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Introduction and Basic Concepts - 2021

A watershed is defined as the area of land where all surface water drains to a common outlet such as a river, lake, or ocean. Watershed boundaries can be delineated using topographic maps which show elevation contours and stream channels. All land and bodies of water are part of some watershed. Watershed planning and management aims to address issues related to water quality/quantity, ecosystem management, and socioeconomic conditions of watershed communities.

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51 views9 pages

Introduction and Basic Concepts - 2021

A watershed is defined as the area of land where all surface water drains to a common outlet such as a river, lake, or ocean. Watershed boundaries can be delineated using topographic maps which show elevation contours and stream channels. All land and bodies of water are part of some watershed. Watershed planning and management aims to address issues related to water quality/quantity, ecosystem management, and socioeconomic conditions of watershed communities.

Uploaded by

Thabo Chuchu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction and Basic Concepts

What is a watershed?

-A watershed (drainage basin or catchment) is a topographically delineated area


that is drained by a stream system
(What is a system? What is a stream system) or

- An area of land where surface water drains down to a single point (watershed
outlet) in a stream channel or

- The geographic area from where the entire rainwater running off the land gets
drained to a single outlet

- Shares boundaries with neighbouring watersheds.


Introduction and Basic Concepts

• Watersheds can be delineated using a topographic map that shows


stream channels (Why?)

Watershed boundaries follow major ridgelines around channels and


meet at the bottom, where water flows out of the watershed
(Ridgelines and channels can be identified on contour maps)
Using a network of
streams to delineate a
watershed
•Every stream, tributary, or river has an associated watershed

•Small watersheds (sub-watersheds) join to become larger watersheds


Introduction and Basic Concepts

• Watersheds are composed of many different kinds of natural resources and


land uses: forests, agriculture, towns and cities

So, all land everywhere is part of some watershed

And, the people and animals inhabiting in the watershed are part of the
watershed community.

• Hydrological processes that occur in a watershed vary in space and time


depending on the type of watershed
Introduction and Basic Concepts

• The planning and management of watershed is done to accomplish the


tasks related to overall development of watershed

 This may be with respect to:

 Water quality and quantity


 Management of ecosystem
 Enrichment of socio­economic condition of the population living in
the watershed
Introduction and Basic Concepts

• The planning and management process has a number of key activities,


including:

 Targeting of priority problems


 Promotion of high level of involvement of stakeholders
 Development of solutions to the problems
 Measurement of success through monitoring and data gathering

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