| Background:
The word watershed is commonly used to refer to a hydrologic unit
of any size, and is synonymous with drainage basin (See definitions
of hydrologic unit, drainage basin and watershed in the glossary.)
A watershed may range from a few square miles in the case of a small
stream to thousands of square miles in the case of the Mississippi
River. The continental U.S. is subdivided into many watersheds or
hydrologic units, which correspond to river drainage basins and
aggregates of basins.
 Hydrologic
regions (2 in Alabama) are the largest watershed units and
may contain several major river basins. Sub-regions (6 in Alabama)
are those watersheds that correspond to the drainage area of a major
river. Hydrologic accounting units (11 in Alabama equivalent
to 6-digit USGS coded units) refer to the drainage areas or
watersheds of major tributaries of rivers. State maps of Alabama
are often delineated as having 18 river system watersheds. Hydrologic
cataloging units (52 eight-digit units in Alabama) or cataloging
sub-units (629 eleven-digit units in Alabama), refer to the
watersheds of tributaries of smaller and smaller streams. A 14-digit
sub-sub-cataloging unit of watersheds down to the smallest perennial
streams in Alabama is under development.
 Alabama's
average annual rainfall of 55 inches supplies the water for over
77,000 miles of perennial and intermittent streams; over 560,000
acres of ponds, lakes and reservoirs; and over 3.0 million acres
of marshes and wetlands. In addition, Alabama has over 50 miles
of coast with over 400,000 acres of estuaries, which are influenced
directly by rainfall and stream flow. Almost all water systems in
Alabama receive significant use and most are impacted to some degree
by both point and non-point source pollution.
Most point source water pollution in Alabama has
been successfully controlled through the federally mandated discharge
permit program of the Clean Water Act. However, this program is
not effective in controlling non-point sources of pollution, which
comes primarily through pollutants carried in storm water runoff.
Since watersheds are geographical units that channel all their runoff
to easily identifiable water bodies or stream segments, they are
considered the ideal land-based units for managing non-point source
pollution. One of the primary goals of effective watershed management
is to control non-point source pollution.
Conditions in Your Watershed
No matter where you live in Alabama, you live in a watershed, which
in most cases is part of a bigger watershed that drains into the
Gulf of Mexico. Your everyday actions, regardless of whether they
are associated with activities where you live, work or play, can
contribute to the quality of water that flows from your watershed.
The Alabama
Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), Alabama
state office of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS), Geological
Survey of Alabama, and local citizen watershed or stream monitoring
groups such as Alabama
Water Watch are the primary sources for information on the conditions
of your watershed. These same agencies, plus additional organizations
and educational institutions are good sources of information on
how you can help protect your watershed.
Alabama uses the USGS 8-digit Cataloging Unit (CU) watersheds as
the spatial framework for defining its watershed assessment categories
and for targeting the watersheds it views as its highest restoration
priority. In most cases, only certain areas within an entire CU
will show major water quality impairments. Alabama provides EPA
with pinpoint data for reservoirs, streams, lakes or smaller water
bodies that need management attention. Most of this information
comes from the Unified Watershed Assessment and 303(d) list of impacted
waters, which each state must provide to EPA as mandated by the
Clean Water Act. Both EPA and ADEM make this information available
to the public through the Internet. The EPA also maintains a directory
of volunteer monitoring programs.
Resources and Programs:
A wide variety of watershed resources and programs are available
from the Internet.
Publications:
Web Links:
FAQs:
Auburn University Watershed Management Team:
Dr. Kathyrn Flynn
Mr. Donn Rodekohr
For category and priority classification by 8-digit watersheds
in Alabama, visit the EPA Office
of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds
To find specific information by 8-digit watersheds in Alabama,
go to EPA's Surf
Your Watershed web site (click on locate your watershed map,
click on the map, click on Alabama, and then click on the watershed
of choice).
Index
of Watershed Indicators
Total Maximum
Daily Load information for Alabama
Watershed
Assessment, Tracking & Environmental Results (WATERS).
Extension Outreach:
Alabama
Water Quality Curriculum, Grades 4-12
Adopt-A-Watershed:
High Schools
Watershed
Groups in Alabama
Directory
of Watershed Guardians
Alabama
Soil and Water Conservation Committee Watershed Assessment
Alabama
Clean Water Partnership
Watershed Projects in Alabama:
- The
Flint Creek Watershed: Help Protect Our Environment
- Sand
Mountain-Lake Guntersville Watershed: 1996 Results
- Dog
River Watershed Project and Website
- Alabama
Water Watch
- Alabama
Grassroots Clearinghouse
Scientific Research:
Auburn
University Marine Extension and Research Center
Auburn
Univ. Int. Center for Aquaculture and Aquatic Environments
National
Agricultural Library Water Quality Information Center
Alabama
Water Resources Research Institute
American Water
Resources Association
USDA-Agricultural
Research Service - Water Quality Program
College and University Education:
College
of Agriculture
Department
of Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture
Department
of Biosystems Engineering
Department
of Agronomy and Soils
School
of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences
College
of Sciences and Mathematics
College
of Architecture: Landscape Architecture
Additional resources:
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