New Mexico Watershed Watch

School Name

What is a watershed?

What is a watershed?

What is a watershed?

What is your watershed address?

What types of connections exist within watersheds?

• Community settlement often near water sources

• Surface water and groundwater• Upstream and downstream

Surface Water and Groundwater Connections

Hydraulic Conductivity

K (cm/sec) 10² 10 1 10−1 10−2 10−3 10−4 10−5 10−6 10−7 10−8 10−9 10−10

K (ft/day) 105 10,000 1,000 100 10 1 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.0001 10−5 10−6 10−7

Relative Permeability Pervious Semi-Pervious Impervious

Aquifer Good Poor None

Unconsolidated Sand and Gravel

Well Sorted Gravel

Well Sorted Sand or Sand & Gravel Very Fine Sand, Silt, Loess, Loam  

Unconsolidated Clay & Organic   Peat Layered Clay Fat / Unweathered Clay

Consolidated Rocks Highly Fractured Rocks Oil Reservoir Rocks Fresh Sandstone

Fresh Limestone, Dolomite Fresh Granite

Surface Water and Groundwater Connections

• Septic tanks can pollute groundwater

• Over-pumping from wells can diminish water in streams

How might upstream users impact downstream users?

How might upstream users impact downstream users?

Watershed Management

• How do we assess and learn what is happening in our watershed?– How do we test if the watershed is healthy?

Chemistry

• Turbidity• Temperature• pH• Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)• Nutrients (Nitrogen and Phosphorus)

Turbidity

• Measurement of how clear or cloudy water is depending on suspended solids.– How much light is able

to pass through?

Temperature

• Why is water temperature important to fish or other aquatic life?

pH

• Acidic vs basic• Pure water = pH of

7.0• Rainwater = pH of 5.6• pH of 6.6 to 8.8 is

optimal for most species

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

• Inorganic salts (calcium, magnesium, bicarbonates, etc)

• Organic matter• Hard vs Soft water• We measure TDS by

looking at how water conducts electricity

Nutrients

• Nitrogen• Phosphorus

• Too much nutrients cause algae blooms

• When the algae die, oxygen gets too low for fish

Biology

• Benthic macro-invertebrates• Vegetation diversity• Vegetation buffer width

Benthic Macro-invertebrates (water insects)

• Benthic = “bottom dwelling”

• Invertebrate = “without a spine”

• Some water insects are very sensitive, they can’t handle pollution

they tell us if the water has been clean

Vegetation Diversity and Buffer Width

• Shading• Filtration of erosion and other pollutants• Bank stabilization• Improved habitat

Physical

• Stream-flow/Discharge• Distance of river to nearest disturbance• Rock embeddedness

Stream-flow

• How much water (volume) is passing a point in time.– Cubic feet/sec; Cubic

meters/sec

Stream-flow

Monitoring at Frijoles Canyon

• What is the condition of surface water in Frijoles Canyon at Bandelier National Park?

Monitoring at Frijoles Canyon

• Temperature• Turbidity• pH• Total Dissolved Solids• Nutrients• Riparian habitat assessment• Benthic macro-invertebrates• Streamflow

Monitoring at Frijoles Canyon

• Warm clothing• Good shoes• Water bottle

Have fun & be safe!