7/11/2014 Lesson 3: Watersheds

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Lesson 3:
Watersheds

Objective
In this lesson we will answer the following questions:
What is a watershed?
Why are watersheds important to water/wastewater treatment plant operators?
How is contamination in water affected by the distance from the contamination source?
How do we find the boundaries of a watershed on a topographical map?
What problems in a watershed should a plant operator be aware of?

Reading Assignment
There is no set reading assignment for this lesson. However, you should use your textbook to
clarify your understanding of watersheds.
Lecture
The Importance of Watersheds

What is a Watershed?
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By definition, a watershed is an area where all rainfall collects into a common location. The
common location could be a stream, a pond, a river, etc.
Smaller watersheds flow into increasingly larger watersheds. For example, Mountain Empire
Community College contains three small watersheds. All three watersheds eventually flow into the
Powell River, so they are all part of the Powell River watershed, also known as the Powell River
basin. The water in the Powell River ends up in the Gulf of Mexico, so Mountain Empire
Community College is also in the Gulf of Mexico's watershed.
The headwaters of a river are made up of first order streams. The watershed of a first order stream
cannot be broken down into smaller watersheds because water feeding first order streams flows
directly into the streams. The water may originate as runoff from rainfall or as groundwater welling
up from below the earth's surface.
Each watershed has its own unique characteristics. Size, permeability of the soil, vegetation type,
soil type, slope, microorganisms, pH, DO (Dissolved Oxygen), and temperature all affect the water
in a watershed. As you will see, each watershed also presents its own problems for the water
treatment technician.
Potable Water Treatment
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There are many possible sources of contamination in a watershed. Septic tanks, airports,
automobiles, industrial facilities, mining operations, and agricultural lands all contribute to the
contamination. In addition, various other sources and processes contaminate the water supply.
We are not as concerned about the microbial contamination of the water supply in potable water
treatment as we are about other types of contamination. Bacteria are killed or removed during the
water treatment process as we flocculate, filter, and disinfect the water. But knowing the amount
and type of contamination in the treatment plant's watershed can influence how much chemical
treatment (usually alum and lime) is necessary to produce floc from the water.
Every watershed has different characteristics - different colloids, different pH, and so forth. The
only thing that is common in water treatment with respect to a watershed is that every watershed is
unique. So the reason we are interested in the front end of a watershed is to determine how best to
treat the water.
Waste Water Treatment
Why are we interested in the sewage treatment end of a watershed? Communities must release
treated sewage into streams and rivers. In addition to meeting standards set by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), waste water treatment facilities must also consider where the released
water is going.
There are often endangered species, such as mussels, and other organisms of concern in the
streams below waste water treatment facilities. We have to be sensitive to life downstream as we
release treated sewage water into our watershed. The wastewater treatment facility strives to
maintain the health of the downstream ecosystem.
Our watershed also becomes the watershed of another water treatment facility somewhere
downstream. That facility will be concerned about what we're putting into their watershed for
treatment purposes just as we're concerned about the waste water treatment facilities upstream. So
watershed is an important concept within both water treatment and sewage treatment.
Boundaries
Watershed Boundaries and Contamination

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How do we know the boundaries of the watershed? Edges of a watershed are usually found in the
highest areas around. There, water falling as rain on one side of the mountain or hill runs down into
one watershed while water falling on the other side of the mountain or hill runs down into another
watershed.
As I mentioned previously, there are three watersheds on the property at Mountain Empire
Community College in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. All three watersheds eventually empty into the
Powell River. If there is contamination in one watershed and none in the other two, contamination
still reaches the Powell River.


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But the contamination in the Powell River will be more dilute than it was in the source stream. The
further we go from the source of contamination, the less concentrated the contamination will
become until it is an insignificant component of the water running into the Gulf of Mexico.
The total amount of contamination in the water is about the same when it reaches the Gulf of
Mexico as it was when it left the source stream. But there is so much water in the Gulf of Mexico
that the contamination becomes very diluted. You can see the same effect if you put a few drops of
red dye in a small cup of water. The water is quite red. But if you pour the cup of water and dye
into a gallon container of water and mix it up, the water only shows a faint hint of red color.
Another example of the effect of distance and greater volume on dispersing contamination is a
sneeze. When you sneeze, germ and water particles are initially very concentrated just outside your
nose. But as they are blown further from your face, they disperse into the surrounding air and
become much less concentrated. There is so much air around you for the germ and water particles
to disperse in, that the contamination becomes insignificant.

We're interested in defining an area's watershed so that we can find potential sources of
contamination to our facilities. We also need to be sensitive to downstream life when releasing
pollutants into the water. As we consider sources of contamination in the watershed, we have to
keep in mind the effect of distance on the concentration of the contaminant in the water.
Defining Watershed Boundaries on a Topographical Map
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Let's define watershed on a topographical map (also known as a topo map). First, you need to
know how to read the map.
The scale is usually found at the bottom of a paper map, but on the website mentioned later, the
scale is found at the top of the map. A typical scale is 1:24,000 meaning that every inch on the map
is equivalent to 24,000 inches on the ground. An arrow at the bottom of the map points to
magnetic north.
A topographical map shows differences in elevation by a series of contour lines. You can think of a
contour line as a trail for a lazy hiker who never wants to climb up or down. Instead, he just walks
around the side of a hill at the same elevation.
On topo maps, contour lines usually show a difference in elevation of forty feet. So, the lazy hiker
on one contour line is forty feet higher or lower in elevation than the lazy hiker on the neighboring
contour line.
Hilltops are easy to find on topographic maps because they are shown as closed circles. The lazy
hiker can walk around and around the top of the hill on the same elevation. In contrast, streams are
usually shown as Vs with the point of the V being the upstream end.

