Thousands of dollars a Lanham developer donated to repair erosion in the Paint Branch Stream could also benefit the campus creek.

Developer Ken Michael of the Michael Company donated $243,500 Monday to the Anacostia Watershed Society to help combat erosion the stream is causing on nearby land. The stream, which flows behind businesses on the Route 1 south corridor, has been washing away land in the back of businesses and causing damages, such as collapsing fences.

“All along this branch, the Paint Branch is very erosive,” said Allen Davis, a civil and environmental engineering professor and director of the university Water Resources Research Center.

The property damage the stream causes could endanger development in College Park because developers are wary of starting projects on eroding land, said Sen. John Giannetti. He has taken an interest in Paint Branch Stream and garnered $214,000 in state funding for its repairs.

But the nearby campus creek, which starts at the golf course, runs past the Comcast Center and empties into the Paint Branch Stream, could also benefit from the stream’s rising publicity.

Giannetti said he would be willing to include the campus creek in his stream reparation initiatives. Currently, storm water run-off pollutes the creek’s waters with deposits of dust, dirt and materials from cars on the pavement.

The university has been working to reduce the storm water run-off around the campus by planting rain gardens, which help reduce land erosion caused by the high volume of fast flowing water carrying pollutants, Davis said.

“It slows it down and will remove many of the pollutants,” he said.

The gardens are created by adding plants and mulch on top of layers of sand mixtures, soil and organic matter, Davis said. Plants divert the flow of water to the bottom of the three-foot deep garden, which has a perforated pipe on the bottom layer where the water flows out.

The gardens help absorb and block some pollutants, but otherwise the deposits are carried into storm drains or into rivers, creeks and streams, Davis said. The gardens are located near Lot 11, the agricultural building, the campus farm, and the center island of the Comcast parking lot. So far they have proven effective and the center has submitted a funding proposal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to purchase materials for more rain gardens, among other technologies.

Michael’s donation will be used for stream stabilization, which uses rocks in the center of the stream to control the width and flow of water by narrowing the channel and slowing the flow of water to slow erosion.

Contact reporter Sharahn D. Boykin at boykindbk@gmail.com.