Watershed Protection Watershed protection is one of the barriers in the multiple barrier approach to protecting source water. In fact, water- shed protection is the primary barrier, the first line of defense against contamination of drinking water at its source. Ideally, under the general concept of “quality in, means quality out,” a protected watershed ensures that surface runoff and inflow to the source waters occur within a pristine environment. Protecting watersheds is not only critical to humans in ensuring their continued growth in numbers but is critical to their very survival. Simply put, protecting watersheds is a challenge that we must meet. While it is true that envi- ronmental protection programs in the U.S. have gone a long way toward improving water quality during the last quarter century, yet, many challenges remain. According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as of 1994, nearly 40 percent of surveyed waters in the U.S. remain too polluted for fishing, swimming and other uses. The leading causes of impairment found in the survey include silt, sewage, disease-causing bacteria, fertilizer, toxic metals, oil and grease.* 16.1 INTRODUCTION Water regulates population growth, influences world health and living conditions, and determines biodiversity. For thousands of years, people have tried to control the flow and quality of water. Water provided resources and a means of transportation for development in some areas. Even today, the presence or absence of water is critical in determining how we can use land. Yet, despite this long experience in water use and water management, humans often fail to manage water well. Sound water management was pushed aside in rapid, never-ending economic development in many countries. Often, optimism about the applications of technology (e.g., dam building, wastewater treatment, or irrigation measures) exceeded concerns for, or even interest in, envi- ronmental shortcomings. Pollution was viewed as the inevitable consequence of development — the price that must be paid to achieve economic progress. Clearly, we now have reached the stage of our devel- opment when the need for management of water systems is apparent, beneficial, and absolutely imperative. Land use and activities in the watershed directly impact raw water quality. Effective watershed management improves raw water quality, controls treatment costs, and provides additional health safeguards. Depending on goals, water- shed management can be simple or complex. This chapter discusses the need for watershed man- agement based on a multiple barrier basis and provides a brief overview of the range of techniques and approaches that can be used to investigate the biophysical, social, and economic forces affecting water and its use. Water utility directors are charged with providing potable water in a quantity and quality to meet the public’s demand. They are also charged with providing effective management on a holistic basis of the entire water supply system; such management responsibility includes proper management of the area’s watershed. Key Point: Integrated water management means putting all of the pieces together, including considering social, environmental, and technical aspects. 16.2 CURRENT ISSUES IN WATER MANAGEMENT Note: Much of the information provided in this sec- tion is adapted from Viessman, W., Jr., Water management issues for the nineties, Water Resources Bulletin , 26, 883–981, 1991. Remarkable consensus exists among worldwide experts over the current issues confronted by waterworks manag- ers and others. These issues include the following: 1. Water availability, requirements, and use a. Protection of aquatic and wetland habitat management of extreme events (droughts, floods, etc.) b. Excessive extractions from surface and groundwater c. Global climate change d. Safe drinking water supply e. Waterborne commerce 2. Water quality a. Coastal and ocean water quality b. Lake and reservoir protection and restoration c. Water quality protection, including effective enforcement of legislation 16 * U.S. EPA, Watersheds. Accessed at http://epa.gov/owow/water- shed/framewaork/ch1.html November 2, 2002 © 2003 by CRC Press LLC 458 Handbook of Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations d. Management of point- and nonpoint-source pollution e. Impacts on land/water/air relationships f. Health risks 3. Water management and institutions a. Coordination and consistency b. Capturing a regional perspective c. Respective roles of federal and state/provin- cial agencies d. Respective roles of projects and programs e. Economic development philosophy that should guide planning f. Financing and cost sharing g. Information and education h. Appropriate levels of regulation and dereg- ulation i. Water rights and permits j. Infrastructure k. Population growth l. Water resources planning, including: i. Consideration of the watershed as an integrated system ii. Planning as a foundation for, not a reac- tion to, decision making iii. Establishment of dynamic planning pro- cesses incorporating periodic review and redirection iv. Sustainability of projects beyond con- struction and early operation v. A more interactive interface between planners and the public vi. Identification of sources of conflict as an integral part of planning vii. Fairness, equity, and reciprocity between affected parties 16.3 WHAT IS A WATERSHED? At the simplest level, we all live in a watershed — the area that drains to a common waterway, such as a lake, estuary, wetland, river, stream, or even an ocean — and our individual actions can directly affect it. More specif- ically, a watershed is a protected, reserved area, usually distant from the treatment plant, where natural or artificial lakes are used for water storage, natural sedimentation, and seasonal pretreatment, with or without disinfection. A watershed is also defined as a collecting area into which water drains. The area of land encompassed could be tiny or immense. The size of a watershed, and the direction of flow of its rivers, is determined by landforms. Watersheds are associated with surface water (usually fed by gravity) to distinguish them from groundwater (usually fed by pumping). Note: EPA’s watershed approach is to provide for an “integrated, holistic strategy for more effectively restoring and protecting aquatic ecosystems and protecting human health (e.g., drinking water supplies and fish consumption).” (U.S. EPA, Committing EPA’s Water Program to Advancing the Watershed Approach, http://www.epa.gov/ owow/watershed/memo.html. Accessed Decem- ber 2002.) 