Projects

Watershed Plan for Reston, VA

The Situation

Located in the suburbs of Washington, DC, Reston is one of the largest planned communities in the United States – and also the oldest. Incorporated in 1964, Reston was extensively developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Consequently, the quality of the community’s streams and lakes have degraded over the past 30 years. Reston hired GKY to collect field data to assess current watershed conditions and develop a plan that protects the watershed while reflecting community values.

The Solution

GKY walked several miles of streams to assess physical habitat and biological conditions within the watershed. We then developed GIS-based hydrologic and hydraulic models to simulate the relationship between field conditions and water flow.

Using discoveries from our analysis, we identified and documented mitigation measures to meet community requirements – providing a comprehensive program that includes stormwater BMPs, stream restoration, Low Impact Development (LID), outreach and other initiatives.

As a follow-on to this project, GKY designed stream restoration for a highly impacted reach – the highest-priority site identified in the plan.