Watersheds

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Watersheds

• What are they?
• How can rivers get polluted?
• And how can we measure water quality?

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Science Focus Activity

• Take a moment and create a picture in your mind
  of what a watershed looks like. (hint It is NOT
  a shed with water in it)
• Now take 30 seconds and create a picture in your
  mind of what a septic system looks like.
• Now write a definition or draw picture for each.

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Watershed

• The region or area drained by a river, stream,
  etc.
• A drainage area

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Housatonic River Watershed
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Pomperaug Watershed
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Where Does Most of Water End Up?
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Point Source Pollution

• Pollution emitted through a pipe (point), which
  is easily identifiable (large pipe) from 1
  source.
• Examples
• Sewage treatment plant
• Power plant
• Chemical plant

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Wastewater Treatment Plant
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Non-point Source

• Diffuse or many small sources of pollution
• Carried by rainfall or snowmelt
• Examples
• Nutrients from farms
• Fertilizer from lawns
• Dirt from construction sites
• Storm water from roads

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Typical Septic Field Design
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Water Should be Clean When it Reaches the
Groundwater
(Aquifer)
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Measuring the Quality of Our Rivers

• Benthic Macroinvertebrates give reliable info
  because.
• Represent a diverse group of species.
• Possess a wide range of responses to stressors.
• Dont move around much so dont escape the
  effects of sediments or other pollution.
• Are long-lived allowing detection of past
  pollution.

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What Else Are They Good For?

• Benthic Macroinvertebrates are also important to
  the ecology of a river because they are important
  members of the food chain
• Stonefly Mayfly Water
  Penny

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Caddisfly Complete Metamorphous

• Net spinning Casing almost
• Larvae
  Complete
• Egg Mass ? Larvae ? Pupa ? Adult

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What Are Benthic Macroinvertebrates?

• Animals without backbones
• Large enough to be seen without microscope
• Live in bottom of rivers streams
• Examples
• Immature adult insects
• Crustaceans
• Aquatic worms
• mollusks

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Floodplains Wetlands

• A flood plain is an important habitat in a
  watershed.
• So what is a floodplain?
• Floodplains are relatively level areas near a
  body of water that are submerged by water during
  rain storms.

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What Is the Value of a Floodplain?

• Reduces the rate of a river during a storm flood.
• Minimizes the effects of flooding downstream.
• Retains and filters water.
• Provides valuable habit.

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Wetlands

• Wetlands are areas that are wet or are
  occasionally wet during the year.
• Wetlands support wetland vegetation
• Cattails
• Mediterranean
• Barley

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Difference Between Floodplain Wetlands

• Floodplains include the wetlands.
• Floodplains also include upland areas that may be
  flooded during a..
• 1-Year Storm
• 5-Year Storm
• 10-Year Storm
• 100-Year Storm

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Wrap-up

• Is a Wastewater Treatment Plant a point source or
  non-point source of pollution?
• What about a septic system?
• Where does most of the rainwater in CT end up?