Everyone lives in a watershed. So, how do we go about finding out which watershed we live in? and some of its characteristics? In this Delineating/Describing Your Watershed section of the newsletter, you will find articles describing how to do just that, and more. Readily available online tools are employed by the authors to locate information on their watersheds, at both local and regional scales. In these articles, you will find descriptions of a number of watersheds based on information gleaned from those apps, as well as how to use the apps. Constructive comments and feedback on the articles are greatly appreciated.
Category Archives: Delineating/Describing Your Watershed
BMPs In My Local Watershed
By: Riley Gagnon
Throughout the work that I have been practicing this semester I have meticulously learned information about my local watershed and the importance it plays in our environment. What is equally as important is the management practices, BMPS, which are practices that are used to protect watersheds and prevent or reduce water pollution within these watersheds. The upkeep of watersheds is vital to humans as we rely on our local watersheds for the copious amounts of general wellbeing. BMPS might not be something that is common knowledge, but they are all around and are easily spottable once you are aware of what they entail. Some examples of BMPs are wise use of fertilizers and pesticides, landscape practices that prevent erosion, proper planning of roads and buildings, public education outreach, public involvement and participation, construction site storm run-off control, etc. In my local watershed of Cromwell, CT, there are eight different water bodies that cover this area, some of which are in good condition, some of which are not. The main watershed in this area is the CT river. The drainage area in this watershed is 0.58 square miles, the mean basin elevation is 148 feet, the percentage of developed land is 85.8 percent, the average percentage of impervious area is 26.1 percent, and the mean annual precipitation is 49.48 inches (USGS 2020). Throughout this article I will be discussing the BMPs in my local watershed and their overall effectiveness, use, and practicality.
One watershed management practice that my local watershed of Cromwell, CT has put into place is the “Stormwater Management Plan” that was launched and developed in March of 2017. The goal of this plan was to protect water quality and reduce the discharge of pollutants from the municipality’s storm sewer. This plan most important covers all of the towns highways, roadways, and railways that are located within urbanized areas, but also covers all other drainage areas within the town regardless of their location in aims to protect watersheds from projects and site work. It ensures that in areas where stormwater discharge from “municipally-owned maintenance garages, salt sheds, and other facilities will be regulated under the condition of the permit they are not required to obtain” must put in proper BMPs to protect local watershed from inflicted harm. Storm water pollution greatly affects human life as well as aquatic plant and animal life so it was tremendously important for my local watershed to permit this plan to necessary areas so that they can actively work towards diminishing these hazards. Each building site that poses a threat to watersheds must implement BMPs within their construction. In the figure below you can see this plan being put into action. There is an “Erosion Control” BMP put into place where a road was built so that water erosion on land, agricultural areas, and construction sites would be prevented. Effective erosion controls can help avert surface run off which prevents soil loss, water pollution, and wildlife habit loss.
(Figure 2). This image captures the area where erosion control was implemented where a road was being built.
Another extremely helpful BMP that has been implemented into the town of Cromwell is the “Stormwater Program” which is a public outreach education program that was also put into place in 2017 in attempts to further educate the citizens on the specific common sources of pollutants that are discharging into waterways, and how the towns citizens can help prevent these pollutants from reaching the watershed. The most common causes of pollutants in the town of Cromwell are automotive pollution, bacterial pollution, and general liter pollutants. When this program was implemented there were brochures and fact sheets that were made available to the public at public meetings, the town hall, and the public library that addressed the effects of stormwater quality on the environment and how to improve stormwater quality as a citizen. Later on after this program was developed the town upgraded the program to also include educational/training videos as well as workshops in hopes to reach a large population that provided basic information related to stormwater pollution prevention. In addition, as a part of educating the public it is important to know when travelers or citizens are entering an important watershed. The town of Cromwell implemented signs that do just this. You can see one of these signs at the entrance of River Highlands State Park which is a well used hiking trail in Cromwell, CT that lines the Connecticut River, one of our main watersheds. The sign states that the Connecticut River is nearby in attempts to warn the habitants that there is an important watershed near by. In the figure below, although a little blurry, you can see the sign that is posted at the entrance of the park full of information. Another important aspect that was placed on the entrance sign is the reminder to not litter, especially in this area since it is so close to our local watershed and can potentially harm it.
