New Mexico Watershed Watch
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Transcript of New Mexico Watershed Watch
New Mexico Watershed Watch
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What is a watershed?
What is a watershed?
What is a watershed?
What is your watershed address?
What types of connections exist within watersheds?
• Community settlement often near water sources
• Surface water and groundwater• Upstream and downstream
Surface Water and Groundwater Connections
Hydraulic Conductivity
K (cm/sec) 10² 10 1 10−1 10−2 10−3 10−4 10−5 10−6 10−7 10−8 10−9 10−10
K (ft/day) 105 10,000 1,000 100 10 1 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.0001 10−5 10−6 10−7
Relative Permeability Pervious Semi-Pervious Impervious
Aquifer Good Poor None
Unconsolidated Sand and Gravel
Well Sorted Gravel
Well Sorted Sand or Sand & Gravel Very Fine Sand, Silt, Loess, Loam
Unconsolidated Clay & Organic Peat Layered Clay Fat / Unweathered Clay
Consolidated Rocks Highly Fractured Rocks Oil Reservoir Rocks Fresh Sandstone
Fresh Limestone, Dolomite Fresh Granite
Surface Water and Groundwater Connections
• Septic tanks can pollute groundwater
• Over-pumping from wells can diminish water in streams
How might upstream users impact downstream users?
How might upstream users impact downstream users?
Watershed Management
• How do we assess and learn what is happening in our watershed?– How do we test if the watershed is healthy?
Chemistry
• Turbidity• Temperature• pH• Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)• Nutrients (Nitrogen and Phosphorus)
Turbidity
• Measurement of how clear or cloudy water is depending on suspended solids.– How much light is able
to pass through?
Temperature
• Why is water temperature important to fish or other aquatic life?
pH
• Acidic vs basic• Pure water = pH of
7.0• Rainwater = pH of 5.6• pH of 6.6 to 8.8 is
optimal for most species
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
• Inorganic salts (calcium, magnesium, bicarbonates, etc)
• Organic matter• Hard vs Soft water• We measure TDS by
looking at how water conducts electricity
Nutrients
• Nitrogen• Phosphorus
• Too much nutrients cause algae blooms
• When the algae die, oxygen gets too low for fish
Biology
• Benthic macro-invertebrates• Vegetation diversity• Vegetation buffer width
Benthic Macro-invertebrates (water insects)
• Benthic = “bottom dwelling”
• Invertebrate = “without a spine”
• Some water insects are very sensitive, they can’t handle pollution
they tell us if the water has been clean
Vegetation Diversity and Buffer Width
• Shading• Filtration of erosion and other pollutants• Bank stabilization• Improved habitat
Physical
• Stream-flow/Discharge• Distance of river to nearest disturbance• Rock embeddedness
Stream-flow
• How much water (volume) is passing a point in time.– Cubic feet/sec; Cubic
meters/sec
Stream-flow
Monitoring at Frijoles Canyon
• What is the condition of surface water in Frijoles Canyon at Bandelier National Park?
Monitoring at Frijoles Canyon
• Temperature• Turbidity• pH• Total Dissolved Solids• Nutrients• Riparian habitat assessment• Benthic macro-invertebrates• Streamflow
Monitoring at Frijoles Canyon
• Warm clothing• Good shoes• Water bottle
Have fun & be safe!