Surface Water We know that precipitation (rain, snow, sleet and hail) will soak into the ground or it runs downhill into surface water. What is surface water? Water found on the surface of the Earth such as rivers, lakes, streams or ocean

Fresh Surface Water Locations— Rivers, Streams, and Lakes What is a river? A large channel along which water is continually flowing down a slope—made of many streams that come together (tributaries) What are tributaries? streams and smaller rivers that feed into a main/large river What is a stream? A small channel along which water is continually flowing down a slope—made of small gullies What is a lake? A body of water of considerable size contained on a body of land

What is a watershed? an area of land that drains water to the lowest point—a river, stream, lake, or ocean

Everyone lives, works or plays in a watershed. Watersheds drain water to the lowest point.  In the diagram below, the land within the white line is the watershed that drains into the tributaries that will eventually flow larger river and then on to the ocean

Watershed Animation http://techalive.mtu.edu/meec/module01/w hatiswatershed.htm

Winston-Salem has 1 main Watershed: High Rock Lake Yadkin River (NC) PeeDee River (SC)

A group of interconnected watersheds form a river basin.

What is a River Basin/Watershed? Encompasses all land surface drained by tributaries (streams and creeks) that flow downhill eventually into one large river. A river basin’s final destination is an estuary or ocean.

River Basin/Watershed Analogy…. A bathtub catches all water falling within its’ sides, a River basin (watershed) sends all the water falling on surrounding land into a central river and out to an estuary or ocean.

Fresh Water Locations—River Basins and Watersheds Forsyth county is located mainly in the Yadkin/Pee Dee River Basin The largest river basin in NC is the Cape Fear River Basin

North Carolina River Basins Durham NC is made of 17 river basins 5 will flow into the Mississippi River Basin The other 12 will flow into the Atlantic Ocean 11 originate in NC Only 4 are entirely contained within NC: Cape Fear, Neuse, White Oak, and Tar-Pamlico

Some river basins will become watersheds to another LARGER river basin such as the Mississippi River Basin. In NC the New, Watauga, French Broad, Little Tennessee, Hiwassee all flow into the Ohio River Basin and then to the even larger Mississippi Basin

Mississippi River Basin’s watersheds are large areas.

Mississippi River Basin

River Basin Vocab 13 Tributaries: streams and smaller rivers that feed into a main/large river Watershed: an area of land that drains water to the lowest point—a river, stream, lake, or ocean. Several Watersheds make up a River Basin River Basin: an area of land that drains water into a large river

Google Drive To SUBMIT YOUR WORK Log in to your Google Drive acct hare it with me Type my name: cynthia.stoffregen@dpsnc.net UNCHECK “Notify people via email” Click “Share and Save” Log in to your Google Drive acct Click on the “people” or Shared with me

Work Cited: http://triangleenvironment.wikispaces.com/CleanWater http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservati on/issues/watershed1.htm http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2005/08/15/fo cus2.html?page=all