Watering Run is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

Big Wapwallopen Creek Big Wapwallopen Creek (also known as Wapwallopen Creek or Big Wap) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Bear Creek Township, Fairview Towns ...

Luzerne County Luzerne County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the United States. It is approximately long and flows through Wright Township. The watershed of the stream has an area of . Soils in the vicinity of the stream include Morris Silt Loam, Braceville and Chenango Gravelly Loams, Oquaga and Lordstown Silt Loams, and Rexford Loam. The stream is designated as a Coldwater Fishery. It flooded in 1972.

Course

Watering Run begins in Wright Township, just northwest of the community of

Rita Rita may refer to: People * Rita (given name) * Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984) * Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962) * Rita (Japanese singer) * Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita Places * Djarrit, also known as Rita, ...

. It flows west-southwest for a few tenths of a mile before turning west-northwest for several tenths of a mile. The stream then turns west-southwest for a few miles, crossing receiving an unnamed tributary from the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

, crossing

Pennsylvania Route 309 Pennsylvania Route 309 (PA 309) is a state highway that runs for 134 miles (216 km) through eastern Pennsylvania. The route runs from an interchange between Pennsylvania Route 611, PA 611 and Cheltenham Avenue on the border of Philadelphia an ...

, and receiving another unnamed tributary from the right. It eventually passes by Little Nescopeck Mountain and passes through the community of

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Alber ...

. The stream then turns west for nearly a mile before reaching its confluence with Big Wapwallopen Creek on the border between Wright Township and Rice Township. Watering Run joins

upstream of its mouth.

Hydrology

At its mouth, Watering Run has a 10 percent chance of reaching a peak annual discharge of 480 cubic feet per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching 820 cubic feet per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 990 cubic feet per second. The stream has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching 1,450 cubic feet per second. At a location downstream of

, Watering Run's peak annual discharge has a 10 percent chance of reaching 320 cubic feet per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching 540 cubic feet per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 660 cubic feet per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching 970 cubic feet per second. At a location upstream of Pennsylvania Route 309, Watering Run's peak annual discharge has a 10 percent chance of reaching 210 cubic feet per second. It has a 2 percent chance of reaching 355 cubic feet per second and a 1 percent chance of reaching 430 cubic feet per second. The peak annual discharge has a 0.2 percent chance of reaching 635 cubic feet per second. A sample of water taken from Watering Run in 2003 was found to lack

volatile organic compound Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a ...

s. However, more than twenty such compounds have been observed in surface water in the watershed.

Geography and geology

The elevation near the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

of Watering Run is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The elevation of the stream's

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

is between above sea level. Watering Run is surrounded by

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

s. There are a number of surface drainage features in the vicinity of the stream. The Morris Silt Loam is the main

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

that occurs along Watering Run. This soil is poorly drained and occurs in

glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

derived from

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, and

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

. The Oquaga and Lordstown Silt Loams also occur in the stream's valley and Braceville and Chenango Gravelly Loams occur to the south of the stream. These soils are formed from glacial till and

glacial outwash An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and ca ...

, respectively. Rexford Loam, which is formed from glacial outwash derived from sandstone and shale, also occurs to the south of the steam.

Watershed

The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of Watering Run has an area of . Both the source and the mouth of the stream are in the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

quadrangle of Freeland. However, it passes through the quadrangle of Wilkes-Barre West. The Certainteed Corporation has a permit to discharge

stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...

into Watering Run. Eight industrial properties are located within of the stream.

History

Watering Run was entered into the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

on August 2, 1979. Its identifier in the

is 1190677. Plans were made to construct a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

over Watering Run in the early 1900s for $200. Watering Run flooded in June 1972. The floodwaters of the stream covered Alberdeen Road in of water at the village of Albert. This is the only time that a major storm has caused flooding in any developed portion of Wright Township.

Biology

Watering Run is considered to be a Coldwater Fishery. Wild

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

naturally reproduce in the stream.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Susquehanna River Rivers of Pennsylvania