Healthy streams and rivers require a healthy landscape. A watershed is the land area that drains to a common outlet, such as a stream, wetland, lake, or estuary. More than 30 years after the passage of the Clean Water Act, more than half of the streams feeding into the Hudson River watershed have degraded water-quality from pollution and urban/suburban runoff. Clearwater works closely with civic leaders, citizenry, and state and federal regulatory agencies to help protect and manage the Hudson River Watershed by addressing both the point and nonpoint sources of pollution. Some of our specific watershed-scale issues include the twenty-year battle to remove PCB contamination from the Hudson River, incubating the Hudson River Watershed Alliance [link to it], forming a sustainable development alliance [link to sustainable development page] to improve projects and mitigate the negative effects of development pressure, and fighting the excessive use of pesticides.
The watershed management planning process begins with understanding that every piece of land is part of a watershed. A watershed is defined as an area in which all drainage flows to a common outlet.
A major focus of watershed management is prevention of non-point source water pollution. It is more cost effective to prevent flooding and water pollution than to correct problems after damage has occurred. To this end, understanding the health of our watershed will better inform the process of working toward protecting it.
Comprehensive watershed management plans include data from field inspections and inventories of existing drainage structures, mapping of watercourses, analysis of runoff rates and allowable capacities, and identification of existing and potential problem areas. Certain development practices may disturb land and create impervious surfaces such as roads, rooftops and compacted soil that in turn drastically change natural drainage patterns. During construction, existing grades and vegetation can be damaged, resulting in soil erosion. More sustainable forms are low impact development (LID) or better site designs are recommended.
Floodplain and stormwater management should combine efforts to minimize impervious surfaces with efforts to maximize infiltration of clean runoff into the ground. Untreated stormwater should not be allowed to discharge directly into surface or subsurface waters. Site-specific runoff control measures should be based on their location within the watershed. Effective stormwater management will maintain the natural patterns of runoff within the watershed.
Developing a management strategy across municipal borders that will incorporate municipal watershed data can better serve to manage and protect the health of the Rondout Watershed and Creek. The development of a Watershed Management Plan that takes into consideration the ecological and cultural assets of all the municipalities in the Rondout Creek Watershed and of its neighboring watersheds will strengthen regional efforts to promote the connectivity of all the Hudson Valley watersheds.