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When examining a topo map, you will need to orient yourself by finding known objects. Look for
peaks (which are often labelled by name), buildings (shown as small squares), churches,
graveyards, etc. Labelled roads can also help you get your bearings.
Once you are oriented, find the point you are interested in. Continuing with the sample map shown
above, I have highlighted Creek X. Now you can begin to define the area's watershed
boundaries.


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Starting at the creek, go uphill in every direction (except directly downstream) until you reach the
highest points. Sometimes the highest point above the creek may be a peak, shown as a closed
circle. Other times, the highest point is a ridge, shown as an elongated U- shape. In any case, on
the other side of these highest points, a new watershed begins. Connect the highest points around
the creek with a line and you have drawn in the watershed boundary. This line also marks the
headwaters of the watershed.
Your Watershed
Try finding the boundaries of the watershed in which you live or work. If you do not already have a
topo map of your area, go to http://www.topozone.com/ and type in the nearest city and state in the
"Place Name Search" area.
If you are working from a map on topozone.com, you may want to change the scale so that you
can see the entire watershed region once you find the topo map of your area. Starting at the scale
of 1:200,000 or 1:100,000 will let you orient yourself and define the watershed boundaries if you
are considering a large watershed. Then change the scale to 1:25,000 so that you can see regions
in the watershed which might affect the water quality. Which areas do you think are sources of
contamination? Which areas do you think release clean water into your stream, river, or lake?
Watershed Monitoring
Aquatic life in our lakes and rivers is a good indicator of how successful our efforts are at keeping
the water clean. Many organisms are unable to survive in contaminated water.
We can also monitor the cleanliness of water directly by testing the concentrations of various
pollutants in the water. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is the agency that
monitors watersheds. They analyze data at stations set up in different areas.


Responding to Contamination in Your Watershed
As a plant operator, you need to have an understanding of what potential sources of contamination
are contained within your watershed. Without this knowledge, you won't be able to respond
adequately to problems as they arise.
The watershed that feeds Greenville, Tennessee, goes through an industrial area that had an acid
spill. A hose carrying sulfuric acid burst and emptied the contents of the tank car into the river.
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The water operator that was on duty noticed that the pH of the water coming into the plant was
dropping.
The first thing the operator did was to shut the plant down. He was able to guess that the acid
came from a spill in the industrial area even though no one at the company there had noticed the
problem. So the operator called the other water treatment plants downstream of the spill area to let
them know about the contamination.
You never know when a tank car will overturn and spill a contaminant into your watershed.
Usually the amount of time that you will have to respond to such a situation is not what you would
like it to be. What's a reasonable amount of time to be able to respond to a problem? Time
enough to prevent irreversible damage or expensive correction. The people who are responsible
for water treatment facilities want an operator who is on his toes to catch problems as they come
down the stream, an operator who will take appropriate action or shut the plant down, if
necessary. This prevents cleanup cost and problems with treated water.
Knowing your watershed can also help you prevent problems before they occur. What would do if
you found many diseased or dead animals in your watershed? You wouldn't want dead animals in
the water that you were treating for consumption. Without knowing the boundaries of your
watershed, you would unable to stay on top of these problems.
Other Watershed Problems
You may wonder, What's the likelihood of anything in the watershed ever creating a problem
anyway? Don't we floc, filter, and chlorinate the input water, thus eliminating almost any problems
in the output water?
Despite all of that filtration, certain organisms are able to pass through a filter. Cryptosporidium is
one example. Cryptosporidium is a parasite often found in the intestines of livestock. The parasite
contaminates water when the feces from the animal interact with a water source. In a healthy
population, human infection results in acute diarrhea, which lasts for 2-3 weeks. But the parasite
can be life threatening for people who suffer from suppressed immune systems such as AIDS
patients, children, and the elderly.


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Cryptosporidium
Since filtration and chlorine are ineffective in treating water contaminated with Cryptosporidium, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that all public water supply systems serving more
than 100,000 connections must monitor for Cryptosporidium. Although we are unlikely to have
Cryptosporidium in our watershed, some of the larger cities with larger watersheds might. Plant
operators have to test the water flowing into their plants to determine which contaminants might be
a problem.
When monitoring a watershed, we take into account the accessibility of the area. People can enter
the watershed at Appalachia along only one road, so sources of contamination there are relatively
easy to monitor. In contrast, the Big Stone Gap watershed is accessible by two roads and fishing is
allowed in the reservoir by permit only. So monitoring the Big Stone Gap watershed is a little bit
more complicated. The more public access a watershed has, the more potential there is for
hazard.
One last concern of watershed maintenance is diversion of the water for other uses. As water gets
diverted from a watershed, there is less water for contamination to be diluted in. There is also less
water available to be used by the communities downstream.
Review

Watershed is a very important concept for water and wastewater technicians. The watershed in
which a plant is located determines the purity of the water flowing into a plant. Plant workers must
also be aware of the downstream ecology and human communities which are influenced by the
water they release.
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The technician needs to know the watershed's boundaries in order to determine potential sources of
contamination. He should also know how contamination flows through a watershed, influencing all
downstream watersheds but becoming more dilute as the distance from the contamination source
grows.
The technician who understands his watershed will be able to respond to problems quickly and
efficiently. He will know when to shut the plant down, when to warn other treatment plants, and
when to merely adjust the operation of his plant.

Assignment
Send the following assignment to the instructor:
1. View the following topo map section and print it out.
2. Mark the boundary of the watershed directly on the map. (There is one definite watershed,
but find the other one on the map for 5 bonus points)
3. Mark the body of water into which the water from your watershed flows - a reservoir, river,
creek, pond, etc.

Quiz
Answer the questions in the Lesson 3 quiz . When you have gotten all the answers correct, print
the page and either mail or fax it to the instructor.