Check out this site!
http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil_&_water/index.shtml
Here's a sample of what you can find there...
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Ever heard of a "watershed"?
Although everyone lives in a watershed, most people don't know the actual meaning of the word. Put simply, a watershed is all the land that drains into a given body of water. This body of water can be a creek, pond, river or ocean. Generally speaking, the larger the body of water, the larger its watershed. The Chesapeake Bay watershed, for example, covers 64,000 square miles and drains from six states including 60 percent of Virginia.
This map depicts the major rivers' watersheds in the Old Dominion. One thing all of these watersheds have in common is people, and where you have people, you have land-disturbance. When people alter land - to farm, to build, to landscape, for transportation, etc. - they must ensure that changes don't cause runoff pollution for other people or plants and animals downstream that depend on clean, usable water.
The technical term for this type of pollution is nonpoint source pollution (NPS), and it's a thread you'll find common to nearly every page in the soil and water conservation section of DCR's website. Regardless of the watershed in which you live - and each watershed has unique NPS pollution problems - there are many ways all of us, from farmers to elementary school children, can prevent such pollution to keep Virginia's creeks, rivers and bays clean and productive. Click here to learn simple ways to reduce the threat of NPS pollution and make Virginia an even better place to live.
If you'd like to learn more about Virginia's watersheds, there's plenty of material available from DCR to help you promote watershed awareness. A 10-minute video, Watershed Connections, brochure, large poster of the state's watersheds, kids' conservation activities booklet, bumper stickers and watershed yellow pages for the major river basins are yours for the asking. Just call toll-free 1-877-42WATER or your local DCR watershed office. Click here to download a copy of Watershed Connections, a brochure that details ways you can help your watershed (PDF, 500K). To learn about the more technical aspects of hydrologic unit delineation and notation, please click here.
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Also look into the adopt a stream program (link at the bottom of the page) among others for ways in which you can help the James River Watershed!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Physical Survey #2
During my 2nd Physical Survey, I looked at a part of the watershed that extended beyond the boundaries of the University of Richmond. Dr. Forsyth accompanied me to see where the water from the Westhampton Lake entered the James River. 
^--- In this map the yellow dot represents our starting point, the blue line is either the path taken through or near the body of water, and the green represents the final area of observation.
^--- This photo takes place on UR Drive(the bridge). This is directly past the coal plant. Numerous types of fish were seen in pools before the bridge and the blue heron was seen past the bridge. The water was still relatively clear and the ground was rocky.
^---This photo depicts the watershed directly beyond the bridge. To the left of the RP Zone seen here is the Country Club of Virgina and to the right is University Facilities. The ground beneath the water was still rocky, but the areas without rocks were surprisingly sandy. Beyond the large rock near the center of the picture the water level increases dramatically (between 8-15 feet). This really hampered my desire to walk the stream since the banks were 15+ feet steep (and higher still further along)
^--- Dr. Forsyth near a storm drain. These dump plenty of runoff tainted waters into the stream, further impairing its health and adding to the seemingly unnatural depth and erosion taking place in the stream.
^--- This photo demonstrates the growing width of the stream and the sharp incline of the banks. One theory is that erosion has caused the banks to slide into the river, thus accounting for the smooth/ sandy texture of the soil and also the lack of old tree growth near the water's edge. Noticeably absent is any aquatic plant life or fish (which were seen before the bridge).
<--This is one example of how the University of Richmond is harming the watershed. This picture takes place near the auxiliary parking lot near the 1600 block of apartments. This photo doesn't do justice to the black shinny silt that lined the edge of the parking lot. Runoff would move the silt down this drainage sieve into the stream (such as the night before due to heavy rain). Dr. Forsyth suggested that much of the soil is highly combined with oil thus resulting in its shinny color.
^-- This photo shows how the Country Club impacts the stream as well. Super rich nutrients are carried by runoff from this and many other drains and sieve into the stream. Golf courses are notoriously a strong cause of nitrates entering water systems (due to fertilizers on greens)
^--This photo references where the stream exits the Country Club/UR campus and moves closer to the James River.
^--- Dr. Forsyth near where the stream exits the UR campus along the edge of Henrico County. The river gets noticeably thinner here as rocks diverts the water under the road. Past the tree in the photo the river is near 25-30 feet across. To the right of this photo is a dead RP zone (old dead tress, lack of diversity in plant life other than a few types of tall grasses). Why this must be is any one's guess, but we think it may be an old development site which was abandoned.
<- This photo shows what happens when the stream reaches the other side of the road (near the Starbucks across from the River Road Shopping Center). Unlike previous assessments that the stream would deposit straight into the James, we believe this may be the James River/Kahawha Canal, (still part of the James River which runs parallel to the main river) which rejoins the larger part of the river near William's Island. The RP Zone here is better than near the streams (evident by the lack of erosion from the banks to the river, large trees, and apparent life within the river suggested by lots of bubbles in the water).
