A watershed is the area of land that collects water into its lowest point which tends to be a river or lake. Water can flow over land and underground so a watershed’s boundary is mainly defined by topography. A typical watershed will appear on a map as a ring of higher elevation, creating a basin that funnels water to a single point at a lower elevation. Picture a rain storm on a mountain. Where is each drop of water going to flow once it hits the ground? We know water only flows downhill so our watershed boundaries are defined by high points such as mountains.

Not all watersheds are the same. The size of the watershed depends on the scale you as a map maker wishes to see. Consider the Pequabuck River watershed which encompasses three smaller watersheds or sub-regional basins (Poland River Basin, Coppermine Brook Basin, and Pequabuck River Basin), all of which are a small part of the much greater Farmington River watershed.

Every point on Earth has a watershed associated with it. You are never not on a watershed.

Why are watersheds important? A watershed is a community of people, animals, and plants sharing the water and resources of that area. Everything within a watershed can affect its water quality. If we were concerned about keeping a reservoir safe for drinking, for example, we would monitor for dangerous pollutants in the reservoir’s watershed. Knowing the area of importance helps us protect integral land that, in turn, protects our waterways. Everyone plays a role in keeping the watershed they live on healthy.

The water cycle is a model that helps us describe how water moves around the landscape and how it changes its state (solid, liquid, and gas). Water can be found on the surface of the land, underground, and in the atmosphere. Water moves around through the following processes: evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, and runoff. Most of the water on Earth is stored in the oceans which humans cannot drink because of its high salinity. Furthermore, most of the freshwater on the planet is inaccessible as ice at the north and south poles.This leaves about 1% of all the water on Earth as available freshwater that humans can utilize. By valuing our freshwater rivers and wetlands, we can keep our part of the water cycle flowing smoothly.

Human impact on the planet, however, has changed more than just the freshwater part of the water cycle. Major alterations in climate have disrupted the speed of some of the processes throughout the water cycle. An unbalanced water cycle makes planning sustainable water usage for a growing human population more difficult.

The cities in the Pequabuck River watershed have a great effect on surface and groundwaters. Large areas of impervious surfaces increase the amount of runoff and limit the available space for plants to uptake liquid water and transpire water vapor. We also affect the water cycle when we pump well water or create reservoirs for our daily water needs. Additionally, man-made chemicals can alter the water quality throughout the water cycle.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. "Protecting Water Quality from Urban Runoff." Document No. EPA 841-F-03-003

Water testing is a direct way to find out how healthy your local waterway is. There are multiple aspects of a river that can be tested. When the results are combined, you form a complete picture of your water’s quality.

The pH scale tells you how acidic or basic your water is by measuring the relative amounts of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in the water. The pH of a river can determine whether or not organisms can survive in the water, what nutrients are available for aquatic life, and what metals can become dissolved. Most of us are familiar with the simple pH test strips that rapidly change color to show the pH of the sample. pH can vary naturally in the environment; the pH of rain or river water will change depending on where you live.

Many chemicals and minerals (from natural and man-made sources) readily dissolve in water. Excessive amounts of an element can be a form of pollution. Smells, tastes, residues, or particles in the water indicate the presence of substances in your water.

 Bacteria are everywhere on Earth. When bacteria grows where it is not supposed to, it can cause illnesses. For example, the most common bacterial test to determine the safety of drinking water would be a coliform test.

Dirt may seem harmless, but when it clouds our rivers it can be considered a pollutant. Turbidity is the measure of how cloudy the water sample is. Turbid water indicates a high amount of erosion in the watershed. Rivers can become turbid after heavy rainstorms. Reducing runoff and the amount of unvegetated land helps stop erosion. Cloudy water can have secondary impacts such as inciting more bacterial growth or damaging the gills of aquatic animals. Clear water usually indicates a healthier watershed.

The riffle bioassessment by volunteers (RBV) is a way of monitoring the quality of our rivers by counting the number of macroinvertebrates (large river animals such as insect larvae) present at the study site. Some organisms can tolerate high amounts of pollutants while others live in only the cleanest streams. By identifying the species in a stream, you get a sense of how healthy the river’s ecosystem is. If you are interested in participating in a local RBV, check out the Connecticut DEEP page on RBV.

