Where does your water come from, and who else uses it along the way? A virtual Field Trip Ellen Kennedy JFK Middle School Northampton, MA

Where does your water come from, and who else uses it along the way? Here is the top of the Conway Watershed. It is a steep very rocky area known as “Cricket Hill.”

Partway down the hill the water must cross the road. It flows through a pipe large enough to crawl through.

As it comes downhill the water usually flows through the pipe. Sometimes it moves with so much force that it rips up part of the road as it travels.

Between the top of the divide and the drainage ditch is my house. This object is the ‘well head.’ My well is 210 feet deep, and collects water from an area of solid rock. The rock is full of tiny cracks that fill with water.

Pipes fifteen feet underground bring the water from the well into my house. This object is a pressurized water tank. There is a filter on the incoming pipe that routinely becomes packed with mud and silt. Even though the pump requires electricity to function, the water pressure is so high that we do not lose our water during power outages.

This is looking down from the well head at the chicken coop. If you dig in the dirt here you will strike solid rock within three to five inches.

Just below where we were just standing, out of sheer rock, comes flowing water. This is a ‘spring.’ The water flows year round, including the winter. This allows us to use this spring to supply water to the chickens and ducks all year long. The water in this picture is three inches and flowing strongly.

On the lower left you can see the pipe that takes water from the spring and pipe it down to The poultry yard. The rocks on the sides of the spring are four feet tall.

Here the ducks and guinea fowl stand around the spring, they enjoy the flowing water- and the mud.

The spring runs down the hill and becomes a brook. The poultry enjoy messing about in the mud. The large rocks in the picture show how much rock there is in our area, rock full of tiny cracks that can hold water.

This is the other end of the pipe you saw starting at the spring. This end fills the duck pond to provide both a swimming area for them but also a source of running fresh water for the other birds.

Across the street the water from my spring combines with all the water flowing off Cricket Hill. (This includes the water Run-off from my duck pond, and the seepage from the septic Tanks from all the homes.) The main stream hooks to the right In this picture and heads off towards the main Whately reservoir.

Here at the Whately reservoir the water pours over the dam that separates the upper and lower bodies of water. The area is fenced in to prevent fishing, boating, and during the winter, skating and snowmobiling. After 911 the reservoir was under guard by the State Police.

The water flows from the upper reservoir to the lower. The water is home to numerous creatures, including bass, trout, wood ducks, snapping turtles, otter, and beaver. Other wildlife come to the reservoir to drink, eat water plants, or to hunt. Moose, bear, bobcat, fisher, deer, coyotes, and porcupines all use the reservoir.

This is a view of the lower reservoir. In the spring, turtles will use this bank on the left as a location to lay their eggs. Ducks and geese build nests in the brush and tree line. The little red building is where the water crosses the road.

Across from the little red shack the water starts as a tiny stream in the mud, shown left. It is full of leaves and dirt. The stream grows in Size and power, becoming more clear. Here it travels alongside Haydenville road. At this point it appears to be a natural brook, not an artificial route bringing water to the next reservoir.

At this point the water must once again cross the road. It travels through a metal pipe. Sometimes this gets clogged and overflows, creating a dangerous flood on the road. Haydenville road is the main connector between the towns of Whately, Conway, Haydenville, and Northampton. It is heavily traveled and the speed limit in this area is 40mph. These two pipes are only twelve Inches in diameter.

Once the water has cleared the drainage pipes it races along the other side of Haydenville road. because it is close to the road the water carries road salt and paper trash. The final destination: The Haydenville Reservoir. This is the source of Northampton water.