What is a Watershed?
What is a Watershed is answered in this month’s Rock Report from James Parsaie. A watershed is all the land that surrounds and drains into the same body of water.
How do Watersheds Work?
On top of a watershed sits farms, homes, businesses, parks, schools ~ you name it! Everything that drains from these land parcels travels drop by drop into the ground, just like a funnel. What’s absorbed into the land travels below to reach the water table, making its way to nearby ponds and rivers, and eventually the sea. In our Green Hill neighborhood, our water table is high, so it doesn’t take long for what drains into the ground from properties to reach the Green Hill Pond watershed and/or the ocean.
Green Hill’s Watershed
Green Hill’s largest watershed is the Green Hill Pond watershed. Whether you live on the pond, on the hill or out on the beach, you reside in the Green Hill Pond Watershed!
According to URI Green Hill Pond Watershed Report, the Green Hill Pond watershed is 390 acres large, and is book marked by 2 barrier beaches. If you want to learn more about Green Hill’s barrier beaches, view James Parsaie’s Barrier Beach Rock Report from August 12, 2015.
In the densely populated Green Hill Pond watershed, there are about 8 homes per acre! When something drains from a parcel of land into the ground, it does not go away! Drip by drip, much of it winds up in the Green Hill Pond watershed and/or the Atlantic ocean.
What You Can Do To Protect Green Hill Pond
Green Hill Pond is at risk because of the unfavorable elements that travel from parcels of land in the watershed and end up in the pond. The good news is everyone that lives in the Green Hill can do something to help save Green Hill Pond! Here are 2 easy things you can do to help:
- When you’re shopping for products for your home and lawn, think about the pond and how your choices make a difference.
- When you’re having a conversation with your landscaper or lawn care services company, ask them what you can do to lower your impact on the Green Hill Pond watershed.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can together make a difference in saving and preserving Green Hill Pond and protect the Green Hill Pond watershed, follow GreenHillRocks.com! We’re learning all we can from our friends at the Salt Ponds Coalition and University of Rhode Island’s Environmental Outreach Center to share insights on how we all can protect our beloved salt pond.