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Welcome to the Watershed Academy’s Distance Learning Program — Watershed Academy Web. This Web site offers a variety of self-paced training modules that represent a basic and broad introduction to the watershed management field. The modules are organized by the six themes listed below. Modules vary in the time they to complete, from ½ hour to 2 hours. Fifteen of them (marked with asterisks * below) are the core modules for the Watershed Academy Certificate Program.

Introductory/Overview Modules
These modules introduce the principles of the watershed approach and the value of working at a watershed level.

* Principles of watershed management

Sustaining healthy aquatic ecosystems

* Ecosystem services: benefits to human societies

Why watersheds?

Ohio’s virtual watershed tour

Watershed Ecology Modules
These modules show that watersheds are natural systems that provide substantial benefits to people and the environment when they are kept in good condition.

* Introduction to watershed ecology

* Protecting instream flows: how much water does a river need?

* Stream corridor structure

Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: maintaining natural life support processes

Birds: bellwethers of watershed health

Wetland functions and values

Understanding lake ecology

The role of nearshore ecosystems as fish and shellfish nurseries

Watershed Change Modules

These modules describe both natural and human-induced changes in watersheds, and compare normal changes with changes of concern.

The Effect of Climate Change on Water Resources and Programs

* Agents of watershed change

Growth and Water Resources

* Nonpoint source pollution with Nitrogen and Phosphorus

Watersheds: Connecting Weather to the Environment

Weather and the Built Environment

Invasive non-native species

Human alteration of the global Nitrogen cycle

Biotic invasions: causes, epidemiology, global consequences and control

Nutrient pollution of coastal rivers, bays, and seas

Effects of aquaculture on world fish supplies

Analysis and Planning Modules
These modules address how watershed planning, monitoring and assessment are important first steps toward solving problems.

* Introduction to the watershed planning process

* Overview of watershed monitoring

Rapid bio-assessment protocols

Watershed ecological risk assessment

Watershed modeling

Fundamentals of the Rosgen Stream Classification System

Training in Use of the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and NHDPlus

Management Practices Modules
These modules show how watershed management challenges such as urban runoff, cropland management, forestry and other issues are addressed by techniques that reduce environmental impacts.

* Eight tools of watershed protection in developing areas

* Agricultural management practices for water quality protection

* Forestry Best Management Practices in watersheds

Stream corridor restoration tools

Restoration: what’s right/wrong with this picture?

Introduction to EPA’s drinking water source protection programs

Source water protection: BMPs and other measures for protecting drinking water supplies

Controlling underground injection of wastewater

Advanced drinking water technology workshop

Managing transient non-community drinking water systems

Applying ecological principles to management of the U.S. national forests

Ecological principles for managing land use

Community/Social/Water Law Modules
These modules cover social issues, communications, relevant laws and regulations. They concentrate on the human element of watershed management.

Developing a Sustainable Finance Plan

* Getting in step: a guide for conducting watershed outreach campaigns

* Top ten watershed lessons learned

* Introduction to the Clean Water Act

Key Concepts of Water Quality Standards

Key Concepts of Impaired Waters and Developing TMDLS

Introduction to the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996

Water in a changing world

Statewide watershed management executive overview

Economics of sustainability

Monitoring consortiums

Introduction to public water systems

Grade K through 12 watershed learning links

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Preparing for the Rainy Season
David S. Jenkins
WSDOT Statewide Erosion Control Coordinator
September 1997

Now that the El Nino has ended and the La Nina has begun, the National Weather Service is predicting a much wetter fall and winter than normal. So, what are some things you can do now to prepare? How about:

Cover bare soil. Final grades can be covered with hydroseed, erosion blankets, topsoil, bark or whatever final cover is planned for the project.

Get your hydroseed contractor lined up now and avoid the October rush.

Don’t open up more than a few acres after September 1st.

Grades that aren’t being actively worked can be covered with straw at a rate of 1500 pounds per acre. This is a very cheap and effective way to protect bare soil from raindrop impacts and erosion. Hand seed before spreading the straw. Spray it with water to help hold it in place.

Track your slopes with a Cat: up and down slope, not across slope. The first helps prevent erosion, the second speeds it up.

Use flex pipe drains at bridge ends if your permanent drainage system and curbs are not in place. Collect the water from the bridge using sand bags and divert it to the pipe. Make sure the pipe is long enough to reach the bottom of the slope.

Use a water truck and water seeded areas weekly to get quicker growth. The better the growth going into winter the better.

If you have to open up a large area, only clear and grub small areas. You can clear larger areas if you don’t grub. Roots and slash help protect the bare soil.

