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The Mirror Lake Watershed
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What is a Watershed?
A land area that contributes water, through run-off or subsurface
infiltration and flow to a given point of drainage. A watershed is
usually considered to be smaller than a basin. Smaller, contributory
watersheds or subsurface watersheds, usually range from 12 to 15 square
miles in size.
click on the chart for greater detail |
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Mirror Lake drains to the Chubb River, then to the West Branch of the
Ausable River, and on to Lake Champlain. For a perspective on
neighboring watersheds view the watersheds of
the Town of North Elba. Also, check out the
Lake Champlain drainage basin.
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The Mirror Lake watershed can be described as having two very different
parts. The first lies to the northeast of the lake and is
characterized by heavily forested land, permeable surfaces, and a system of
ponds and streams that help filter and slow drainage.
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One part is urban and residential characterized by density of
development and a high degree of impermeable surfaces. These
characteristics are complicated by the steepness of the topography in much
of the watershed. Mirror Lake's outlet is at the southern end close to
the municipal beach.
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The urban/residential part of the watershed can be viewed as having three
different categories of storm water
impacts. The Mirror Lake Storm Water Action Plan of 2001 describes
these as
high density commercial, low density commercial, and residential.
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People interact with Mirror Lake in many ways for business and pleasure.
Sample how important our lake is to us in "Mirror
Lake in Action".
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