(Figure 3). This image captures the educational program outreach attempt of a sign that was posted outside of River Highlands State Park that boarders a very important local watershed.
One last BMP that has been put into place in my local watershed of Cromwell, CT is the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan. This plan was made to make sure that the discharge of storm water is being done properly, especially those areas with industrialized activity. Industrial activity companies and areas are required under this plan to obtain a permit that binds them to the rules and structures of proper stormwater runoff management. Under this permit there are constant inspections being done in facilities where discharge is common. The areas that are inspected are dumps, transfer station recycling areas, transfer station waste oil areas, etc. This is done to try to prevent illicit discharges from happening in the first place and often these inspections are done weekly. This plan/permit also requires stormwater testing where a sample is taken by proper authorities for visual assessment. These sample assessments are done quarterly. There is also a part of the plan that states that citizens of Cromwell are allowed to report illicit discharges of storm water to help prevent water pollution. If someone believes that they have seen an illicit discharge there is an email address where they can send a message to report the suspected discharge or any type of water pollution for that matter. It also establishes legal authority to prohibit illicit discharges. Something that I found that was pretty awesome was that in the past five years the town of Cromwell has had zero illicit stormwater discharge cases.
Overall, throughout my research I learned several new things about my local watershed and how they have implemented BMPs throughout the town to help keep the watershed healthy and prevent pollution. The town of Cromwell, which I never knew, is well equipped with BMPs that are aiding the upkeep of a healthy watershed. They are constantly changing and upgrading these measures too which is important as things are constantly changing around us. The three listed BMPs above prove that the town takes the health of our watershed very seriously, and that is something that I think we should all continue to practice. If this is continued there will be an overall better quality of life for not only its citizens but also animal, plant, and aquatic life as well.
Sources:
USGS, 2020, StreamStats Report for 41.6234, -72.6780, StreamStats Application version 4.3.0, U.S. Geological Survey, accessed February 1, 2022 at https://streamstats.usgs.gov/ss/
Cromwell, 2018, Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, accessed April 29, 2022 at https://www.cromwellct.com/sites/g/files/vyhlif2976/f/uploads/swpp_transfer_station.pdf
Cromwell, 2017, Stormwater Management Plan, accessed April 12, 2022 at https://www.cromwellct.com/sites/g/files/vyhlif2976/f/uploads/2017_cromwell_ms4_smp_final_08032017.pdf
Delineating and Describing Your Local Watershed
By: Nicholas Perreault
My name is Nicholas Perreault, I am from Northeast Connecticut, and I would like to share information about understanding watersheds. A watershed is an area that all drains to a particular body of water. This includes both water from anthropogenic and natural sources like precipitation. People should care about watersheds as everyone lives in one and actions taken in your watershed affects your quality of water. For example, if you live in the same watershed as a cattle farm, the runoff from that farm could be contaminating your water even if they live far away from you. The runoff from that farm has a high level of nitrogen. This nitrogen could cause eutrophication in a waterbody near you, which could cause hypoxia that would kill all the fish in that body of water. This is just a simple example of how someone else’s actions in a watershed could affect you. To gather the information that I used in this paper, I utilized the resources from the Environmental Protection Agency and The United States Geological Service. The programs used are called StreamStats, How’s My Waterway, Science in Your Watershed, and a published report from the United States Geological Service. All of these tools are free to the public and very easy to use. My name is Nicholas Perreault and I am studying Environmental Science at Eastern Connecticut University. I am writing this paper to explain the importance of being good caretakers of your watershed while also focusing on the health of my personal watershed, the Quinebaug River Basin.
It is important to be conscientious of your actions and how they affect the watershed you live in. Using excessive amounts of fertilizer or pesticides on your property could runoff into rivers and limit the amount of species that can live in the waterway while at the same time making the groundwater unsafe to drink. Clearing large sections of ground can increase turbidity of a river near you and damage sensitive aquatic life or kill them all together. You must also remember that, at times, it may be easy to try to rationalize that your actions will not affect you, just someone farther down river. If every person thought this way everyone would be affected by the others upstream. This is because everyone lives downriver from someone else in a watershed. The health of your watershed is also a direct representation of the natural environment you live in. This means that if you enjoy living in an area with healthy biodiversity, you should care about your watershed health.
