What
are Watersheds and Estuaries?
A watershed is
all of the area that drains into the same water body. Precipitation falling onto the land within a particular watershed ultimately drains into this one body of water via streams, rivers, estuaries and underground aquifers. This
water—and whatever pollutants it may contain—can
travel many miles before emptying into a water body, like the
ocean or bay. If the rain falling on your house ultimately flows
into Barnegat Bay, you reside in the Barnegat Bay Watershed.
You may live quite far from the bay and still be part of its
watershed.
Large watersheds like the Barnegat Bay can be divided into smaller watersheds. For example, the Metedeconk River watershed and the Toms River watershed are both part of the Barnegat Bay watershed because water from both rivers empties into the Barnegat Bay.
An estuary is a partially
enclosed body of water formed where fresh water from rivers and
stream flows into the ocean and mixes
with salty seawater. Estuaries come in the form of bays, lagoons,
harbors, inlets and sounds. Barnegat Bay is an example of
a local estuary and displays the beautiful and diverse ecosystems
typical of estuaries.
About the Barnegat Bay Watershed
The
Barnegat Bay Watershed:
- Encompasses 660 square miles in most
of Ocean and parts of Monmouth counties
- Stretches between
mile markers 53 and 92 on the Garden State Parkway
- Includes
fresh water from nine streams and rivers that flow east into
Barnegat Bay
- Is home to 38 municipalities, more than 500,000
people, scores of animal species and a wide range of ecosystems,
including
forest, marsh, pond and bay
Are you in the Barnegat Bay
Watershed?
If you live or play near one of these rivers or creeks, you’re
in the Barnegat Bay Watershed:
- Cedar
Creek
- Cedar
Run
- Forked
River
- Goose
Creek
- Kettle
Creek
- Metedeconk
River
- Mill
Creek
- Oyster
Creek
- Potters
Creek
- Stouts
Creek
- Toms
River
- Tuckerton
Creek
- Westecunk
Creek
Map of the Barnegat Bay Watershed
This map shows
the watershed boundaries and the municipalities in the watershed.
The blue shaded parts are the boundaries of
Ocean County. Portions of southern Monmouth County are in the
Toms River and Metedeconk River parts of the watershed (brown
shading within dark lines).
This map was reproduced from the League of Women Voters of Ocean
County Education Fund's booklet entitled, What YOU Can Do
To Prevent Nonpoint Source Pollution in the Barnegat Bay Watershed,
which was produced with funding by Grant ES97-113 from NJDEP
Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Environmental Services Program.
Reproduction and distribution of the booklet is underwritten
by the LWVOC Education Fund with funding from the Barnegat Bay
Estuary Program Year 2000 Public Participation and Education
Mini-Grant Program and the Trust for Public Land Year 2000 Barnegat
Bay Environmental Grant Fund. TPL was designated the administrator
of The Bay Fund through a donation from Ciba-Geigy Corp. to NJDEP.
Mapping provided by the Ocean County Planning Department. Text
by Anne Zeman and Jan Larson; design by Jean Haley.
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