Delaware Watersheds

The Army Creek watershed is located in east-central New Castle County. The 4-mile-long mainstem flows east-northeast toward its outfall to the Delaware River just below the town of New Castle. The stream is free flowing, however, a tidegate is located at the mouth, which only allows discharge to the Delaware River during low tides, such that there is no tidal influence in the creek.

The land uses in the watershed are dominated by urban areas. The city of New Castle, the only incorporated town, is situated in the northern portion of the watershed.

There are nutrient and bacteria TMDLs for the Army Creek Watershed that require 40% reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus loads and 39% reductions in bacteria loads. There is one point source facility in the watershed but because of the outfall locations that do not discharge to Army Creek, there are only nonpoint sources of pollution in this watershed.

The designated uses set for the Army Creek watershed include primary recreation, secondary recreation, fish, aquatic life, and wildlife, and agricultural water supply in the freshwater segments.

This watershed has sites sampled for a consistent suite of environmental contaminants. These contaminants are broadly classified as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs), Pesticides, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Metals as listed using USEPA and DNREC defined standards. When sites are adjacent to water bodies sediment samples are collected to assess potential impact from a site on the health of the waters. Learn more information specific to this watershed from the DNREC Advanced Facility Search Tool.

Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), Division of Fish and Wildlife conducts on-going inventories of natural communities as well as rare and declining species, (e.g., state and globally-rare plants, birds, insects, mussels, reptiles, and amphibians). It maintains a database, both electronic and manual, of its findings throughout the state. Learn more about the wildlife and plant communities in this watershed from the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Programs.

In addition, the Division of Fish and Wildlife, working with the University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration - Water Resources Center, maintains online databases about plants and plant communities in Delaware. Learn more about the plant communities in this watershed from the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife.

For more detailed information on this watershed, its water quality and resources, check out the following resources:

Delaware TMDLs

Delaware Whole Basin Reports

CCMP for the Delaware Estuary

View of Army Creek
Photo credit: Andrew Howard