 |
What is a Watershed?
Land use in the Upper White River Watershed is dominated by agriculture.
The Upper White River Watershed encompasses a 2,720 square mile area (1,740,544 acres) within central Indiana. It extends across sixteen (16) counties including significant portions of Hancock, Marion, Hendricks, Johnson, Hamilton, Morgan, Boone, Tipton, Madison, Henry, Delaware, and Randolph Counties, as well as smaller portions of Owen, Monroe, Brown, and Clinton Counties.
Land use in the Upper White River Watershed is dominated by agriculture. About 42% of the watershed is in agricultural production, namely corn and soybeans. Urban and suburban landuse takes a strong second making up 26% of the landuse in the watershed. Urban and suburban areas range from large cities with high densities to small towns with fewer than 500 people. Forest and pasture lands add another 13% and 16%, respectfully. Grasslands and wetlands contribute the remaining 3%. Unfortunately, significant wetland loss due to agriculture and urban development has left less than 0.20% of the watershed in wetland landuse.
The White River itself is 190 miles in length throughout the Upper White River Watershed. Interestingly, there are another 1,616 miles of streams contributing to the White River as its tributaries. This totals 1806 miles of stream in our watershed. Greater than 60% of these streams are impaired and do not meet State water quality standards. However, many streams provide great recreational resources and important water supply for industry and public use.
