GEOG 4355 Watershed Management

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GEOG 4355Watershed Management
Winter 2001 Class 1
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GEOG 4355 Goals

• To provide you with an introduction to the
  principles and practices of watershed management.
• To survey the problems and issues found in urban
  and urbanizing watersheds subject to human
  pressures for the exploitation of the lands and
  resources they contain.
• To explain the importance of land use and the
  impacts of change on the hydrological character
  of a watershed.
• To provide the basic information needed to
  appreciate how watershed managers can make
  appropriate management decisions and bring about
  their implementation.
• To achieve at least 8 specific learning outcomes
  in the process (see syllabus)

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Your Instructor (yes me!)

• Conducted Ph.D. research modeling arid zone
  watershed hydrology (1982-89).
• Consulted on water harvesting systems and water
  source protection issues (1989-90)
• Developed water quality monitoring program for 16
  major watersheds of Belize (1994-95)

• Provided technical assistance to rural watershed
  committees in Lempira Department, Honduras
  (1994-96).
• Provided technical assistance to National Water
  Agency watershed managers in Tegucigalpa,
  Honduras (1994-97).
• Taught watershed management at the Pan-American
  School of Agriculture (1993-1996)
• Developed and delivered two international short
  courses on integrated and sustainable watershed
  management (1996, 1999).
• Participates in community-based management of
  Sausal Creek Watershed, Oakland (planning and
  implementation since 1996).

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The watershed

• A watershed is a geographical area across which
  water and the natural suspended solids, dissolved
  materials, organisms and any introduced
  pollutants that are in it collect and flow toward
  a common destination lake, stream, river,
  aquifer or ocean.
• A watershed is delimited by a set of divides,
  areas of higher ground such as mountain ridges,
  which separate one hydrological system from
  another.
• The term watershed, as used in America, is
  synonymous with the alternatives catchment and
  drainage basin used elsewhere.

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An interesting watershed example Los Vaqueros
(Source Contra Costa Water District)
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Topographydefines thewatershed
Sausal Creek, Oakland (Courtesy of Museum of
Oakland)
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Maps are used to delineate watersheds and
sub-watersheds
Source Michael J. Pidwirny, Ph.D., Department of
Geography, Okanagan University College
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Digital Elevation Models and GIS Programs are
also used.
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The Watershed A 3D Perspective
Walnut River part of Red River Basin, Arkansas
(courtesy UCAR)
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Why manage watersheds?

• Watersheds are natural systems that we can work
  with (manage) to meet human needs (including the
  protection of other species!).
• Watershed management is continuous and requires a
  multi-disciplinary approach geographers are
  well-suited to this task as either team members
  or integrators.
• A watershed management framework requires
  partnerships, the use of sound science, and the
  implementation of well-planned actions to achieve
  specific physical objectives.

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Some goals of watershed management

• Point and non-point source pollution reduction or
  elimination.
• Water supply protection quality and
  reliability.
• Recreation enhancement.
• Preservation of threatened or endangered
  species/protection of biodiversity.
• Flood control and flood risk reduction.
• Sustainability of natural resources exploitation
  (fisheries, forests, etc.)
• Multiple combinations of the above.

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Some typical stressors in watersheds

• Urbanization changes runoff regimens,
  introduces pollution sources, modifies vegetation
  cover and visual character, abstracts instream
  flows.
• Forestry compacts surfaces, erodes slopes,
  changes vegetation cover, changes runoff
  regimens, alters riparian habitat.
• Mining pollutes with tailings erosion
  acidic/metallic mine drainage, removes sediment
  loads from rivers.
• Farming changes vegetation cover, introduces
  pollutants, causes erosion and changed runoff
  regimens, abstracts in-stream flows.
• Recreation disturbs vegetation and wildlife,
  creates localized runoff and erosion, introduces
  pollutants.

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Tegucigalpa, Capital Of Honduras
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Tegucigalpa Has Three Principal Water Sources
La Tigra
Guacerique
Concepción
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The Los Laureles Reservoir Provides 30 Of Citys
Needs
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Increased Demands And Reduced Storage Leads To
Draw-Down
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The Guacerique Watershed Is Subject To Heavy
Urban Influences
(IGN Topo Map, 1985, 1 km Squares)
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The Ciudad Mateo Housing Project Is 4km From The
Water
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Ciudad Mateo Housing Is Steeply Sloping Toward
The Reservoir
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The Project Was Left Unfinished For Years As
Officials Argued
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The Tegucigalpa Ring-Road Was Constructed Around
The Reservoir
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Surfaces And Slopes Were Left To Erode Without
Mitigation
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Road Alignment Opened Up New Slopes For
Exploitation
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The Ciudad Mateo Sewer Main Runs Along The
Reservoir Edge
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High Turbidity And Siltation Create Quality and
Reliability Impacts
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Managing a watershed

• When humans change the character of a watershed
  (either away from or back to its original
  character), or try and maintain its current
  status against the forces of nature, we call this
  watershed management.
• Many watershed management efforts are designed to
  correct the damaging impacts of human actions
  undertaken at an upstream or downstream location
  that negatively affect current or will affect
  future watershed resources and uses.

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Conflicting interests

• Watershed management tries to balance competing
  interests and resolve conflicts between upstream
  and downstream watershed stakeholders.
• Hydropower operators and whitewater rafters.
• Sand and gravel miners and riparian landowners.
• Sewage system operators and water supply
  utilities.
• Logging companies and environmental activists.
• Dog lovers and water utility customers.

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Watersheds geographical units.

• Managing watersheds is frequently made difficult
  because though they are always geographical
  units, they are frequently not political or
  economic units.
• Watershed divides are commonly not political
  divides nor are they property boundaries.
• Ownership and administrative responsibilities are
  thus frequently divided within a watershed
  resulting in fractured authority and a lack of
  integrated decision-making mechanisms (the bigger
  they are, the more likely this is).

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Homework 1

• Please go to the EPAs Watershed Academy web-site
  at http//www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/aca
  d2000.html
• and complete the following modules
• Principles of Watershed Management (8 slides,
  associated pop-ups and self-test).
• Introduction to Watershed Ecology (21 slides,
  associated pop-ups and self-test).