Master Plan
The Prince George’s County has been directed by the State of Maryland via HB 1141 to develop a Water Resources Element as part of the County General Plan. In order to achieve the intent of the state’s directive, the Prince George’s Planning Department will produce a Water Resources Functional Master Plan. This functional master plan will contain policies, goals, objectives, and strategies to address the issues of wastewater, drinking water, septic, and stormwater at a watershed level. The new functional master plan will support and/or amend portions of the 2002 Prince George’s County Approved General Plan and various other County plans to address issues of capacity, demands, and impacts to water resources in response to growth and growth projections. The planning recommendations will provide guidance for future development activity appropriate for the General Plan-designated Developed Tier, Developing Tier, and Rural Tier.
Planning Area
The Water Resources Functional Master Plan planning area encompasses approximately 311-750-land acres located in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The plan also requires inter-jurisdictional planning and coordination in response to watershed boundaries in Maryland and will look at land use and land use planning in the City of Laurel, Montgomery County, Charles County, Anne Arundel County, and Calvert County and Washington D.C.
Watershed Designations
The Maryland Department of Planning has various scaled watershed designations for Prince George’s County. For planning and modeling purposes, the Water Resource Plan will look at water quality, stormwater, and point and non-point pollution impacts at the 8-digit watershed designation. See Map. The County contains nine watersheds at this coding level including parts of the Patuxent (Upper, Middle, Lower), Potomac (Upper, Lower), and Anacostia. The Piscataway and Western Branch watersheds fall entirely within Prince George’s County, and the Oxon Creek watershed falls between the confluence of the Anacostia and Upper Potomac.