Watershed

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-030180",
  "term": "Watershed",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. Land area that delivers runoff water, sediment, and dissolved substances to a major river and its tributaries.\n\n2. The land area from which water drains into a stream, river, or reservoir.\n\n3. The area of land that drains into a particular body of water.\n\n4. The land area that drains into a stream; an area of land that contributes water runoff to one specific delivery point (same as catchment, drainage, or basin).\n\n5. A drainage area or basin in which all land and water areas drain or flow toward a central collector such as a stream, river, or lake at a lower elevation.\n\n6. The land area that drains into a stream; the watershed for a major river may encompass a number of smaller watersheds that ultimately combine at a common point.\n\n7. The area of land from which rainfall (and/or snow melt) drains into a stream or other water body. Watersheds are also sometimes referred to as drainage basins or drainage areas. Ridges of higher ground generally form the boundaries between watersheds. At these boundaries, rain falling on one side flows toward the low point of one watershed, while rain falling on the other side of the boundary flows toward the low point of a different watershed.\n\n8. The land area that drains into a stream. An area of land that contributes runoff to one specific delivery point; large watersheds may be composed of several smaller \"subsheds\", each of which contributes runoff to different locations that ultimately combine at a common delivery point.\n\n9. An area of land that drains into a particular river, lake, bay or other body of water. We all live in a watershed: some are large (like the Chesapeake), while others are small (like your local creek, stream or river).\n\n10. Area that drains or contributes water to a particular point, stream, river, lake, or ocean. Larger watersheds are also referred to as basins. Watersheds range in size from a few acres for a small stream to large areas of the country.\n\n11. The land area that catches rain or snow and drains it into a local water body (such as a river, stream, lake, marsh, or aquifer) and affects its flow, and the local water level.\n\n12. The land area from which rainfall or snow melt drains into a single waterbody. Ridges of higher ground generally form the watershed boundary. Adapted from US EPA, Compendium of Tools for Watershed Assessment and TMDL Development, EPA 841-B-97-006, May 1997. While all surface drainage in a watershed flows to a single waterbody, subsurface water flow may span one or more watersheds. Infiltrating surface water within a given watershed can, by way of the indirect groundwater routing, become part of the surface water in another watershed. Groundwater interactions with surface water vary with the hydraulic conductivity of the soil and can be significant. Surface water within a watershed can be directly connected to the surface water of another watershed by introducing artificial water routes.\n\n13. An area of land from which any released or deposited water flows into the same waterbody. Equivalent to catchment.\n\n14. An area of land from which all water drains to a common point.\n\n15. Land area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, or ultimately the ocean.\n\n16. \"The terrestrial area of the landscape contributing to flow at a given stream location. The land area that drains into a stream\" (EPA 1992, 31).\n\n17. A regional land area, defined by topography, soil, and drainage characteristics, within which raw waters collect and replenish supplies.\n\n18. A topographically delimited area, scale independent, which drains surface and subsurface water to a common outlet. The hydrological system within a watershed is comprised of precipitation inputs, surface water (e.g., streams, rivers, lakes), soil water, and groundwater; vegetation and land use greatly affect these processes.\n\n19. Land area where precipitation runs off into streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. It is a land feature that can be identified by tracing a line along the highest elevations between two areas on a map, often a ridge. Large drainage basins, like the area that drains into the Mississippi River contain thousands of smaller drainage basins. Also called a \"watershed.\"\n\n20. Area of land that drains into a particular river, lake, bay or other body of water. We all live in a watershed: some are large (like the Chesapeake), while others are small (like your local stream or creek).\n\n21. The land area drained by a stream.\n\n22. Watershed is the land area that drains into a stream or other waterbody.\n\n23. The region drained by, or contributing water to, a surface water body. Watershed evaluations are performed in two areas:(1.) Drainage Area: Portion of the watershed upgradient of sources at the site. (2.) Watershed: Portion of the watershed downgradient of the site. The watershed includes the surface water bodies between the PPEs and the target distance limit (i.e., the in-water segment of the hazardous substance migration path). A single watershed includes all in-water segments that intersect within the target distance limit. A site is in two or more watersheds if two or more hazardous substance migration paths from the sources do not reach a common point within the target distance limit. In these cases, each distinct watershed is evaluated separately.\n\n24. A geographic area in which water, sediments, and dissolved materials drain to a common outlet- a point on a larger stream, a lake, an underlying aquifer, an estuary, or an ocean. This area is also called the drainage basin of the receiving water body.",
  "subject": "Water",
  "see_also": [
    "Basin"
  ],
  "references": [
    "Nearshore Terrestrial Ecosystems Glossary",
    "Safe Drinking Water Act Glossary; Drinking Water Glossary; Drinking Water Glossary 2009; DWMAPS Glossary",
    "Estuaries Glossary",
    "Watershed Protection Glossary",
    "Sediment Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) Glossary",
    "RCRA Glossary of Terms; Terms of Environment",
    "Aquatic Biodiversity Glossary",
    "Drinking Water Technical & Legal Terms",
    "Chesapeake Bay Glossary",
    "Total Maximum Daily Loads (303d) Glossary; Impaired Waters and Total Maximum Daily Loads Glossary",
    "Private Wells Glossary",
    "Urban Watershed Management Research Terminology",
    "CADDIS Glossary",
    "Chesapeake Bay TMDL Glossary",
    "Watershed Planning Glossary of Terms; 40 CFR 230.92 (CFR 2013)",
    "Environmental Modeling and Assessment Program (EMAP) Master Glossary",
    "Water Conservation Plan Guidelines Glossary; Water Conservation Glossary",
    "EPA Path Forward Documents, Framework for Safe and Sustainable Water Resources Research Program",
    "USGS Water Science Glossary of Terms",
    "USGS Geology in the Parks Glossary",
    "How's My Waterway Glossary",
    "Hazard Ranking System Glossary",
    "Nonpoint Pollution Source from Agriculture Glossary"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/watershed/"
}