CHAPTER 1 Watersheds & Wetlands

“All is born of water; all is sustained by water.” --

J. Wolfgang von Goethe

Our Water Resources

• Renewable but limited

• What if more water was being held in other parts of the cycle or other places?

• Water is a very old resource- millions of years old

• One if the main reasons people live longer today is clean water.

List several things we use water for:

• Cook

• Clean (bath, homes, cars, etc)

• Sanitation

• Medicines

• Swim

• Fish

• Grow plants

Where does our water go?

• Agriculture and power plants account for most of the water usage in the US.

• Residential usage is about 8%

• Agriculture usage 42 %

• Industrial usage 50%.

How much water do have?

• Approx 70% of Earth’s surface is water.

• 97% is saltwater

• 3% is fresh water

3 % Fresh Water

• 77% of that water is frozen in polar icecaps

• 22% is groundwater

• 1% is usable in lakes, rivers, soil moisture and atmospheric.

Surface Water

• Surface water is all water that falls and stays above ground to flow into rivers, lakes and streams.

• depended on by most cities for their supplies

• All surface water flow in a watershed.

Watersheds• All surface water on the Earth travels thousands of

miles through watersheds is a result of precipitation.• Watersheds are very important because they could

lead to pollution and dispute • 40 % of the world’s population rely on water that

originated in other countries • Why would a community prefer to get water from a

lake vs. rivers? • Many governmental bodies debate and compromise

“Share Treaties” over these resources.

Pennsylvania Watersheds

• Pennsylvania has five major watersheds

• The Ohio Basin

• The Great Lakes Basin

• TheSusquehanna Basin

• The Potomic Basin

• The Delaware Basin

Stream Characteristics

• Rivers begin at their source and end at their mouth.• A stream’s velocity is the distance a slug of water flows

over a specific period of time. (m/s or ft/s)• A stream’s sediment load can be carried along in one of

three methods:• 1. Dissolved load - small grained sediments are dissolved

completely in the water.• 2. Suspended load - larger grained sediments are carried

along by the water.• 3. Bed load - largest grains (gravel, pebble or rock sized)

are pushed along the stream bed by the water.

Major Drainage Patterns

• Dendritic-resembles a tree with branches. Forms where the bedrock is uniform and massive.

• Radial-streams radiate outwards from a central point. Usually occurs from an uplifted feature such as a plateau or volcano

• Rectangular-stream bends are at right angles to each other. Occurs where the bedrock has been fractured or faulted.

• Trellis-tributary streams are parallel to each other. Bedrock is alternating resistant and nonresistant layers.

Dams• Dams are structures built across rivers to restrict

and control water flow in the river. • They are built for many reasons

– flood control – drinking water – irrigation

– industry • Dams are vulnerability indicators of watershed health

because they cause changes in temperature and salinity of the water

Reservoirs

• A Reservoir is the area where the dam water collects.

Environmental Impact

• Building a dam has some detrimental effects to the local ecology.

• Flora and Fauna?• Fertile Land (Flood Plains)• Communities lose valuable property.City

Water- Treatment System (Transparency)

Wetlands

• Defined by Chapter 105 of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth code as: “Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.”

Types of Wetlands

• There are six types of wetlands:• Emergent Wetlands-rushes, grasses and

sedges.• Scrub-Shrub Wetlands-trees < 20’,

spicebushes, blueberry bushes, winterberries and swamp honeysuckle

• Forested Wetlands-trees>20’, red & silver maples, black gum, river birch & green ash.

Types of Wetlands (cont.)

• Bogs-soil is mostly decomposed organic matter. Mosses are dominant. Soil is very acidic and there is very little oxygen content in the water.

• Swamps-a forested wetland in which trees and bushes are dominant. Classified by the species of tree that dominates, such as conifers or hardwoods

Types of Wetlands (cont.)

• Marshes-form at the mouths of rivers or areas of poor drainage. Rich soils and abundant vegetation and wildlife. Examples are grasses, sedges, bulrushes, cattails, beavers, frogs, turtles, raccoons, muskrats, opossums, birds & insects.

Functions of Wetlands

• Cycle nutrients through the ecosystem via plant life.

• Provide buffer zones to absorb increased runoff due to flooding.

• Control pollution (sediments) by filtering them out of the water and slowing down the water allowing settling to occur.

Groundwater

• Groundwater is the precipitation that seeps into the ground.

• It is then trapped by rock and mineral formations.

• This area of water that collects below the ground is called an Aquifer.

• Example: Ogallala Aquifer

Recharge Zone

• Recharge Zone is the area of land in which groundwater originates.

• This is area is the primary region that recharges an aquifer.

Aquifer Transparency.

Solutions to water shortages:

• I. Desalinization– Reverse osmosis– Desalinization

• II. Towing water in “Buffalos”

• III. Conservation

I. Desalinization

• The term means to de-salt.

• The oceans are full of saltwater (97% of the Earth’s water.)

• How would you remove salt from salt water?

II. Towing water in “Buffalos”

• These are tankers on wheels. They contain “potable” water.

• Would be inconvenient because of the need to transport water back home.

• Would need heated

• Added expense of delivery and filling.

III. Conservation• Indoor water uses per person:

– Toilets 28 gal – Showers 25 gal – Laundry 7.5 gal – Cook/Drink 7.5 gal – Cleaning 2.5 gal – Dishes 4 gal– Brush Teeth 2.5 gal

What can you do to conserve water?

