Watershed Assessment

What is a watershed? – A watershed, also called a drainage basin or river basin, is the land area that is drained by a stream or river and its tributaries. Rain that falls on the ground and becomes runoff, flows downhill in depressions and small ravines. Water collects from the network of small ravines to form a stream or creek. These small streams are called the tributaries of a river.

What is Watershed Protection? – Watershed protection is a process to protect our Region’s rivers, streams and lakes. It involves controlling wastewater discharge and stormwater runoff pollution as well as mitigating development’s disruption of the natural drainage processes within the land areas known as watersheds. Watershed protection is best achieved through a watershed protection planning process.

This process includes the following steps:

    Identifying all land area that drains to the point of the river/stream of concern.
    Assessing the river/stream problems and causes.
    Setting environmental objectives based on conditions and needs.
    Identifying priority problems.
    Developing options and action plans.
    Evaluating and revising watershed protection plans based on monitoring results.

Watershed protection plans may include the following elements and strategies:
   
     Reduce impervious cover
    Watershed-based land use planning
    Protect floodplains, wetlands and areas with steep slopes
    Establish stream buffers
    Limit clearing/erosion during construction
    Treat quantity and quality of stormwater
    Maintain watershed management infrastructure