What Is a Watershed?
In simplest terms, a watershed is an area of land that drains all of its water to one specific point. The boundary of a watershed is defined by the path of highest elevation surrounding a given stream or network of streams. A drop of rainwater falling outside of this boundary will enter another watershed and will flow to a different point.
No matter where you live, work, or play you are within a watershed!
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Shaded relief image of the Difficult Run Watershed in Fairfax County, showing the topographical features of the area. The red line represents the watershed boundary, and the blue lines represent the major streams within the watershed. |
How Big Is a Watershed?The size of a watershed can vary from a few acres for a small stream to many square miles. A stream watershed will have subwatersheds within it and will be part of a larger river basin. The watersheds within Fairfax County are part of the larger Potomac River basin. The Potomac River, in turn, is part of the even larger Chesapeake Bay watershed, which drains 64,000 square miles and extends from New York through Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed and its major river basins. |
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How Do YOU Affect Your Watershed?
The source water for any watershed comes from either groundwater (rain/snow that has soaked into the ground) or surface runoff. Before reaching a stream, surface runoff accumulates from the highest points in a watershed and flows downhill across lawns, rooftops, parking lots, and roads, picking up many contaminants along the way. Some of the pollutants that may end up in your neighborhood creek include the pesticides you put in your garden, the oil spots you wash from your driveway, and the leaves you rake into the gutter. Each of these impact the watershed's water quality, aquatic life, and the overall appearance of our natural landscape.
Why Should Your Watershed be Important to YOU?
Your watershed should be important to you for many different reasons. First, and probably foremost, is the quality of our drinking water supply and water we come in contact with through recreational activities. The quality of the water we use is directly tied to the health and quality of where it originates from, our watershed. Second, the overall appearance of your watershed can affect such things as real estate values, business, and tourism. A third reason why you should care about your watershed is that the way you treat the land and waters around you will have a direct effect on the water and land downstream. Remember, most of us live downstream from someone else.
What can YOU do to Help Your Watershed?
There are some simple steps that each of us can take to aid in maintaining a healthy watershed. Some of these include:
- Cleaning up after your pet
- Use pesticides and fertilizers sparingly
- Water only when it is necessary
- Wash your car on a surface which will allow runoff to slowly drain away
- Recycle and properly dispose of household chemicals
- Have your septic tank system cleaned every three to five years
- Properly maintain your vehicle
- And finally, join/form a local watershed group.
What is Fairfax County Doing for the Watersheds?
Watershed management planning is a process of examining what our watersheds look like today, in order to create "road maps" which help lead us towards where we want our watersheds to be tomorrow. Fairfax County's watershed management plans build on the results and recommendations of the Stream Protection Strategy Baseline Study. Watershed management planning takes a holistic approach to maintaining the ecological integrity of stream corridors. These same stream corridors help provide a basis for organizing interest groups and other educational and outreach programs. In addition, watershed boundaries serve as natural units for integrating activities related to natural resources protection, land-use management, recreation, regulatory requirements, and quality of life issues.
Over the next few years plans for each of the 30 watersheds in Fairfax County will be developed. This planning process includes developing project goals and objectives with community input, evaluating current stream conditions, anticipating future conditions and needs, evaluating current plans and policies, implementing measures in a cost-effective manner, and continuous monitoring and assessment of the overall success of the plan. Community involvement is a vital component for developing and implementing a successful plan and will be key to galvanizing community support and buy-in for the implementation of the watershed plan.
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