I live in Plainfield, Connecticut, which means that I live in the Quinebaug River Basin. This watershed covers a total of 743 square miles in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, though dominating in Connecticut at 425 square miles. This watershed has plenty of water that is in fairly healthy condition. The annual precipitation in the watershed is about 45 inches (Water Resources Inventory of CT, 1966). This precipitation helps feed the many streams and small rivers in the basin as well as help support the plants and animals of the region. All of this rainfall and many rivers is also why there are many dams in the Quinebaug River Basin. These dams help to control flooding and are also sometimes used for hydrological electricity generation. Damming rivers may be good for human development, but it also has a negative effect on waterways. They can prevent water from flowing naturally and harm fish and plant species.
When utilizing the site Science in Your Watershed, it is possible to identify specific unit codes for the watershed of your area. My home in Plainfield, CT falls into the hydrological unit code 01100001 (Ierardi, 2020).. The area of this code covers most of far eastern Connecticut, parts of western Rhode Island, and continues into a small part of mass directly north of northeastern Connecticut. The main river in this unit is the Quinebaug River, along with the Five Mile River, and two Unnamed RFI reaches (Ierardi, 2020). This watershed area and code, along with the four rivers, can be seen in Figure 1.
To access a deeper understanding of your personal watershed and updated information about the various streams within, the website How’s My Waterway is the best. When I followed the quick and easy steps on the site, I found that my home falls into the hydrological unit code 011000010702, which is called the Cory Brook-Quinebaug River Watershed, as displayed in Figure 2 (EPA, 2022). This site also provides some interesting information about the water sources within the watershed. My waterway is healthy despite one impaired brook (EPA, 2022). This brook, the Aspinook Pond is eutrophic, and is listed with high levels of nutrient pollution (EPA, 2022). This watershed has three monitoring locations where they have never had an identified issue with water quality. There are also at 6 different locations where aquatic life was monitored and there were no unhealthy reports given. In addition to this there are currently seven different programs that are working to either restore or protect the watershed (EPA, 2022).
The final source USGS StreamStats helps you to understand at an even deeper level the information about the watershed your home is located in. This site develops a report providing the drainage area, the mean basin elevation, the percent developed land, the percent impervious land, the mean annual precipitation, the total length of mapped streams, and the percentage of wetlands. In my own personal watershed, as visible in Figure 3, I saw that it was 2.66 square miles with a mean elevation of 210 feet(USGS, 2016). The report also told me that there is 7.84% developed land with 1.84% impervious surface (USGS, 2016). The mean annual precipitation, which is very similar to that in the Quinebaug River Basin report, is 48.686 inches, while the total length of streams is 3.76 miles and it has 16.2% of wetlands (USGS, 2016). Within my own personal watershed there is a gravel quarry owned by Rawson Material Company. Because of the nature of their operation, much of the natural plant cover has been stripped off leaving exposed land. This exposed land they dig to extract gravel. This kind of an operation has to be causing increased runoff. This runoff could be contributing to high levels of turbidity in the small streams in my watershed. Another factor that could be contributing an impact to my watershed is that Sugar Brook is crossed by a major roadway. The combination of an unhealthy riparian zone because of clearing from the road and the pollution from potential roadway runoff could lead to decreased water quality.
Understanding what a watershed is and how we all contribute to its health is necessary to maintain the health of the world and of the human population. Every person lives in a watershed and contributes to its health, so understanding where yours is and how to identify it can be a great tool in becoming a knowledgeable citizen of the Earth. Sites such as the USGS Science in Your Watershed, EPA How’s My Waterway, and the USGS ScienceStats are excellent to help anyone learn more about their impact on the world around them.