Salt Watch is a program used to monitor the amount of road salt in our waterways. Their goal is to reduce our road salt usage by applying it more effectively and find less harmful alternatives. Being smart about our salt usage protects our health, our pipes, and our rivers. You can receive a test kit and begin your own Salt Watch today!

PRWA is fortunate to have a few documents that have analyzed the condition of the Pequabuck River watershed and suggested ways to improve it. These documents help PRWA understand the problems in our watershed and allow us to focus our attention on key locations. Many of these plans describe BMPs, or Best Management Practices, that can be implemented to improve the condition of the watershed. A BMP can be a structural or non-structural benefit to a water source. For example, a construction crew building a bioswale has a direct, structural benefit to the watershed while a legislator may propose a non-structural benefit by seeking a pet waste ordinance. Some other BMPs include creating a rain garden, increasing urban vegetation, preserving land, smart development, or removing unused pavement. Even you as a property owner can implement your own BMPs!

In general, these plans wish to reduce our negative impacts on the watershed and mitigate some of the historical decisions we made as a society that impair our rivers still to this day. Download the documents below to learn more.

 

Download Pequabuck River Watershed Based Plan 2019 (A 9-element plan that identifies sources of pollutants in the watershed, suggests BMPs to eliminate them, and describes a monitoring plan to assess water quality improvements)

Download Bristol Stormwater Management Plan 2017 (A plan addressing requirements to improve water quality by reducing the discharge of pollutants from the city sewer system)

Download The Pequabuck River State of the Watershed Report 2004 (A technical document that studied the pollutants, impairments, and other environmental factors that affect life in the watershed)

Download The Pequabuck River Watershed Management Plan 2005 (A plan to improve the problems identified in the State of the Watershed Report through 4 focus areas: Habitat, Land Use, Water Quality and Protected Open Space)

A rain garden (or bioretention swale) is a low lying garden bed that acts as a natural filter. They eliminate runoff and reduce the chances of the sewer system overflowing which means less floods for your community. A rain garden can also provide the added benefit of filtering out pollutants that may have been collected in your yard. Include plants that flower and create pollinator habitat or grow fruit for birds to make a multipurpose rain garden. After the initial construction, a rain garden is a beautiful, self-sustaining, low-maintenance, improvement to your property.

Plan your rain garden first. The UCONN NEMO Program has all the information you need to plan and create your garden. Choose an appropriate spot for the garden (usually away from building foundations but close to the runoff source). Then calculate the size of your garden by dividing the area of the surface you are capturing runoff from by 6. For example, if you wish to collect the water from a 300 square foot roof, your rain garden needs to be 50 square feet (300 / 6 = 50). Perform a quick soil test following UCONN’s instruction to see if your soil is adequate. Also plan to include these other key features in your rain garden: a rocky inlet where runoff flows into the garden, a central area of the garden that is dug deeper to hold more water for water-loving plants, a berm around the outside to hold more water in larger storm events, and a small overflow where water can escape. Always remember to call before you begin digging your rain garden (CBYD service)!

The plants you choose should be a mix of more water-tolerant species towards the center of the garden surrounded by less flood-tolerant species. The berm can be planted with a type of ground cover or simply covering it with any lawn grass you removed during digging. Plant diversity is key to making the garden look more appealing and making it more valuable to wildlife. Make sure to water your new plantings during the first growing season until they become established. After the first year, your garden should only require minor weeding and clean-up to function all by itself!

Check out our Rain Garden Guide and Map made by PRWA’s intern Daisy Lockshire for Bristol Eastern High School.

As our population increases and we further divide Connecticut into privately owned parcels, the importance of sharing our properties with the natural world increases. Owning a piece of land, however small, opens up many opportunities for you to improve it, making it more valuable to wildlife. There are many small steps you can take to improve the health and function of your community’s ecosystem.

First take stock of what plants are present on your property. What microhabitats does the property support? What can be added and where? One widespread problem in the United States is the influx of non-native, invasive plant species. Far from their point of origin, these plants have no natural constraints and flourish wherever they are allowed to take hold because of a lack of predators, diseases, or competition. Native plant species, which must fight insects, fungi, and neighboring plants that they have evolved with, have a difficult time out-competing invasive plants. Does your property house more invasive plants than native plants? Native plants provide far more benefits to the ecosystem than invasive plants; they are a part of the food web and synchronize with the cycles of native animals. Removing patches of invasive plants and immediately replacing them with native plants provides wildlife with habitat. A guide like this Hartford Plant Palette can help you choose native plant species that provide food and shelter for wildlife in all seasons. You can even choose plants that would attract your favorite animal, creating an urban sanctuary for that species. Keep in mind that, in special cases, invasive plants can provide some habitat function so attacking an invasive patch just because it is invasive may not be the best plan.