^-- These two photos show two sides of the River on a bridge near private residences. While the RP Zone is great and the 1st picture seems picturesque, the 2nd photo suggests the truth about fast moving rivers, which isn't evident to the naked eye. A felled tree acts as a stopping point, collecting trash, algae, and other objects. This shows that pollution does exist in the river, and that it gets caught in places where it cannot keep being moved by the river.
____________________
Mis: The importance of proper footware and apparel cannot be stressed enough for doing these surveys!I made the mistake of travesing the watershed with shorts and sandles. While I thought this would be ideal for wading in the water, the depth of the water surprised me and this course of action was made impossible. Thus, I had two options; one being walking around the Riparian Zone and the other being to traverse through the posion ivy infected RP. Needless to say I did a little of both. After my survey I made sure to not only apply generous amounts of soap to prevent poision ivy, but also do tick searches. While physical surveys are not necessarily part of my research, understanding the watershed is. Next time I do another physical survey jeans and water proof boots are a must.
***and I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'm not going to be buying calmine lotion anytime soon haha***
^--- In this map the yellow dot represents our starting point, the blue line is either the path taken through or near the body of water, and the green represents the final area of observation.
^--- This photo takes place on UR Drive(the bridge). This is directly past the coal plant. Numerous types of fish were seen in pools before the bridge and the blue heron was seen past the bridge. The water was still relatively clear and the ground was rocky.
^---This photo depicts the watershed directly beyond the bridge. To the left of the RP Zone seen here is the Country Club of Virgina and to the right is University Facilities. The ground beneath the water was still rocky, but the areas without rocks were surprisingly sandy. Beyond the large rock near the center of the picture the water level increases dramatically (between 8-15 feet). This really hampered my desire to walk the stream since the banks were 15+ feet steep (and higher still further along)
^--- Dr. Forsyth near a storm drain. These dump plenty of runoff tainted waters into the stream, further impairing its health and adding to the seemingly unnatural depth and erosion taking place in the stream.
^--- This photo demonstrates the growing width of the stream and the sharp incline of the banks. One theory is that erosion has caused the banks to slide into the river, thus accounting for the smooth/ sandy texture of the soil and also the lack of old tree growth near the water's edge. Noticeably absent is any aquatic plant life or fish (which were seen before the bridge).
<--This is one example of how the University of Richmond is harming the watershed. This picture takes place near the auxiliary parking lot near the 1600 block of apartments. This photo doesn't do justice to the black shinny silt that lined the edge of the parking lot. Runoff would move the silt down this drainage sieve into the stream (such as the night before due to heavy rain). Dr. Forsyth suggested that much of the soil is highly combined with oil thus resulting in its shinny color.
^-- This photo shows how the Country Club impacts the stream as well. Super rich nutrients are carried by runoff from this and many other drains and sieve into the stream. Golf courses are notoriously a strong cause of nitrates entering water systems (due to fertilizers on greens)
^--This photo references where the stream exits the Country Club/UR campus and moves closer to the James River.
^--- Dr. Forsyth near where the stream exits the UR campus along the edge of Henrico County. The river gets noticeably thinner here as rocks diverts the water under the road. Past the tree in the photo the river is near 25-30 feet across. To the right of this photo is a dead RP zone (old dead tress, lack of diversity in plant life other than a few types of tall grasses). Why this must be is any one's guess, but we think it may be an old development site which was abandoned.
<- This photo shows what happens when the stream reaches the other side of the road (near the Starbucks across from the River Road Shopping Center). Unlike previous assessments that the stream would deposit straight into the James, we believe this may be the James River/Kahawha Canal, (still part of the James River which runs parallel to the main river) which rejoins the larger part of the river near William's Island. The RP Zone here is better than near the streams (evident by the lack of erosion from the banks to the river, large trees, and apparent life within the river suggested by lots of bubbles in the water).
^-- These two photos show two sides of the River on a bridge near private residences. While the RP Zone is great and the 1st picture seems picturesque, the 2nd photo suggests the truth about fast moving rivers, which isn't evident to the naked eye. A felled tree acts as a stopping point, collecting trash, algae, and other objects. This shows that pollution does exist in the river, and that it gets caught in places where it cannot keep being moved by the river.____________________
Mis: The importance of proper footware and apparel cannot be stressed enough for doing these surveys!I made the mistake of travesing the watershed with shorts and sandles. While I thought this would be ideal for wading in the water, the depth of the water surprised me and this course of action was made impossible. Thus, I had two options; one being walking around the Riparian Zone and the other being to traverse through the posion ivy infected RP. Needless to say I did a little of both. After my survey I made sure to not only apply generous amounts of soap to prevent poision ivy, but also do tick searches. While physical surveys are not necessarily part of my research, understanding the watershed is. Next time I do another physical survey jeans and water proof boots are a must.
***and I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'm not going to be buying calmine lotion anytime soon haha***
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