Roaring Creek (Pennsylvania) - Hydrology

Hydrology

The total area of Roaring Creek's watershed is 88 square miles. The watershed extends over parts of Columbia County, Montour County, Northumberland County, and Schuylkill County. Roaring Creek's discharge was measured to be 1.21 cubic feet per second in September 1951. At Mill Grove, Roaring Creek's drainage area is 8.85 square miles. There are four reservoirs on South Branch Roaring Creek. They are the Brush Valley Reservoir, the Bear Gap #6, the Bear Gap #2 and the Bear Gap #1.

There is a low level of dissolved oxygen in one 0.44-mile tributary of Roaring Creek. The pH of the water at the headwaters of South Branch Roaring Creek ranges from 5.38 to 6.41, making it the most acidic stream in the watershed. The most basic stream in the watershed was the main branch of Roaring Creek, whose pH ranges from 6.50 to 8.27. The concentration of nitrogen in the watershed ranges from 209 to 7238 micrograms per liter and the concentration of phosphorus in the watershed ranges from 3 to 38 micrograms per liter, rendering parts of Roaring Creek at risk of algal blooms.

In the summer of 2006, the lowest water temperature of a stream in the Roaring Creek watershed was South Branch Roaring Creek, which had a temperature of 17.6° Celsius. The highest water temperature was 25.9° Celsius, which occurred at one site on the main branch of Roaring Creek. Three other sites on Roaring Creek ranged from 23.0 to 25.0° Celsius.