What is a Watershed Webquest?

Name:

Access the following link and answer the questions:

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watershed.html

1. What is a watershed? A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a
common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream
channel.

2. Watersheds can vary in size. True/False? True.

3. What type of watershed is shown in the map? The map shows one set of watershed boundaries in
the United States- National 8-digit hydrologic units.

4. The word watershed is sometimes used interchangeably with drainage basin or catchment.

5. Ridges and hills that separate two watersheds are called the drainage divide.

6. What does watershed consist of? Surface water- lakes, streams, reservoirs, and wetlands.

7. Larger watersheds contain many watersheds. It all depends on the outflow point.

8. What is the outflow point? All the land that drains water to the outflow point is the watershed for
that outflow location.

9. Why are watersheds important? Watersheds are important because the streamflow and the water
quality of a river are affected by like human and animals happening in the land area above the
river outflow point.

A Watershed is a precipitation collector:

1. Name 6 factors that determine how much of the streamflow will flow by the monitoring site?
Precipitation, infiltration, evaporation, transpiration, storage, and water used by people.
2. What is the greatest factor controlling streamflow? Precipitation.

3. The amount of water that will infiltrate (soak in over time) depends on which four characteristics?
Soil characteristics, soil saturation, land cover, and slope of the land.
4. Water from rainfall returns to the atmosphere largely through Evaporation.

5. The root systems of plants absorb water from the surrounding soil in various amounts through the
process of transpiration.

6. Reservoirs store water and increase the amount of water that evaporates and infiltrates.

River Basins of N.C.:

http://wwweenorthcarolina.org/riverbasins-interactive.html
Choose one of the NC. River Basins and list out 10 facts about the one you investigate. Also
include one picture that best represents a main feature of the River Basin.
Watauga River Basin

1. Water quality is excellent- most of the streams are undisturbed.

2. Rock bass and small mouth are popular finds in the river basin.
3. Included headwater and tributaries of the Elk and the Watauga rivers.
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4. Tennessee is one of the most beautiful stretches the basin.

5. The entire length of the Watauga River is classified as High Quality Waters by The
NC Division of Water Quality.
6. Thousands of visitors come to ski, hike, and golf.
7. Wild populations of native trout-rainbow, brown and brook.
8. Several types of animals are found- salamanders, bats, hellbenders also many aquatic
insects- mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies.
9. Much of the land disturbance occur on steep mountain slopes-vulnerable to soil
erosion.
10. Many communities within the Watauga river basin attack storm water management
from watershed perspective.