Fundamentals of Watershed Management

Course Description

The United State Environmental Protection Agency has adopted watershed-based management as it’s primary approach to improving surface water quality as mandated by the Federal Clean Water Act.  As a result, federal, state and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses, the agriculture industry, and homeowners will be affected to some degree by the watershed management approach.  Watershed management is not a single technical field.  Rather, it is a multi-disciplinary effort that melds many sciences, technology, public involvement, public administration and politics.  This course will help attendees gain general knowledge of the theory and practice of watershed management, understand the science of watershed management and watershed ecology, and develop an understanding of watershed change and effective management options to protect watersheds.  Specific topics to be covered include watershed hydrology, water quality, aquatic ecosystems, point and nonpoint source pollution, and watershed delineation concepts.  Additionally, the EPA’s Total Maximum Daily Loading (TMDL) program will be discussed to inform participants of the federal watershed management initiative to protect water quality.  Management principles will be discussed to reduce pollutant loading into water and special attention will be paid to local issues in Oklahoma watersheds.

 Description and Outline 

1. Introduction
   1. What is a watershed?  An area of land that drains water, sediment and dissolved materials to a common receiving body or outlet. The term is not restricted to surface water runoff and includes interactions with subsurface water. Watersheds vary from the largest river basins to just acres or less in size.
   2. Why manage on a watershed basis?  Managing water resource programs on a watershed basis makes good sense -- environmentally, financially, and socially.

                                                               i.            Better Environmental Results: Because watersheds are defined by natural hydrology, they represent the most logical basis for managing water resources. The resource becomes the focal point, and managers are able to gain a more complete understanding of overall conditions in an area and the stressors, which affect those conditions.  Traditionally, water quality improvements have focused on specific sources of pollution, such as sewage discharges, or specific water resources, such as a river segment or wetland. While this approach may be successful in addressing specific problems, it often fails to address the more subtle and chronic problems that contribute to a watershed's decline. For example, pollution from a sewage treatment plant might be reduced significantly after a new technology is installed, and yet the local river may still suffer if other factors in the watershed, such as habitat destruction or polluted runoff, go unaddressed. Watershed management can offer a stronger foundation for uncovering the many stressors that affect a watershed. The result is management better equipped to determine what actions are needed to protect or restore the resource.

                                                             ii.            Saves Time and Money: Besides the environmental pay-off, watershed approaches can have the added benefit of saving time and money. Whether the task is monitoring, modeling, issuing permits, or reporting, a watershed framework offers many opportunities to simplify and streamline the workload. For example, synchronizing monitoring schedules so that all monitoring within a given area (i.e., a watershed) occurs within the same time frame can eliminate duplicative trips and greatly reduce travel costs. North Carolina was able to monitor nearly 40 percent more waters with the same level of effort after monitoring was conducted on a more coordinated watershed basis.  Efficiency is also increased once all agencies with natural resource responsibilities begin to work together to improve conditions in a watershed. In its truest sense, watershed protection engages all partners within a watershed, including Federal, State, Tribal and local agencies. By coordinating their efforts, these agencies can complement and reinforce each others' activities, avoid duplication, and leverage resources to achieve greater results.  Data collection is one activity that is particularly ripe for greater cooperation and coordination. For example, a State can reduce its own monitoring costs by factoring in the monitoring activities of the EPA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Resource Conservation Service. In addition, permittees and other stakeholders that generate ambient monitoring data can form basin monitoring consortiums to pool resources and provide the State with greater consistency in collecting and reporting data.

                                                            iii.            Greater Public Support and EPA’s Role: Watershed protection can also lead to greater awareness and support from the public. Once individuals become aware of and interested in their watershed, they often become more involved in decision-making as well as hands-on protection and restoration efforts. Through such involvement, watershed approaches build a sense of community, help reduce conflicts, increase commitment to the actions necessary to meet environmental goals, and ultimately, improve the likelihood of success for environmental programs.  As the primary Federal agency with responsibility for protecting and restoring the nation's waters, EPA has opportunities to advance watershed protection. In recent years, considerable effort has been invested in streamlining program administrative requirements that hinder watershed approaches and in developing useful watershed tools and services. This publication highlights EPA's actions for the benefit of water resource managers interested in adopting watershed approaches more broadly.

