1. Rebecca Schneider, Nancy Trautmann, & Linda Wagenet Cornell University Roadside Ditches: A Watershed Curriculum Module

2. Goals: To help students understand connections between watershed land uses and stream ecosystem health To demonstrate connections between ditch runoff and streams To engage students through use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology

3. Lake and stream health are linked to adjacent land uses and human activities.

4. Watershed divide Watershed: The total area above a specific point on a stream or river from which water drains toward the stream.

5. Photo: Y. Arthus Bertrand

6. Water Cycle: Balance between precipitation, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and runoff Credit: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/stream_restoration/chap2.html

7. Stream order - classifies stream segments according to the number of tributaries 2 nd Order 5 th Order

8. Measuring discharge: Volume of water flowing past a fixed location at any given point in time Measured in units of ft 3 /sec or m 3 /sec

9. Rain Baseflow (from groundwater) High flow Buttermilk Falls,NY Natural stream flow patterns Runoff Low flow

10. Impervious Surfaces: Rooftops Parking lots Driveways Compacted Soils: Lawns Crop fields Impacts of Land Use on Runoff

11. Credit: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/stream_restoration/chap30002.html

12. time (hrs/days/weeks) stream height post-development pre-development Impervious surfaces impact the natural patterns of flow: frequency and magnitude of floods summer droughts (due to lower baseflow) 15% impervious surface

13. Impervious surfaces impact stream health: increased flooding and drought increased erosion degraded water quality loss of diversity of fish and aquatic organisms

14. Roadside Ditches – a neglected but critical factor in protection of water resources

15. After Before Ditches are managed by highway staff to prevent flooding of roads and buildings… and rarely linked to watershed management

16. Downstream Impacts Credit: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/stream_restoration/scrhimage.htm

17. Watershed: 56 km 2 Stream Length: 88 km Roads: 87 km Ditches: 142 km 70% linked to stream Increased drainage density 1.6 km -1  4.1 km -1 Enfield Creek RoadStreamDivide

18. Total water flow Suspended sediment Dissolved chemicals Bedload sediment 8 Replicate Sampling Stations + Creek Research Doolittle, Enfield, 6-Mile Creeks

19. Total Bedload Sediment Collected by Ditch Type per event 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Grams Bare Dirt Grassy Gravel Weedy bare grassy weedy Enfield Creek – Preliminary Findings Ditch Type gravel

20. Downstream erosion?

21. Roadside Ditch Impacts: mechanism for increased land-water linkages conduit for rapid runoff internal source of sediment and other contaminants

22. Scraped, exposed Concrete, hardened Recommended Ditch Management Strategies Hydro-seeded Rock-lined Mowed grass

23. Recommendation: Disconnect ditches from streams. Use infiltration basins & detention ponds to capture water and allow it to recharge groundwater

24. Recommendation: Use permeable paving to reduce runoff

25. EPA Phase II Stormwater Regulations: Small towns/ designated MS4 communities must develop stormwater management plans by 2008. Current guidelines focus on construction activities.