2. Why do we need to know about Rivers? Source of drinking water Source of irrigation water (You eat rivers as well as drink them) Waste removal (takes it downstream) –A given pollutant can settle out within 30 feet of flowing over rock and sand. Industry – you like electricity? Flood Control – you like your house dry? Recreation Wildlife Habitat

3. Texas River Basins

4. With topographic relief added…

5. Rivers in Texas – Common Denominators All flow in Southeasterly direction All empty into Gulf of Mexico Otherwise – EXTREMELY variable in their characteristics!

6. All the Rivers of Texas Primary Watersheds 1.Sabine 2.Neches 3.Trinity 4.San Jacinto 5.Brazos 6.San Bernard 7.Colorado 8.Navidad 9.Atascosa 10.San Antonio 11.Guadalupe 12.Aransas 13.Nueces The Rio Grande and its Tributaries Rio Grande Pecos Devils Tributaries of the Mississippi Canadian Red Cypress Sulphur

7. Watershed What is a Watershed? A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. John Wesley Powell, scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is: "that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community." Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state, and national boundaries. In the continental US, there are 2,110 watersheds; including Hawaii Alaska, and Puerto Rico, there are 2,267 watersheds.

8. River Zones Zone # 1: Headwaters Zone # 2: Transition Zone # 3:Flood Plains

9. Zone # 1: Headwaters Water rises out of springs Water typically cooler Waterfalls, rapids, make for high DO Lifeforms: trout, members of Order Ephemeroptera.

10. Headwaters videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldg6Sru0ddg In Transit Mississippi River by canoe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ6WB3lKM Ho&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SPE 2907D7AA81F6571

11. Zone #2: Transition Zone Formed where headwaters merge Wider, deeper, gentler flow Lower DO Shape land by incising valleys Lifeforms: Crappie, Crayfish

12. Transition Zone Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8UfH1Eo 5bE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQQngZ- M6II

13. Zone #3: Flood Plains Streams join to form deep, wide rivers that MEANDER across broad, flat valleys. Higher temperatures Lower DO Shape land by cutting meanders, laying out deltas, depositing levees and floodplains. Lifeforms: Catfish, tolerant “Macs”

14. Floodplain Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ6oyf9 C8Lc&feature=results_main&playnext=1&l ist=PL6D35E13D8E3608B9

15. Zone # 4: Delta Stream meets the sea or lake and dumps its load, forming a broad plain called a DELTA. Nutrient RICH, often influenced by tides, variable salinity These factors allow for an extremely rich smorgasbord of fish and invertebrates: –Freshwater and Inshore Saltwater species (Alligator Gar, Red Drum) cohabitate.

16. Delta Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJLg_Fab uok http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi6x0951 H7A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDYfvah EwE

17. How to Kill a River Pollution (Point Source) –Sewage –Industrial Wastes (Non-point Source) –Agricultural Fertilizers –Runoff from Roads (Oil scum) –Plastics (Biological) –Alien species Over – damming –Kills the flow, upsets local fisheries. –Starves ocean of sand, leading to erosion of coastal features. Channelization River Sediment Mining

18. More Must-see Videos Non-point Source Pollution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cACFw8lz kPI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eozVMJC YHCM&feature=related Dynamic Equilibrium http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Va7E7K Oz94&feature=related

19. More Good Stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ayer_embedded&v=0fIXhs6DzIE#!http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ayer_embedded&v=0fIXhs6DzIE#