total Farms	No. of Farms		Principal Operators			New Operators
Watershed	Total Farms	Less than Median Size	With Sales less than $40,000	Male	Female	Non-White	Less than 3 years on farm
Pocomoke River	59	46	20	50	9	2	1
Percent		77.9%	33.4%	84.9%	15.1%	3.0%	1.3%

Based on median size of farm, and sales less than $40,000, 33 to 78 percent of the Farms would qualify as limited resource. Vegetable operations and intensive broiler production can be profitable on less than median size acreage which makes size a poor indicator of limited resource farmers. For farmers whose main source of income is farming, sales less than $40,000 would be a good indicator. Farm operators who generate the majority of their income off farm would probably not qualify as limited resource. Based on race and gender about 3 to 15 percent of the farms would qualify as limited resource. The high cost of farm land and equipment in an urbanizing area make it difficult to enter farming. This would account for new or beginning farmers only representing about one percent of the farm operators in the watershed. Focusing on farms with farming as their principal occupation with sales less than $40,000, minority and female operators, and beginning farmers, would be the best strategy for identifying farmers with limited resources in the watershed.

Technical Information Maps of the Pocomoke River Watershed

The Following Documents Require Adobe Acrobat

NOTE: The MB Files are Very Large and will require time to Download

File Description	Map Thumbnail
pocohydro.pdf (1.83 MB) – This map portrays the network of streams that run through the Pocomoke Watershed. The base layer is comprised of the new 2006 orthoimagery. Some of the major branches and the Pocomoke River are found throughout this watershed.
pocolulc.pdf (72 MB) – This map portrays the different uses of land in the Pocomoke Watershed. Farming and forestry are the two biggest land uses. The legend file shows what the colors stand for and can be looked at in PDF format. lulclegend.pdf (15 KB) – Note: Legend document for pocolulc.pdf file.
pocoroads.pdf (2 MB) – This map portrays the network of roads that run through the Pocomoke Watershed. The base layer is comprised of the new 2006 orthoimagery. The roads layer was created by DELDOT last year and the centerlines match up perfectly with each road. Some of the major roads found throughout this watershed are labeled here.
pocosid.pdf (2MB) – This map portrays USDA’s 2006 NAIP Ortho product for the Pocomoke Watershed. The imagery is true-color, which means it lacks the reddish tint of the 2002 ortho. The map scale is 1:12,000 and has a 1-meter resolution.
pocosoils.pdf (247 KB) – This map portrays the most up-to-date soils for the Pocomoke Watershed. The legend file shows what the colors stand for and their symbols. pocosoilslegend.pdf (15 KB) – Note: Legend document for pocosoils.pdf file.
pocotopo.pdf (2 MB) – This map portrays the elevation and contour lines that makes up the Pocomoke Watershed. There are roads, various landmarks, and water bodies labeled on here.

Watershed Contact - Delaware

Paul Petrichenko, Assistant State Conservationist for Programs
Phone: 302-678-4180

Art Walker, GIS Specialist
(302) 678-4183
(302) 678-0843 (Fax)
(302) 233-2555 (Work Cell)

Last Modified: 09/25/2007 07:47:22 AM