The issues with our lagoon can sometimes be complicated for adults let alone our children to understand. I wanted to talk about some of the issues, verbiage and definitions to help our youth understand more.
(The highlighted blue waters have definitions at the bottom of the blog.)
Lets talk about watershed. What is it?
Watershed is an area of land over which water flows to reach a common body of water such as a lake or pond. We all live in a watershed, or drainage basin. Watersheds can be as large as the Kissimmee River basin (which is 2,932 square miles) or as small as a farm with a pond. Your watershed may be made up of mountains, farms, houses, businesses, or towns. You share your watershed with all other living things within the ecosystem.
For us locally, watershed can be yards, land used for agriculture purpose, commercial industries and farms. All our watershed that comes from our homes, canals that branch off Lake Okeechobee, even in the Kissimmee basin can end up in our lagoon and is eventually flushed out to the Atlantic ocean.
Why is this important?
- Watersheds directly affect water quality, whether it's for drinking or recreation. For example, algae blooms from fertilizer runoff draining into water harm watershed health, as do mercury and lead seeping into the water supply due to pollution.
- Unhealthy watersheds affect wildlife.
- Aquatic life quickly suffers the effects of watershed pollution, while new pollutants introduced into ecosystems alter wildlife habitats. This reduces biodiversity by eliminating some species and introducing new, invasive ones that destroy the native species.
- Stormwater runoff can collect many different types of pollution before it reaches a body of water, including debris, dirt and chemicals.The storm water collects these materials and flows directly into a body of water like a stream or lake. These water bodies may be used for swimming, fishing and may even provide some of us with drinking water!
One of the biggest problems we see here with our own watershed is the fertilizers, nitrogen and phosphorous that are found in the watershed. These toxic chemicals can lead to health issues not only for the lagoon, rivers and oceans wildlife but also human health. These substances mixed with warm brackish water can lead to toxic algae blooms that suffocate any living organism living in our lagoon and rivers. Not to mention the effect it has on us humans too.
As you can see, watershed is a huge part of the lagoon and its health. Watershed is okay, if its not polluted and dirty.
Here is a photo from Google Earth showing dirty watershed getting ready to enter the Jupiter Inlet and preparing to head out to sea.
You can see how the is brown and bluish-green. The bluish-green water is the clean water, the dirty brown water is local watershed.
That dirty water does eventually make it out into the ocean and can be seen by beach goers if in its path as seen here:
You will notice the brown water near the shore and then the blue water farther out.
One thing the River Kidz advocate is to not use fertilizer or pesticides on your lawns, especially during the rainy season. They can have a deadly and disgusting effect on our local waterways. We don't know if the water seen in these pictures are dirty and/or harmful but one thing is for certain, if any of the chemicals listed above are in the watershed, you can pretty much bet that these bodies of water are harmful to the marine life at the very least.
One thing we hope to do with the River Kidz is to construct our very own watershed model to help our Kidz understand more with a visual and fun hands on activity for all the participate in.
Thank you for taking the time and showing interest in this topic. Its so important to allow our children to learn about these problems. Many of them will unfortunately have to face the same problems when they grow up. We know its so important as River Momz and Dadz to engage them now and teach them how to love and care for the planet. This is what the River Kidz of St. Lucie and Indian River County represents.
I hope this blog helps you understand what exactly watershed is and why it plays a role in our lagoon. Should any familiez have any additional questions, feel free to comment below.
- AGRICULTURE: the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.
- COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIES: Commercial Industry are those that makes the finished goods, supplied by the manufacturing industries, available to the consumers. Transport, trade, commerce etc are the examples of commercial industries.
- FERTILIZER: a chemical or natural substance added to soil or land to increase its fertility.
- PHOSPHOROUS: a poisonous chemical element that glows in the dark and burns when it is touched by air
- INVASIVE: tending to spread prolifically and undesirably or harmfully.
- ALGAE BLOOMS: a rapid growth of microscopic algae or cyanobacteria in water, often resulting in a colored scum on the surface.
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