16.4 WATER QUALITY IMPACT Generally, for a typical river system water quality is impacted by about 60% nonpoint pollution, 21% munic- ipal discharge, 18% industrial discharge, and about 1% sewer overflows. Of the nonpoint pollution, about 67% is from agriculture, 18% is from urban, and 15% is from other sources. Land use directly impacts water quality. The impact of land use on water quality is clearly evident in Table 16.1. From the waterworks operator point of view, water quality issues for nutrient contamination can be summa- rized quite simply: 1. Nutrients + Algae = Taste and Odor Problems 2. Nutrients + Algae + Macrophytes + Decay = Trihalomethane Precursors 16.5 WATERSHED PROTECTION AND REGULATIONS The Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act Reauthor- ization addresses source water protection. Implementation of regulatory compliance requirements (with guidance pro- vided by the U.S. Department of Health) is left up to state and local health department officials to implement. Water protection regulations in force today not only provide guidance and regulation for watershed protection, but they also provide additional benefits for those tasked with managing drinking water utilities. The typical drinking water utility (which provides safe drinking water to the consumer) has two choices in water pollution control: “Keep it out or take it out.” The “keep it out” part pertains to watershed management; if the water supply contains contaminants, they must be removed by treatment, “take it out.” Utility directors and waterworks managers are concerned with controlling treatment costs. An effective watershed management program can reduce treatment costs by reducing source water contamination. The “take it out” option is much more expensive and time consuming than keeping it out in the first place. Proper watershed management also works to maintain consumer confidence. If the consumer is aware that the water source from the area’s watershed is of the highest quality, then logically, confidence in the quality of the © 2003 by CRC Press LLC Watershed Protection 459 water is high. High-quality water also works directly to reduce public health risks. 16.6 A WATERSHED PROTECTION PLAN Watershed protection begins with planning. The watershed protection plan consists of several elements and includes the need to: 1. Inventory and characterize water sources 2. Identify pollutant sources 3. Assess vulnerability of intake 4. Establish program goals 5. Develop protection strategies 6. Implement program 7. Monitor and evaluate program effectiveness 16.7 RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT PRACTICES To ensure an adequate and safe supply of drinking water for a municipality, watershed management includes proper reservoir management practices. These practices include proper lake aeration, harvesting, dredging, and use of algi- cide. Water quality improvements from lake aeration include reduced iron, manganese, phosphorus, ammonia, and sulfide content. Lake aeration also reduces cost of capital and operation for water supply treatment. Algicide treatment controls algae, which in turn reduces taste and odor problems. The drawback of using algicides is that they are successful for only a brief period. 16.8 WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES Watershed management practices include land acquisi- tions, land use controls, and best management practices (BMPs). Land acquisition refers to the purchase of water- shed lands — those land areas that form the watershed for a particular locality. The advantage of ownership of lands included within a particular watershed are obvious; the owner (in this case, the local utility) has better control of land use, and thus can effect protective measures for ensur- ing a quality water supply. Land use controls (those measures deemed necessary to protect the watershed from contamination and/or destruction) vary from location to location. For example, land use controls may be designed to prohibit mining or other industrial activities from taking place within the watershed, for protection of the water supply. BMPs for watershed management refer specifically to agriculture, logging, urban, and construction practices. The chief problem with best management practices is that they are nonstructural measures. They are often hard to implement because they require people to change the way they behave. In agricultural systems, BMPs may include measures such as conservation tillage and contour plowing, confined animal facility management (contain or use waste on-site and keep animals out of waterways), and appropriate pes- ticide and herbicide application practices (minimize use or use alternative chemicals). Examples of logging BMPs include construction of streamside buffer zones to protect the watercourse. Log- ging plans should also incorporate water quality and hab- itat planning. Urban BMPs revolve around targeted categories such as reduction of impervious areas (reducing tarmac, asphalt covering, and cement covering to allow for precipitation infiltration), nonstormwater discharges, and proper dis- posal of residential chemicals. The primary types of BMPs used include public edu- cation programs, inspections and enforcement, structural controls (end-of-pipe solutions that seek to treat or remove pollution that has already occurred) and preventive options that are implemented to prevent or reduce the creation of waste within a process. Examples of construction BMPs include enforcement of stormwater pollution plans and inspections. Types of construction BMPs include erosion and sediment control (i.e., minimize clearing, stage construction, and stabilize stockpiles and finished areas) and chemical control (i.e., TABLE 16.1 Land Use Directly Impacts Water Quality Source Sediment Nutrients Viruses, Bacteria Trihalomethane Iron, Manganese Urban x x x x x Agriculture x x x x x Logging x x x x Industrial x x x x Septic tanks x x x Construction x x Source: Spellman, F.R., The Handbook for Wastewater Operator Certification, Technomic Publ., Lan- caster, PA, 2001. © 2003 by CRC Press LLC 460 Handbook of Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations proper storage, handling, application and covering, and isolation of materials). 16.9 CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 16.1. Define watershed. 16.2. Another name for watershed is __________. 16.3. Explain “keep it out” and “take it out.” 16.4. What is the purpose of algicide in reservoir management? 16.5. Does the acronym BMP mean? REFERENCE 1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Watersheds, http://epa.gov/owow/watershed/framework/ch1.html, Washington, D.C., accessed on Nov. 2, 2002. © 2003 by CRC Press LLC . F.R., The Handbook for Wastewater Operator Certification, Technomic Publ., Lan- caster, PA, 2001. © 2003 by CRC Press LLC 460 Handbook of Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations . Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations d. Management of point- and nonpoint-source pollution e. Impacts on land /water/ air relationships f. Health risks 3. Water management and institutions a storage, handling, application and covering, and isolation of materials). 16. 9 CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 16. 1. Define watershed. 16. 2. Another name for watershed is __________. 16. 3.