Restoring eelgrass to the Neponset River Estuary Watershed Characteristics October 15, 2012

Outline Watershed & sub-watershed area Land use/Land Cover Surficial Geology/Bedrock Lithology Wastewater Infrastructure Aquatic Habitat Probably wont keep this slide but just use it as a reference to figure out what to include and what not to include in the presentation.

Watershed Definition The area of land that drains into a body of water “Communities connected by water” The area of land that drains into a body of water, like a pond, river, harbor, or lake. In essence, it’s basic function is to capture, store, and drain into whatever that body of water may be. A watershed can be described as a “community connected by water” because it can include a variety of landscapes, such as forests, residential areas, and so on, but everyone within the watershed is affected by water use and water quality. http://water.epa.gov/type/watersheds/whatis.cfm

As we all know, we are interested in the Neponset River Watershed, which covers the western portion of the Boston Harbor Watershed as seen here.

The watershed: Boston Norwood Canton Randolph Dedham Quincy Dover Sharon Foxborough Stoughton Medfield Walpole Milton Westwood So if we zoom in a little bit and take a look at a map I’m sure we’re all very familiar with, we can see the delineation of the Neponset River Watershed. 130 sq. miles

Land Use According to land information downloaded from MassGIS, Huang & Chen 2009 determined the 5 major types of land usage in the Neponest River Watershed. They are 38% residential area (as seen in yellow) 34% forested area, as seen in dark green) – together which make up the vast majority of land cover in the watershed The others are 5% Industry in Red 4% wetlands in lime green 3% golf course Huang & Chen 2009

Impervious Surfaces Schueler 1992

Impervious Surfaces Yellow – 30-40% Dark orange – 50-60% Deep, dark red - >50%

Surficial Geology OLIVER: MassGIS

Bedrock Lithology OLIVER: MassGIS

Wastewater infrastructure NepRWA 2004

Aquatic Habitat

Aquatic Habitat

Open Space

Recommendations Continued monitoring of land use changes over time to understand and predict ecological consequences incurred by sensitive habitats Investigate the relationship between bedrock lithology, surficial geology, and groundwater features Survey wastewater infrastructure of municipals in the watershed and assess the overall status of these systems Investigate dry deposition processes affecting the Neponset River Watershed

References Huang W, Chen RF (2009) Sources and transformations of chromophoric dissolved organic matter in the Neponset River Watershed. Journal of Geophysical Research 114:G00F05 Neponset River Watershed Association (2004) Neponset River Watershed 2004 Assessment Report. University of Massachusetts, Urban Harbors Institute. http://www.neponset.org/BasinPlan/Low%20Resolution/NeponsetAssessLoRes.pdf> Schueler TR (1992) Mitigating the adverse impacts of urbanization on streams: A comprehensive strategy for local government. Watershed Restoration Sourcebook, Publication 92701:21-31