Watershed Management Essay

The goals for the West Saginaw Bay Watershed are based on the past studies conducted in the watershed. The goals are aimed at protecting the water quality and wildlife habitat and address the resource concerns of the watershed. Milestones were identified indicating the steps needed to reach the objective. Implementing most objectives requires a combination of three types of activities:

Watershed protection is a means of protecting a lake, river, or stream by managing the entire watershed that drains into it. Clean, healthy watersheds depend on an informed public to make the right decisions when it comes to the environment and actions made by the community.

Background (1 ¶): What is the Duck Creek Watershed? What problems is it facing? What is being done so far to remedy these problems? Who is working on this problem?

The importance of a watershed is that it provides our drinking water. 70% of Earth is covered in water, but unfortunately 40-50% of our nation 's water is threatened. This could result in non-drinkable water and won’t be able to swim in it or consume the fish that are caught. The leading cause of pollution in watersheds is bacteria and sediments such as E.Coli.

Over the past decade a concern for protecting and preserving the environment has developed amongst United States citizens. Citizens have been promoting clean air, clean water, and clean land. Clean air means protecting the public from airborne contaminants known to be hazardous to human health. The Clean Air Act of 1970 is a law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and enforce regulations in order to protect the people (Environmental Protection Agency 2013). Clean water is water which is safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of harm. The Clean Water Act of 1972 was developed to restore and maintain the chemical, physical,

The freshwater that is available for use is becoming more contaminated with each use. The Clean Water Act of 1972 put in order more regulations in regards to wastewater and the dumping of it into rivers and lakes. Multiple-step filtration systems have been used since then to better remove toxins from wastes before it enters freshwater. In a personal interview with Moe Crabtree, Nature Resource Specialist for the Washington Department of Natural Resources, I learned some measures taken to keep water clean. Her common job is to setup timber sales which includes much precaution of rivers and streams. I asked her- “In what ways do you have to avoid water contamination?” she replied, “we have to divert culverts at minimum one hundred feet from

Different physical structures may be used in stream restoration in order to provide channel stability and in order to provide habitat and other beneficial functions. Some of the typical structures that are used are revetments made of gabions or riprap and woody debris. Each type of structure has benefits and costs that should be considered before installation and some are more appropriate in certain situations than others.

Government officials, Support groups, and residents of El Paso, Pueblo, and Teller counties are currently managing the Fountain Creek Watershed. The Fountain Creek Watershed is a mistreated watershed and the solutions would require a dedicated management group and necessary funding to increase the sustainability of this area. “We are working to create a healthy waterway with appropriate erosion, sedimentation, and flooding that supports diverse economic, environmental, and recreational interests.” (Fountain Creek Watershed, 2015). The collaboration of all agencies working in this watershed will ensure the safety of the environment surrounding the area of reviewed in this research.

Looking at the glistening waters of our streams and rivers, it may be hard to believe that approximately 5,300 miles of streams in Pennsylvania are so polluted they are currently classified as "dead". Due to loopholes in the Clean Water Act, more than half of the streams in the Keystone State are vulnerable to pollution. This affects an approximate 8 million Pennsylvanians who are served by public drinking water systems that draw from surface water. Only recently has the EPA taken action to restore protection to waterways in the United States. Unfortunately, it will take time for our streams and rivers to be truly clean again. Clearly, it is time that we act to preserve these waterways. Most people,

A watershed is a land area that drains rain and other water into creeks, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc.

There are many things that enter our waterways that we have to clean out. One of the worst things is pesticides. They not only contaminate our water, but they are harmful to animals. It enters our water sources by seeping through the soil to groundwater or entering streams as surface run-off. Farmers and other workers try to keep our water safe from pesticides, but it is a very hard and stressful job. Let’s take a look at the ways that pesticides enter our water and also some possible solutions for this problem.

Our watershed is important to us; it is what we need for are water, food, and growth of our environment. It makes us successful as a whole but when we damage it we damage everything we need and work to grow and protect. By doing a couple things for Greeley’s watershed we as a whole can start to change the pollution in our watershed. The plan is to use water barrels to collect the water that runs off the greenhouse at Northridge high school into gutters and the fills the barrels. When the greenhouse plants need water you get a hose and turn it on . with the native plants being planted around the greenhouse that are going to be grown the plants will be space out from the rest but be placed where they will be seen all around

Upon the signing of the Clean Water Act of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson said, “The banks of a river may belong to one man or one industry or one state, but the waters which flow between the banks should belong to all the people.” This statement is profound because it emphasizes the need of water is universal and should be accessible by everyone. But in order to preserve water organizations must be put in place that protect the water and make it accessible. In order to establish a global change in water sustainability, it is essential preservation efforts start on the local scale. The front runner in the local efforts to achieve sustainability is the protection of watersheds. The DuPage County has six primary watershed planning areas:

"It is not possible to add pesticides to water anywhere without threatening the purity of water everywhere. Seldom if ever does Nature operate in closed and separate compartments, and she has not done so in distributing the earth's water supply" (Carson 42).

"Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children."    Kenyan proverb.