Mapping the Charles!

As I look at the Charles River watershed, it is important to map it out!

The Charles River watershed covers 310 square miles and supplies one of the largest cities in the US, so it's no surprise that such a map from the EPA showing the full watershed already exists. They divide the map into Upper and Lower watersheds starting at the Watertown Dam.

Image Source: EPA

In order to practice mapping more of the watershed, I looked through the existing map until I found a smaller area that would be interesting to model. Let me introduce you to a tiny branch of the Charles near the southwestern corner of the watershed where a the West Branch Charles River (WBCR) unites with the main river. Using Google's MyMaps, I created the model for the WBCR watershed you can see below. 

Image Source: P. Radomski

The purple watershed has an area of 227 acres and a perimeter of 2.81 miles. At the end of this watershed, the West Branch Charles flows inti Wildcat Pond to unite with the Charles River. To the east of the WBCR watershed, precipitation will likely flow directly into the Charles. To the west, water will flow into Huckleberry Brook and connect with the Charles at Milford Pond. 

My WBCR watershed map is hard to put into context of the wider watershed, so I created a second layer with the full watershed to demonstrate the scale and positioning for the WBCR. You can find both maps at in the slides below.