Stream sediment gauges allowed officials to track how much silt was coming from different parts of the 64,000 square miles of watershed in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and Maryland.

Due to funding cuts, however, no such sediment gauges have been operating anywhere in the Chesapeake watershed over the past two decades.

Until now.

With cooperation from Franklin & Marshall College, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey recently installed a stream sediment gauge on Little Conestoga Creek in Manor Township.

"These gauges operated for over 100 years," said Dorothy Merritts, a professor of geoscience and environmental studies at F&M. "My research shows there were 38 operating throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed into the 1980s, and then there were none."

Merritts said the installation of the new gauge on the creek is vital to efforts to reduce the amount of sediment that flows through the Little Conestoga watershed and into the Chesapeake Bay.

"The Little Conestoga watershed is a very disturbed watershed," Merritts said. "We need to get a handle on where this sediment is coming from so we can figure out how to prevent it from getting into the stream."

A bureau of the federal Department of the Interior, the U.S. Geological Survey is charged with providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.

For decades, scientists have been charting the filling in of the Chesapeake Bay with silt. The influx of dirt and the chemicals it carries has been blamed for widespread destruction of wildlife habitats in the upper reaches of the Chesapeake.

Efforts to reduce the amount of sediment that gets washed into the bay recently began in earnest, and Lancaster County is doing its share to help out.

Farmers across the county, for example, have been fencing stream banks on their properties to keep livestock out of the water. This prevents them from stomping down the banks of streams and from defecating in the water.

Many of the stream-protection efforts in the county are aimed at farmland. Merritts said she recognizes the need for these efforts, but believes farms are not the only properties in Lancaster County sending sediment and other pollutants to the Chesapeake.

"The Little Conestoga watershed is a mix of farmland and urban and suburban development," she said. "I think development sends just as much sediment down the creek as farms, if not more."

To see if her theory is correct, Merritts said she approached federal officials a few years ago about placing a sediment gauge on the Little Conestoga.

As discussions took place with one group of U.S. Geological Survey officials, Merrits said, another group came to her and said they were interested in placing a sediment gauge on the creek as part of the ongoing effort to protect the Chesapeake Bay.

"It started out with me going to USGS for help, and then they came to me for help," Merritts said.

About three months ago, U.S. Geological Survey officials and their partners from EPA and Maryland paid for and installed a sediment gauge and associated equipment and computers along the creek off Millersville Road.

The gauge continuously monitors the volume and depth of water flowing down the creek, and transmits that data via satellite to an office in Harrisburg.

When the water rises to a certain level during a rainstorm, the gauge is triggered to collect samples of sediment for laboratory testing.

F&M junior Graham Boardman, a geoscience major, is responsible for regularly checking the gauge to make sure it's running. He also manually takes sediment samples between storms.

Merritts said scientists will analyze the sediment collected to determine where it's coming from.

"Knowing whether suburban development or farming is the major source is important," Merritts said. "Obviously, if you're fencing stream banks on farms and the big problem is development, then you're not addressing the main problem."

As well as paying for the equipment and installing it, Merritts said, U.S. Geological Survey officials have promised to operate the gauge for three years at a cost of $90,000.

Merritts said she's now working to line up funding so F&M can operate the gauge "forever."