| Educational Resources | |
|---|---|
| What is a watershed? | |
| A watershed is an area of land that drains into a water body such as a stream, river or lake that is at the lowest elevation than the surrounding land. The quality of water within a watershed depends on how the land is used. Human activities and developments can affect and degrade the water quality. | |
| Where can I get my water tested? | |
| You can participate in the volunteer monitoring program by collectin water samples from any stream of your choice and analyze the sample at an environmental chemistry lab. See the volunteer monitoring page for more information. | |
| What causes stream bank erosion? | |
| Streams and rivers are dynamic natural features. Erosion reflects the condition of the stream bed and banks and surrounding land use practices. Excessive land development creates significant amounts of storm runoff that accelerates the erosion/flooding process and creates instability of the channel. | |
| What is nonpoint source pollution? | |
| Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, comes from many diffuse sources. NPS pollution is the Nation's leading source of water quality degradation. Although individual homes might contribute only minor amounts of NPS pollution, the combined effect of an entire neighborhood can be serious. These include eutrophication (nutrient pollution), sedimentation, and contamination with unwanted pollutants. | |
| NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These pollutants include: excess fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas; oil, grease, and toxic chemical from urban runoff and energy production; sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding stream banks; salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines; bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems; atmospheric deposition and hydromidification are also sources of nonpoint source pollution. | |
| What causes nonpoint source pollution? | |
| We all play a part. Nonpoint source pollution results from a wide variety of human activities on the land. Each of us can contribute to the problem without even realizing it. | |