Walk the site looking only at erosion controls, thinking ahead of areas that could have a problem. Identify them and start making additions and corrections.

Locate all existing water flows in and around your project and find out where they drain to.

Think about maintenance and regular inspection of erosion controls. When are silt fences going to be inspected and who does it? Who removes mud from check dams? Who covers slopes with straw or other mulch?

Get materials on site now. Again beat the rush for materials in October and November when everyone is in a panic to get plastic and straw. Stockpile enough straw, plastic, silt fence, flex pipe, sand bags, seed, rock, now to cover all areas that are bare.

Set up emergency procedures now. Who should be called in emergencies? Do you have a WSDOT certified Erosion and Spill Control Lead? Brief your personnel on what to do if they see muddy water and who to go to.

Make sure that erosion control material installers know proper installation methods.

Make sure all your silt fence is installed on contour with the ends flared up slope a few feet. If it is not on contour, identify the lowest points of the fence as these will be the failure spots. Install a double row of silt fence at these low spots before you have a failure. Double up your silt fence in areas where eroding slopes could flow into wetlands or streams.

Do you have bare spots where previous seeding hasn’t grown? Cover it with seed and straw if the area is small, remobilize the hydroseeder for larger areas.

Make sure all catch basins within the project boundary are protected with inserts, fence surrounds, or other methods to keep mud out. Locate any catchbasins outside project boundaries that may receive water from your site and protect them.

Make sure that you have a copy of the Stormwater Site Plan (SSP) and Temporary Erosion and Sediment Control plan (TESC) and any grading or environmental permits on site in the job shack. Know what they say. Give each inspector a copy of the SSP and TESC to keep in their truck. These are working copies that can be adapted to site conditions.

Modify your permanent stormwater ponds into temporary sediment ponds by installing a standpipe and blocking the outlet with sand bags. Cut a few small holes in the standpipe to allow for slow release of water. You can also use perforated pipe as the standpipe and hold it in place with “T” posts, wire, and gravel piled up around it.

Use geotextile fabric as a temporary ditch lining to protect bare soil from erosion. Hold the fabric in place with rock check dams, wooden stakes, or sand bags.

If you are using straw bale check dams in ditches, they will likely fail from undercutting and end cutting. You can make them work better if you cover them with geotextile or plastic secured upstream and down with rock or sand bags. Run the cover all the way from end to end.

Make sure that all check dams are installed so that the top center point is lower than the bottom end points. This prevents end cutting. You may have to add more material to the dam to increase the width, especially on wide ditches with shallow grade side slopes.

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January-February 2001
Erosion Control Magazine

Polymer Use and Testing for Erosion and Sediment Control on Construction Sites
By Scott Tobiason, David Jenkins, Ed Molash, Stacey Rush

Tested in the soggy La Niña weather conditions of the Pacific Northwest, chemical polymers promise a cost-effective, safe way to prevent soil erosion and remove suspended sediments from construction-site runoff.

References
Azzam, R.A.I. “Agricultural Polymers, Polyacrylamide Preparation, Application and Prospects in Soil Conditioning.” Commercial Soil Science Plant Analysis. 11:235-243. 1980.

Betz Laboratories. Material Safety Data Sheet for Betz Polymer 1190. PFW 2819101. Betz Industrial Laboratories, Macon, GA. 1995.

Bremerton Sun. “Giant Retailer Pledges to be OGood Neighbor.’” West Sound, Section B. February 3, 1996, p. 1.

Calgon Corporation. Material Safety Data Sheet for Cat-Floc 2953 Liquid Cationic Polymer. Bulletin No. 12-485. Calgon Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA. 1997.

King County. Surface Water Design Manual. King County (WA) Department of Public Works. Revised November 1994.

Minton, G. “Use of Polymer to Treat Construction Site Stormwater.” Proceedings of Conference XXX. International Erosion Control Association, Steamboat Springs, CO. February 22-26, 1999, pp. 175-188.

Roa, A. Screening of Polymers to Determine Their Potential Use on Construction Sites. Publication No. 101-96. University of Idaho, Moscow, ID. 1996, pp. 77-83.

Sojka, R.E. and R.D. Lentz. A PAM Primer: A Brief History of PAM and PAM-related Issues. Publication No. 101-96. University of Idaho, Moscow, ID. 1996, pp. 11-20.

University of Georgia. “Georgia Adopts New Turbidity Standard.” Waterwise. University of Georgia, College of Environmental Sciences, Athens, GA. January 1998.

Washington Department of Ecology. Stormwater Management Manual for the Puget Sound Basin. Publication No. 91-75. 1992.

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