A house with a lawn is part of the American image, but there comes a time when your lawn may seem like a time and energy sink. This is especially true for lawns that do not get much use. Lawns are not a native habitat in Connecticut, so it is up to humans to maintain them as we see fit which includes inputting time, seed, gas, chemicals, sweat, and tears amongst other things. Consider replacing unused areas of your yard with some other vegetation that requires less effort and money to maintain. This could be trees, shrubs, gardens, or a low-mow lawn alternative like a sedge. If your yard has an edge between lawn and forest, consider creating a soft-edge by planting wildflowers along the transition zone or simply mowing less frequently to the edge (both mean less work for you!). Additionally, Leave-the-Leaves is a movement that encourages you to skip the fall/winter clean-up and delay it until after temperatures are consistently warm in the spring. Leaving leaf-litter and perennial plant stalks in situ provides insects with a place to overwinter safely (and can provide cover for larger animals like birds and rabbits). When temperatures warm, the insects awaken and go on their way meaning it is safe to tidy up your yard. All of these solutions also reduce the noise and air pollution associated with lawn equipment.

You can further reduce your carbon footprint by installing a compost bin and a rain barrel in your yard. Food gets transported from a farm, to a grocery store, to your house, and then finally to a landfill as food waste. You can eliminate part of this fossil fuel chain by composting your food scraps and then recycle those leftover nutrients into your own yard or garden with free soil. Our PRWA Compost Guide can help you get started! Likewise, collecting rainwater that would otherwise runoff your yard gives you a free water source that you can use to protect your plants from drought conditions.

Living with, and not against, animals reduces human-wildlife conflicts. DEEP Fact Sheets provide a lot of information on Connecticut’s wildlife and suggest ways to deter them from using your home. Provide resources where you want animals on your property and discourage them where you do not. Know when to provide native plant resources to birds and when to put out your bird feeder and bird bath. Only use your bird feeder to help overwintering birds between November and March to avoid feeding bears and squirrels.  

While animals have adapted to suburban life (some even find more success living amongst humans), human structures still pose dangers to wildlife. Two major building features cause a lot of issues and amplify fatalities when working together: windows and lights. Window strikes are one of the leading causes of death for songbirds, especially for night migrants that get disoriented by illuminated cityscapes. Make your picture windows bird-safe by using UV reflective stickers and participate in the Lights Out campaign by dimming or turning off exterior lights during peak migration periods. Also try to avoid putting shrubs and bird feeders next to windows. Light pollution in itself is a problem. Light pollution has been shown to limit the visibility of stars which are used for navigation by some animals like birds and sea turtles. Likewise, while it may appear to attract insects on which animals can feed, insectivorous birds can collide with structures around lights and bats will avoid lighted areas all together.

Pet waste can become a pollutant when excessive amounts runoff into a water source. Pet waste adds a large amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and bacteria into the environment that would not normally be there which can kill plants, cause algal blooms, and be detrimental to human health. Therefore, properly taking care of your pet’s waste reduces its impact. Our pets outdoors create other issues. Off-leash dogs can encounter wildlife, deterring wildlife from returning to the area or eliciting an aggressive response. Free-roaming cats kill billions of birds and billions of small mammals annually. Pets should be on a leash and supervised on public lands or kept indoors to minimize these negative effects.

Finally, now that you have put a lot of hard work into your property, reap the benefits of your work and observe the wildlife around you! The more connected you are to the nature around you, the more benefits you and wildlife will receive.

Organizations:

Burlington Land Trust

Connecticut River Conservancy

DEEP water page

Environmental Learning Centers of Connecticut

EPA water page

Farmington Land Trust

Farmington Valley Trout Unlimited

Harwinton Land Trust

Texts:

My Healthy Stream - a booklet for landowners that have a stream running through their property and want to know how to protect it.

Apps:

i-tree - find the environmental value of trees in your community.

iNaturalist - a platform where you can record your observations of nature as a citizen scientist.