North Carolina Watersheds

1. What is a watershed?

An area of land drained by a river, stream or lake.It is also called a river basin.

2. What watershed do you live in?

FRENCH BROAD

Which river basin is the largest in NC?

CAPE FEAR RIVER BASIN

FRENCH BROAD is 2,842 square miles

3. What is the name of the main river in your watershed?

FRENCH BROAD RIVER

4. What are the headwaters of your river basin?

The headwaters of the French Broad River spill from a 50-foot waterfall in Transylvania County (Court House Falls).

5. Tributaries of the French Broad River

• Pigeon River

• Nolichucky River

• Swannanoa River

• Mills River

• Davidson River

6. What’s a tributary?

• A stream or river flowing into a larger stream or river.

7. How many people live in the French Broad Watershed?

• 393,795 people live in the French Broad Watershed.

• Some areas in the watershed have doubled in population since 1990 (Hendersonville)

8. What unique organisms can be found in your watershed?

Hellbender salamanders, the Appalachian elktoe (freshwater mussel), and many species of fish that are not found in any other rivers in the state.

9. How clean is the water found in the French Broad Watershed?

• The state has named about 263 miles of rivers as “Outstanding Resource Waters” due to their high quality.

• The Pigeon River has been affected for years by polluted discharge from a paper mill. Now the mill releases much lower levels of contaminants which has greatly improved the quality of water.

10. What are some other factors that may contribute to water quality in the

French Broad River Basin?

POPULATION – as population increases pollutions increases

–URBAN DEVOLOPMENT – due to the population increase

–CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES – due to the population increase

11. Where does the water in your watershed end up going?

• French Broad River to the Tennessee River to the Ohio River to the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.

What’s the closest creek to our school?

Moore Creek to Hominy Creek to French Broad River

Tennessee River Basin

Mississippi River Watershed

12. What factors affect the rivers that are fed by your

watershed?• Land development

• Construction activities

• Forestry and mining operations

• Animal feeding lots

• Failing septic systems

• Roads and parking lots

13. Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico

Due to eutrophication

The Continental Divides

• Western (Great) Continental Divide – an imaginary line that divides the continent in two main drainage areas. – runs from NW Canada, down south along the

Rocky Mountains on into Mexico.

• Eastern Continental Divide – separates the land draining east to the Atlantic Ocean, or west into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. – runs along the high ridges and peaks of the

Appalachian Mountains

Eastern and Western continental divides

HERE ARE SOME OF THE MAJORRIVERS IN NORTH CAROLINA

HERE ARE SOME OF THE MAJORRIVERS IN THE USA