Watersheds and You!

What is a Watershed?

All of the land that drains to a waterway is called a watershed. Everyone, everywhere lives in a watershed, along with a wide variety of plant and animal life. Stormwater, or rain, flows downhill to a nearby water way. A waterway can have many names like: gutter, creek, stream, brook, wash, channel, ditch, and river. Smaller waterways such as creeks, usually join into larger ones such as rivers, as the water continues to merge on its way downhill. Waterways ultimately carry runoff to large bodies of water such as lakes, reservoirs, bays and the ocean.

Why should we care about watersheds?

It is import It is important to know about watersheds because what one person does in one part of a watershed will affect another person, plant or animal in another part of the same watershed. All storm, residential and agricultural runoff ends up in the same exact place in a watershed (in our case, the Pacific Ocean) and all of the pollutants in the runoff are carried along the waterways and into ocean. When one person dumps motor oil into a stormdrain, that same oil will show up many miles downstream. The same is true for pesticides, fertilizers, cat litter, dirt and any other water pollutant you can name. Can you name a few more pollutants that can affect a watershed? (Hint: there are many and include things found around houses, yards, schools and businesses).

Some facts about Watersheds and Stormwater:

� Storm water pollution occurs wherever rain water flows over streets, roofs, yards, parking lots, building sites, forests, and farms.

� Storm water pollution can also happen when people dump pollutants directly into storm drains or waterways. Some people incorrectly think that storm drains are sewers for disposing waste, like the drains is our homes.

� Storm drains carry rain runoff directly to a waterway and then to the ocean. The water in a storm drain is never treated at a water treatment plant.

� In some areas there may be no storm drains at all, just open ditches and creeks, that will pick up pollutants on the way to the ocean.

� Storm drain water is NOT cleaned before reaching our rivers, lakes, and ocean!

What you can do to help keep your watershed and stormwater clean!

It�s simple! The only thing that should enter storm drains, drainages, creeks, rivers and the ocean is RAIN. Only rain in the storm drain!

� Properly dispose of waste - if it is toxic, please take it to a household hazardous waste recycling facility.

� Recycle as much as you can.

� Use reusable grocery bags (the plastic ones are a huge problem in our creeks and oceans).

� Carefully follow direction when using pesticides and fertilizers.

� Reuse as many things as possible.

� Landscape waste (lawn clippings and branches) are pollutants, too. Make sure they get put in the trash.

� Never litter! It all ends up in the ocean.

THESE NATIVE ANIMALS NEED CLEAN WATER TO SURVIVE (THEY ALL LIVE IN OR NEAR WATERWAYS)

They'll thank you for keeping their habitat healthy and clean!