Posted by cav on November 08, 2004 at 03:50:48:
In Reply to: watersheds and bmps posted by giveawayboy on November 07, 2004 at 15:09:56:
Forgive me, I'm not Cari, but it's been awhile since I got to answer that question...so please allow me to jump in.
A watershed is all of the area that drains to a certain point. Think of a basin, all the water settles to the lowest point. The same is true of land. The lowest point will be a river or lake or even a bay...some body of water. The watershed is usually named for that body of water. Also every body of water, even little ponds, have their own watershed, and just like everything, the boundaries are not all that clear. Hillsborough County defines 17 major watersheds, but the Southwest Florida Water Management District recongnizes 3 larger ones in the County. And of course all of them eventually empty into Tamps Bay, thus making them part of the Tampa Bay watershed, which is the concern of the Federal Tampa Bay Estuary Program. It just depends on the scale you need to work in.
Now for BMP...this is Best Management Practices. A general term for all the tools used to manage natural resources and prevent pollution. There are generally two types of BMP, structural and non-structural. A structural BMP is something that must be built, like a treatment pond, or a filter box, etc. Even drain pipes count as structural BMP's. Other things would be mulch, grass (like on construction sites, plants in a pond to absorb nutrients, etc.
Non structural BMP's are things like encentives to follow guidelines, water restrictions, and education. The non-structural are often given less priority, but these are just as important as they target the source of the issue (such as nutrient pollution from fertilizer)instead of treating it afterward.
Just like everything else, there are worlds of specialized knowledge on BMP's. It was my specialty until I moved here... and my office, now Martin's, is full of thick binders on BMP's. You are welcome to go there and look at them, or look online.
Erosion is one aspect that BMP's target, so yes, it does have something to d owith that.
: Cari, give me a brief definition of a watershed and a BMP. Does any of this have to do with erosion? Thanks, Bill