The
Watershed’s Size and Boundaries
Approximately 9,947 acres of the watershed’s land
surface drains to Manhasset Bay. In general, the watershed’s approximate
drainage area boundaries include the western half of the Port
Washington peninsula, the eastern third to one-half of the Great
Neck peninsula and the area south of Northern Boulevard extending
just south of the Long Island Expressway in the Village of Lake
Success.
Overall, the 9,947-acre land area of the watershed covers
all, or portions of, 19 different communities that are all
in the Town of North Hempstead. The communities include 16 villages
and 3 unincorporated areas of the Town of North Hempstead.
The entire watershed has approximately 200 miles of roads and
is estimated to be 20 to 25% covered with impervious surfaces
(roads, roofs, parking lots, driveways, etc.) and 75 to 80% pervious
surfaces (lawns, woods, shrubs, grass strips, etc.). (back
to top)
Subwatersheds
For the purpose of this planning effort, and using existing
topography as a basis, the Manhasset Bay watershed has been divided
into 12 land-based subwatersheds. The delineation of the 12 subwatershed
boundaries is based on topography and not manmade storm water
drainage. For instance, in a few locations runoff is discharged
to storm water recharge basins that recharge the groundwater.
However, if these basins did not exist or if they were taken out
of service, the drainage in their services area would discharge
to the Bay.
The
approximate boundaries of the entire watershed, the 19 communities
within the watershed, and the 12 subwatersheds are shown graphically
on Figures 1.2-1, 1.2-2 and 1.2-3 while the individual communities
located within each of the 12 subwatersheds are presented in Table 1.2‑1,
and the estimated land area within each subwatershed is presented
on Table 1.2‑2. Furthermore, for the purpose of this
planning effort, the 12 subwatersheds have generally been named
according to the principal water body or geographic feature within
the drainage area, and have been given identification numbers
in increasing order moving in a clockwise direction beginning
in Sands Point and ending in Kings Point.
If
the watershed were divided in a east/west fashion it would have
approximately 80 percent of the land area on the east side and
20 percent on the west side and 16 communities on the east side
and 6 on the west side. As shown in Table 1.2‑2, the
three largest subwatersheds (Whitney Pond, Leeds Pond and Baxter
and Mill Pond) account for approximately 59 percent of the
watershed acreage while the five largest (Whitney Pond, Leeds
Pond, Baxter-Mill Pond, Mitchells Creek, and Kings Point Creek)
comprise 76 percent of the total watershed acreage.
(back to top)
Watershed
and Subwatershed Delineation Map
