Summit Lake Creek is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of Leggetts Creek in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Newton Township and South Abington Township. The watershed of the creek has an area of . It is a Trout Stocked Fishery and a Migratory Fishery. Reaches of the creek are considered to be impaired. There are a number of lakes and reservoirs in the watershed. The creek has one unnamed tributary, which is known as Unt 28530.

Course

Summit Lake Creek begins in a valley in Newton Township. It flows east-northeast for several tenths of a mile, passing through the Interlaken Lake, entering South Abington Township, and crossing

Pennsylvania Route 307 Pennsylvania Route 307 (PA 307) is a north–south route of the Pennsylvania Highway System that runs for . The southern terminus is PA 435 in Covington Township and the northern terminus is PA 92 in Tunkhannock Township. The highway is ...

before turning southeast and crossing Interstate 476. The creek then turns east for several tenths of a mile and passes through Maple Lake before turning east-northeast for several tenths of a mile. Summit Lake Creek joins Leggetts Creek upstream of its mouth.

Tributaries

Summit Lake Creek has no named tributaries. However, it has an unnamed tributary, which is known as "Unt 28530".

Hydrology

A reach of Summit Lake Creek is considered to be impaired by sedimentation/ siltation and temperature. The probable sources of the impairment are infrastructure and upstream impoundments. This reach is long. Another reach of the creek is considered to be impaired by water/flow variability. This reach is long. The probable source of the impairment is

urban runoff Urban runoff is surface runoff of rainwater, landscape irrigation, and car washing created by urbanization. Impervious surfaces (roads, parking lots and sidewalks) are constructed during land development. During rain , storms and other precipit ...

storm sewer A storm drain, storm sewer (United Kingdom, U.S. and Canada), surface water drain/sewer (United Kingdom), or stormwater drain ( Australia and New Zealand) is infrastructure designed to drain excess rain and ground water from impervious surface ...

s. The unnamed tributary Unt 28530 is also impaired.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

of Summit Lake Creek is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The elevation near the source of the creek is between above sea level. Lakes such as Maple Lake and Summit Lake are in the watershed of Summit Lake Creek. Maple Lake is an artificial 2.4-acre reservoir with a capacity of 4,000,000 gallons. Summit Lake is an originally natural 57-acre lake with a capacity of 259,000,000 gallons.

Watershed

The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of Summit Lake Creek has an area of . The creek is entirely within the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

quadrangle of Scranton. The upper reaches of Summit Lake Creek are on undisturbed land. However, the lower reaches of the creek flow through developed land. The borough of

Clarks Summit Clarks Summit is a borough in Lackawanna County, northwest of Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 5,108 at the 2020 census. It is also the northern terminus of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension, I-476. History T ...

has a permit to discharge

stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...

into the creek. The designated use of Summit Lake Creek is aquatic life.

History

Summit Lake Creek was entered into the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1199652. A concrete slab bridge carrying State Route 4032 over Summit Lake Creek was built in South Abington Township in 1904. It is long. A concrete tee beam bridge carrying

US Route 11 {{Infobox road , country=USA , type=US , route=11 , map={{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, frame-height=330, type=line, from=U.S. Route 11.map , map_custom=yes , map_notes=US 11 in red, US 11E in blue, US 11W in ...

over the creek was constructed in 1936. This bridge is long and is also situated in South Abington Township. The Maple Lake Dam was constructed on Summit Lake Creek in the 1800s. However, it was removed in December 2006. In 2011, Pennsylvania American Water, awarded a $2500 grant to the Clarks Summit Shade Tree Commission to reforest the area at the mouth of the creek and to clean up its

streambed A stream bed or streambed is the bottom of a stream or river (bathymetry) or the physical confine of the normal water flow (channel). The lateral confines or channel margins are known as the stream banks or river banks, during all but flood st ...

to avert potential

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

ing problems.

Biology

The entire drainage basin of Summit Lake Creek is a Trout-Stocked Fishery and a Migratory Fishery.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Lackawanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania