Watersheds Practice Test

A watershed manager wants to reduce flash flooding and pollutant pulses after storms in an urbanized drainage basin. Which land use strategy best addresses watershed hydrology and water quality?

Context: The basin has many impervious surfaces; stormwater drains directly to the river that exits the basin to an estuary.

A drainage basin includes a headwater forest, a mid-basin suburb, and a downstream agricultural valley. The river exits the basin into an estuary. After a major storm, turbidity spikes at the estuary. Which land use change within the watershed would most directly increase sediment delivery to the estuary?

Context: The watershed boundary is a surrounding ridge; all tributaries join the main river before the estuary.