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It
takes a watershed to clean up the Christina
Basin. We all live in a watershed. When it rains in a watershed, the runoff water flows downhill into a stream, lake or ocean. The watershed is the valley or area that drains into a particular water body. When standing on a hilltop, you may be standing on the ridge that separates two watersheds. While fishing along a stream you are at the bottom of a watershed. In addition to a home address with street and town, we also live in a watershed address. If you are reading this article, you may live in or near the watershed of the Christina River Basin. The streams of the Christina Watershed rise in the hills of Cecil County, Maryland and Chester County, Pennsylvania and flow down through New Castle County, Delaware entering the Delaware River at Wilmington. The Christina Basin extends about 30 miles from sea level in Wilmington to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Christina Basin is 565 square miles and includes 4 |
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watersheds--the Brandywine, Red Clay and White Clay Creeks and
the Christina River. If you live near one of these streams,
the Christina Basin is your home watershed. If you live in the
Christina Basin, the watershed may be the source of drinking
water for you and your family. Streams
and wells in the Basin provide 75% of the drinking water for
New Castle County, Delaware and 40% of the drinking water for
Chester County, Pennsylvania. Water suppliers provide up to
100 million gallons to 0.5 million people in the watershed.
By protecting our watershed, we can protect our drinking water
supplies. Residents can protect the watershed by planting trees,
cutting back on lawn fertilizer and pesticide use, and recycling
household wastes like motor oil instead of dumping into storm
drains. We can all do our part to protect our watershed. Many
people live in the Christina River Watershed. Larger towns in
the Christina Basin include Honeybrook, Parkesburg, Downingtown,
Coatesville, West Chester, Kennett Square, Avondale and West
Grove in Chester County, Pennsylvania; and Wilmington and Newark
in New Castle County, Delaware. Citizens who live in or near
these towns have watershed addresses in the Brandywine, Red
Clay and White Clay Creek, or the Christina River Watershed.
The map to the right delineates the watersheds of the Christina
Basin along with towns and countries. Try to locate your home
on the watershed map and note your watershed address. For instance,
people in West Chester may live in the Brandywine Creek Watershed.
Students at the University of Delaware in Newark live in the
White Clay Creek Watershed. So when someone asks you for your
address, remember your home and watershed address. After all,
we all live in a watershed and we all live downstream. For more information, please contact: Gerald Kauffman jerryk@udel.edu |
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Water
Resources Agency
Institute
for Public Administration | College of
Human Services, Education & Public Policy
DGS Annex | University of Delaware |
Newark, DE 19716
phone 302 831 8971| water-info@udel.edu
| fax 302 831 4934
©University of Delaware, all rights reserved