The Potomac River watershed is about 14,670 square miles, of which 5,723 square miles are found in Virginia. The Potomac River originates in Fairfax Stone, W.Va. The Shenandoah River meets and merges with the Potomac River at Harper’s Ferry. Continuing its 383 mile-long journey through Maryland and Washington, D.C., the Potomac River eventually empties into the Chesapeake Bay in Northumberland County, Va., and at Point Lookout, Md.
The entire Potomac River watershed supports an estimated population of 5 million people. In the Virginia portion of this fast-growing, urban watershed, the population is estimated to be 1.9 million.
Comprising about 23 percent of Virginia’s entire Chesapeake Bay watershed, the predominant land use of the Potomac River watershed in Virginia is urban. As a whole, about 55 percent of the entire watershed is forested, 33 percent is agricultural, and 11 percent is urban. As the second largest tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River is a main focus of strategies directed to improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay.
Contact information
DCR Potomac Watershed Office
98 Alexandria Pike, Suite 33
Warrenton, VA 20186-2849
Phone: (540) 347-6420
Fax: (540) 347-6423
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