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Watershed Approach
The watershed is sometimes referred to as the
catchment area, or drainage basin, and is defined as the area of land over which surface
runoff from rain and snow will eventually enter into a stream or river, such as Wheeling
Creek. An example of third- and fifth-order watersheds, subbasins within the Wheeling
Creek watershed, may be viewed. See stream order for a
definition, and a detailed description of the method used to calculate stream order. Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Trevor Harris
Individual water quality sampling sites in the
Wheeling Creek watershed are representative of various sized streams from north to south
and east to west. This allows comparison of water quality at one site with the water
quality at other sites within the watershed. We refer to this method as a watershed
approach, which means that it is important to view water quality at any one site within
the context of water quality in the overall watershed. Photo:
Courtesy of Dr. Trevor Harris
[ Watershed Approach ] [ River as a Continuum ]
[ Watershed Water Quality ]
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