F.A.Q.

What is runoff?
Runoff is water from rain or melted snow that moves across the land.

What is water pollution?
Water pollution is the contamination of water by undesirable foreign matter, such as soil, litter, or chemicals. A body of water is considered polluted when it is harmful or no longer usable by people or other living things. EPA divides water pollution sources into two categories: point and non-point.

What is a pollutant?
A pollutant is any substance that contaminates the air, water, and soil.

What is nonpoint source pollution (NPS)?
Nonpoint source pollution is difficult to control because it does not come from one specific source. Instead, it comes from many places or from a widespread area.When water from rainfall or melting snow flows across the land, it picks up and carries away soil particles, pesticides, fertilizer, pet waste, oil and other toxic materials depositing them into streams, rivers, wetlands, lakes, and even our underground sources of drinking water.

What is point source pollution?
Point source pollution is easier to manage and can usually be traced to a single source, like a pipe or culvert. Point source pollutants are from stationary locations such as sewage treatment plants and factories.

What is water quality?
Water quality is a term used to describe the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water, usually in respect to its suitability for a particular purpose, such as for drinking water, navigation, and to support aquatic life.

How is water quality defined?
Water Quality Standards are the foundation of the water quality-based pollution control program mandated by the Clean Water Act. Water Quality Standards define the goals for a waterbody by designating its uses (public water supply, protection of fish, shellfish, and wildlife, recreational, agricultural, industrial, and navigational purposes), setting criteria to protect those uses, and establishing provisions to protect waterbodies from pollutants.

What are water quality parameters?
Physical – Clarity (or turbidity), temperature, conductivity, and oxidation/reduction.

Chemical – Dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, nutrients (nitrogen & phosphorus), hardness, alkalinity, and other chemical elements.

Biological – Phytoplankton (microscopic plants), zooplankton (microscopic animals), benthic invertebrates, aquatic macrophytes (large plants), and fish.

What is a watershed?
The US Environmental Protection Agency defines a watershed as the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. It is an area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, or even the ocean! Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state, and national boundaries. No matter where you are, you're in a watershed!

Why is a watershed important?
Everyone relies on water and other natural resources to exist. What we do on the land impacts the quality and quantity of water and our other natural resources. Healthy watersheds are vital for a healthy environment and economy. Our watersheds provide water for drinking, irrigation and industry. Many people also enjoy lakes and streams for their beauty and for boating, fishing and swimming. Wildlife also need healthy watersheds for food and shelter.

How are watersheds impacted by human activity?
Human modifications to the land and to water bodies can alter the flow and drainage of water. If not done properly, these alterations can increase the amount of sediments, and nutrients, pesticides, and fertilizers that enter the aquatic system; thus fundamentally altering the aquatic systems. Also, over-development can result in deterioration of water quality due to increased paved surface areas (increasing amount of runoff) and disturbed soil.

What is watershed management?
Watershed Management is a process of making informed decisions based on the uses and modifications of lands and waters within a watershed. Managing from this perspective, addresses all the issues related to the water resources in a watershed. The process is an opportunity for all stakeholders to balance their often competing uses for limited environmental resources, and to consider how their cumulative actions may affect long-term sustainability of these resources. Watershed management is important for the improvement and maintenance of good water quality in a watershed. In the recent years the water quality standards have come under stress due to increasing population, depleting water resources, and poor management practices.

What is environmental sustainability?
Environmental sustainability can be defined as meeting the demands of the present without compromising the future. It attempts to create a balance between the environment, the economy, and the needs of society. It focuses on controlling the rate of change and maintaining equity of resources from one generation to the next.

What is Erosion?
While some streambanks have natural erosion due to the natural stream flow. People accelerate the problem when they convert land from forests to farmland or urban areas without taking precautions to prevent erosion. The increase in surfaces that do not absorb water (paved roads, parking lots, rooftops, etc.) accelerate the amount of rain that is not absorbed in the soil. This increase contributes to higher stream flows and flash flooding that rips out the streambanks and creates an unstable area between the land and water.

What are Riparian Zones?
A Riparian Zone is a strip of vegetation, including trees, shrubs, grasses, and herbs, that grows along our creeks, rivers and lakes. The benefits are immeasurable they slow down erosion, reducing sedimentation in water, they reduce pollutants carried in by rain runoff, they cool the water which makes it a better environment to a larger variety of fish and other aquatic organisms. The roots and vegetation also stabilizes our waterways by preventing erosion that undercuts the banks.