References
Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). How’s My Waterway? EPA. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://mywaterway.epa.gov/community/20%20Pine%20St,%20Plainfield,%20CT,%2006374,%20USA/overview
Ierardi, M. C. (n.d.). Science in your watershed. Science in Your Watershed – HUC 01100001. Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://water.usgs.gov/wsc/cat/01100001.html#.html
StreamStats. (n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://streamstats.usgs.gov/ss/
Water Resources Inventory of connecticut part I Quinebaug … (n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2022, from https://pubs.usgs.gov/ctwrb/0008/report.pdf
Delineating/Describing My Watershed
My name is Joshua Robidas and I’m from New Fairfield, CT. It was interesting researching what watershed I live on using the USGS and US EPA websites. Each watershed is given a Hydrologic Unit Code(HUC) which labels the size of a certain watershed. Watersheds can be as small as a lake or as large as a small country. Watersheds can contain streams, rivers, lakes, as well as reservoirs. A watershed is basically a drainage basin in any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into an outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. In this article I will be researching what watershed I live on at home.
The 8-digit HUC code for my watershed is 01100005. There are eleven rivers that flow through the watershed. There is the Housatonic, Blackberry, Naugatuck, Shepaug, Bantam, Pomperaug, East Aspetuck, Aspetuck, Leadmine Brook, Waiting, Webatuck. As well as a few unnamed rivers. All this data is on a public website called “Science in Your Watershed” which is hosted by the USGS.
The document from the 1960’s or 1970’s defines the watershed as the drainage basin for the Housatonic river. It also includes the basins of two major tributaries, which are the Pomperaug and Naugatuck Rivers. The lower Housatonic River basin Includes 557 square miles. The elevation ranges from sea level to about 1,600 feet. There are steep slopes as well as rising uplands ranging across the area. More than 75
percent of the basin Is not inhabited while another 15 percent Includes water-supply lands, recreation, State forest, and water bodies. Around 10 percent is residential. (Wilson, et. al, 2012, April 22)
Using the second resource “How’s My Waterway” which is an EPA website it explains that my watershed is connected to the Middle East Branch Croton River. The 12-digit HCU code is 020301010203. The website has a lot of information about the water quality. I found out there are seven waterbodies. Of which three have good conditions and four which are unknown. None of the waterbodies have been assessed for swimming and boating. In regards to eating fish all of the waterbodies have not been tested for quality. In terms of aquatic life ratings only two of the seven waterbodies have been tested and the results show the quality is good. There are no issues with that waters that have been tested. No impaired water or discharges with significant violations. There are two current restoration programs that are clean water act section 319 projects. The entire watershed health score is .77 which is relatively healthy.
Using the third resource which was “StreamStats” which is an application from the USGS I found out multiple facts about my watershed. The mean basin elevation is 805 feet. Percentage of developed land is 18.1%. Also the mean annual precipitation is 50.037 inches. As well as the average percent of impervious area is 3.53%. The average soil permeability is listed at 3.413 inches per hour. And the drainage are is 5.69 square miles. The total length of all mapped streams is 13.2 miles. And finally, the percentage of wetlands is 0.53%
This article is mainly about the watershed in my area located in New Fairfield, CT. Prior to this assignment I knew basically nothing about my local watershed. The research that was conducted really helped me learn more about the water in my area. I also didn’t know there were this many resources to use to find out all of this data. Going more in depth I was unaware that most of the watershed are was uninhabited. I knew CT has a lot of woodlands but I never thought that over the entire area of watershed that only 10% was residential. Throughout my research I also came to the conclusion that there was barely any information on my area while using the second resource “How’s My Waterway”. A lot of the information was categorized as unknown. And using the third resource “StreamStats” I was able to delineate my local watershed and learn about certain aspects of it. Such as drainage area, mean basin elevation, % developed land, % impervious area, mean annual precipitation, average soil permeability, total length of all mapped streams, and % wetlands. Overall, it was enjoyable learning about the history, data, and details about HUC 01100005 and HUC 020301010203.
Work Cited:
-Ierardi, Michael C. “Science in Your Watershed.” Science in Your Watershed – HUC 01100005, https://water.usgs.gov/wsc/cat/01100005.html.
-“How’s My Waterway?” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, https://mywaterway.epa.gov/community/06812,%20New%20Fairfield,%20CT,%20USA/overview.
–StreamStats, https://streamstats.usgs.gov/ss/.
-W. E., Burke, E. L., & Jr., C. E. T. (2012, April 22). Water Resources Inventory of Connecticut part 5: Lower housatonic river basin. Connecticut Water Resources Bulletin.
WatershedWatch 