What is a Watershed?

A watershed is an area of land where water drains into the same stream, river system, or other body of water. Watersheds are made up of many different components and can vary in size from a few acres to hundreds of square miles. Each component of a watershed plays an important role. Some can have both positive and negative effects on the quality of the water reaching the stream.

Agriculture: Agricultural land is land converted to use for raising crops or livestock. In Kansas, this land is mainly used for wheat, sunflowers, hay, corn, soybean, and cattle. It is important to implement Best Management Practices on the land to minimize the impact on the health of the watershed.

Animals: Animals in the watershed can be either wildlife or domesticated and include mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Animals can be beneficial to the watershed by breaking down soil, in the case of earthworms, and recycling decaying organic matter such as leaves and dead animals. Animals can also be harmful to the watershed. Bacteria in animal waste from both wildlife and domestic animals, overgrazing by livestock, and unrestricted livestock access to streambanks can all have negative effects on the watershed and water quality.

Bedrock: Bedrock is the impermeable layer that is present under loose materials such as soil. In Kansas bedrock is mostly in the form of limestone and sandstone. Bedrock is the parent material of soil as it breaks down over time.

Draws: Draws are areas where a small natural depression occurs that water drains into. These can act as ephemeral streams to carry water from the uplands to the stream during a precipitation event.

Floodplain: Floodplains are natural low areas formed by river sediment adjacent to rivers and streams that are prone to reoccurring flooding. This land helps hold the water until flood waters recede. Floodplains can be very narrow (feet), to very wide (miles) with the width depending on the magnitude of the stream flow.

Industry: Industry can be commercial or industrial. Possible pollutants include contaminants from parking lots, chemical wastes and human waste. Most industry is regulated to limit the amount of pollutants they can release that may eventually reach the stream.

Lakes/ponds/reservoirs: Many of these in Kansas are manmade. They serve as recreational areas for fishing, boating, and swimming as well as flood water storage and drinking water.

Landfill: Landfills contain waste that can break down and leak into the soil.

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Prairie: Found across Kansas, prairies are areas of land that can be flat or rolling with the main vegetation being herbaceous plants, especially grasses. Trees are either completely absent, or widely scattered. Grasslands are important in many ways. They help slow down water during storm events and the plant roots bind soils to reduce erosion. Grasslands are also important for wildlife habitat and for recreation such as hunting and bird viewing.

Precipitation: Precipitation is the total amount of rain or snow that falls. This amount varies across Kansas and ranges from 12 inches in the west to 42 inches a year in the southeast corner. Precipitation is important for vegetation, people, and wildlife as it replenishes the ground and surface water.

Riparian forest: Trees along the edge of streams and rivers help slow down water, recharge the water table, provide wildlife habitat, reduce downstream flooding, and remove pollutants from runoff from adjacent fields. Riparian forests have often been removed for other uses such as agriculture because they are usually found on the most fertile soil along the streams.

Riparian zone: The riparian zone is the area of land adjacent to the stream channel or edge of the body of water. This area is distinguished from the uplands with vegetation and soils. It is an important area as a last defense to help filter water before it reaches the stream and to help stabilize the streambank and provide critical habitat to wildlife.

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Streams: Streams are flows of water in a channel or bed and are the main transport for all water flows within a watershed. There are three types of streams. Ephemeral streams flow in direct response to a rain event. Intermittent streams flow at certain times of the year such as after snowmelt. Perennial streams flow year round. Streams are an important source of water for wildlife, human use and consumption, and recreation.

Towns: Roofs and concrete create impermeable areas which allow higher volumes of storm runoff to reach the streams more quickly. Towns are a source of pollutants, but if designed correctly the amount of pollutants produced can be minimized. Ways to minimize pollutants include not over-fertilizing yards, keeping trees and grass along streams, maintaining green space, and cleaning up pet waste.

Upland Forest: Upland forests are those that are in the higher elevations of the landscape. Trees located there are more tolerable to shallower, rockier soils. These forests are a very important part of the landscape providing benefits such as reducing soil erosion, wildlife habitat, recreation, and timber harvest.

Watershed boundary: The watershed boundary is determined by the ridgeline at the top of hills that defines the edge of the watershed at which point anything outside of the boundary flows in a different direction to a different endpoint.

Wetlands: Wetlands are areas of land that are covered with water for all or part of the year and are characterized by soils, presence of water, and vegetation. In Kansas, these include sandhill pools, playa lakes, freshwater marshes, and salt marshes. The approximately 435,000 acres of wetlands in Kansas are important for the storage and cleaning of water. The presence of wetlands reduces flooding and reduces pollutants before entering the stream. They are also extremely important as stopover points for migrating birds and provide year round habitat for other forms of wildlife.

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