1.       EXAMPLE: Improving Environmental Management on Idaho Dairies - The job of assuring environmental safeguards on 1,400 dairy farms has become much more efficient and effective in the State of Idaho as a result of a new working relationship between EPA, the State Departments of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) and Agriculture (ISDA), and the Idaho Dairy Association. Historically, EPA has only managed to inspect about 5 percent of dairies with its limited enforcement resources. However, under the new arrangement, ISDA inspections of milk quality will be expanded to include waste management practices. In addition, inspectors will work to educate farmers about water quality and how to best achieve protection. Because all dairies are visited annually, the opportunity for identifying and addressing waste management problems will be significantly greater. This arrangement maintains EPA enforcement authority to intervene, as necessary, in cases where public health or environmental quality are at risk.

3. How to delineate a watershed:  You can delineate a watershed on a USGS topographic map using two important map symbols: the blue hydrographic lines symbolizing water and the brown elevation contour lines indicating areas of equal height above sea level. Since water flows downhill from higher elevations to a common body of water, to delineate the watershed boundary for a particular place on a stream or lake, you will need to draw a line along the ridgetops connecting the highest elevation points surrounding the lake or stream.

                                                               i.            An example of a watershed delineation using a topographic map

4. Discuss EPA’s Surf Your Watershed Program (http://www.epa.gov/surf) - Map participants watershed and show them how to use the program.
    

2. Watershed Systems and Ecology
   1. Why is watershed ecology important?  Understanding watershed structure and natural processes is crucial to grasping how human activities can degrade or improve the condition of a watershed, including its water quality, its fish and wildlife, its forests and other vegetation, and the quality of community life for people who live there. Knowing these watershed structural and functional characteristics and how people can affect them sets the stage for effective watershed management.
   2. Watershed ecology - The study of watersheds as ecosystems, primarily the analysis of interacting biotic and abiotic components within a watershed's boundaries.

                                                               i.            A solid understanding of the following disciplines is crucial for effective watershed management:

1.       The Hydrologic Cycle, Water Balance

2.       Climate and precipitation

3.       Soils and infiltration

4.       Interception and evapotranspiration

5.       Groundwater

6.       Streamflow and runoff

7.       Water chemistry

8.       Aquatic ecosystems (eutrophication, habitat disturbance, etc.)

9.       Social and economic systems

3. Five General Components of a Watershed Ecology:

                                                               i.            The Physical Template

                                                             ii.            The Biological Setting

                                                            iii.            Natural Systems Concept

                                                            iv.            Watershed Structure

                                                              v.            Watershed Functions 

3. Watershed Change (Natural and Human-Induced) – Watch watershed video
   1. Point source pollution
   2. Agricultural nonpoint source pollution
   3. Erosion
   4. Urban nonpoint source pollution
   5. Flooding
   6. Drinking water protection
   7. Wastewater treatment and septic systems
4. Watershed Management Practices and the Total Maximum Daily Loading (TMDL) Program
   1. EPA’s Top Ten Lessons Learned in Watershed Management (http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/pdf/tenLessonsLearned.pdf)
5. Application – Discuss Eastern OK Watershed Impact
6. What Does the Future Hold for Watershed Management?

INSTRUCTOR

Damon G. Wright, APSS, obtained a B.S. and M.S. in environmental soil science from Oklahoma State University-Stillwater and he is currently working toward a Ph.D. in environmental science from Oklahoma State University with research focusing on remediation strategies for anhydrous ammonia impacted soils.  Mr. Wright is currently an Environmental Scientist/Project Manager with the environmental consulting firm Apex Environmental, Inc. and has experience ranging from hydro geological site assessments, remediation technology planning, Phase I site assessments, wetland delineations, and regulatory compliance ranging from storm water to hazardous waste issues.  Specifically, Mr. Wright has provided compliance management for NPDES and SPCC programs at petroleum bulk terminal facilities for stormwater/wastewater discharge permit compliance, pollution prevention, and other surface water quality issues.  His responsibilities also include project management on various pipeline, RCRA, and petroleum bulk terminal facility projects.  Additionally, Mr. Wright provides service as a Project Manager for anhydrous ammonia release projects located throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska.  His professional affiliations include the Environmental Federation of Oklahoma, Air & Waste Management Association (Oklahoma Chapter), Soil Science Society of America, and National Society of Consulting Soil Scientists.