• Take shorter showers and avoid taking baths unless you keep the water level low.

• Install low-flow shower heads in showers

• Install low-flow faucet aerators in faucets at home

• Install water saving devices in your toilets.

• Don’t let water run while not in direct use

• Fill up sink basins.

• Water lawn at night to avoid evaporation.

• Replace lawns with native plants that are more suitable to local climate.

Average American uses approx. 77 gal. water per day

Source: Clean Water Action, Inc.

What can you do to conserve water? • Take shorter showers and avoid taking baths

unless you keep the water level low• Install low-flow shower heads in showers • Install low-flow faucet aerators in faucets at home • Install water saving devices in your toilets. • Don’t let water run while not in direct use. • Fill up sink basins.• Water lawn at night to avoid evaporation • Replace lawns with native plants that are more

suitable to local climate.

Freshwater Pollution

Developed countries have made strides in the last 20 years.

In lesser developed countries there remains a large problem. • Why would developed countries have been

able to make strides?– Realize the need for clean environment– Have the technology.

• Why would underdeveloped countries still be striving to do better?– Need the business at all costs– Lack the technology.

• In Russia it could cost up to $200 billion dollars to clean up.

• In Poland it is said to be too polluted for industrial use.

• In very poor countries pollution is not the problem

• What could be the problem if not pollution? – Higher population demands an abundance of

clean water.

Water Pollution

The introduction of chemical, physical, or biological agents into water that degrades the quality of the water and affects the organisms that depend on it.

Several kinds of water pollution: • Pathogens - are disease causing agents such as

bacteria. Mostly animal feces. • Organic Matter is the biodegradable remains of plants

and animals. • Organic Compounds are pesticides, fertilizers, plastics,

detergents, gas/oil, and other fossil fuels. (P & NP)• Inorganic Compounds are acids, salts, toxic metals. (P

& NP) • Toxic Chemicals are chemicals that are toxic to living

organisms such as heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium), industrial chemicals and many household chemicals.

• Physical Agents are heat and suspended solids such as soil.

• Radioactive Wastes are from nuclear processes and defense facilities.

Point Source Pollutants

A pollutant discharged from a single source such as a factory, treatment plant, tanker. Easily traced to the source.

Sources of point source pollutants • 23 million septic

tank systems

• 9,000 municipal landfills

• thousands of wastewater treatment plants

• 190,000 storage lagoons

• @2 million U.G.S tanks

• thousands of wastewater treatment plants

Point source pollutants are easy to monitor and regulate??

Why do you think this is so?

nonpoint source is a pollutant that comes from many sources.

They are put into the environment over a wide area

Examples of Nonpoint sources

• oil on road surface washes into storm drains

• pesticides and fertilizers on a farm

• storm water: oil, gas, feces, liter

• 50 million tons of fertilizers applied

• 10 million tons of dry salt on roadways

• eroding soil and toxic chemicals

Water Quality

• Cleaning up water pollution was intended to “restore the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters”.

• The goal was to make all surface water clean enough for fishing and swimming.

Federal laws gave way to tougher state laws with bigger teeth. • Many heavy metals are now removed at

the site of industry and the water was treated before leaving the plant.

• organic pollutants are channeled to lagoons to allow for decay before being released in the water.

• This was a very effective way to deter point source pollution. $$$

Water Quality Legislation

• 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA) – Make nation’s water “fishable” & “swimmable” by

1983 – Ban pollution discharge by 1985 & metals by 1980

• 1972 Marine Protection, Research & Sanctuaries Act– Renewed in 1988 empowered EPA to control ocean

pollution.

•  1975 Safe Drinking Water Act – Enacted control for surface and groundwater

management.

Continued• 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response

Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA) – *This is the superfund act liability to owners, operators &

customers of hazardous sites responsible for their cleanup. – * Renewed in 1988 empowered EPA to control ocean

pollution.

• 1975 Safe Drinking Water Act – enacted control for surface and groundwater management.

• 1987 Water Quality Act – was a support mechanism to help state & local efforts to

clean polluted runoff. Funded wastewater treatment plants.

Groundwater

• Poses special problems due to the fact that it is below ground

• Takes a lot of time to percolate

• Recharge zone is an expansive area therefore it includes a lot of nonpoint source pollution.

• How could you decontaminate an aquifer?

Bottled water

• Mostly just purified water.

• May be checked less than public water. – Corporate Regulations are less stringent

that P.U.C.

• No fluoride

Artificial Eutrofication

• Phosphates and nitrates act as fertilizers in the water.

• Any green plant in the water will then grow at a faster rate than normal.

• This will eventually choke off a water system.

• Could this be considered a form of succession?

Biomagnification

• the increase in concentration of a pollutant that occurs in a food chain.

Ocean Water Pollution

Ocean Water Pollution

• Very little research is being done at this point to determine the exact extent.

• This is largely due to the fact that the ocean is too big and that nobody feels direct ownership of the ocean.

• 85% of ocean pollution originates on land.

• How does it get to the ocean? – It finds its way by rivers and runoff.

The Affects of Ocean Pollution

• It affects coral reefs and estuaries the most.

• Also could have an affect on food production.

• Cruise Liners are responding to international pressure.