 What is a watershed? Well, I'd probably say watershed is a shed full of water, but I think it's something a little bit different. I think it's something that's in the ground. I have no idea what a watershed is. If I was to guess, I would guess it's going to be an area near the river where the water can overflow. A watershed is all the water in an area. Or like the water source. It's like the runoff from maybe, I don't know if it's from populated places. Is it from, I don't know. I would say a watershed is a place where trees grow and cover up water bodies or a system where water bodies are preserved from pollution. Yeah. A watershed is an area of land that water flows across, through, or under on its way to a stream, river, lake, bay, or other body of water. The word watershed is sometimes used interchangeably with drainage basin or catchment. Where do we find watersheds? We find them everywhere. All land area is part of a watershed. This means that no matter where you live, you are living in a watershed. How does a watershed work? To visualize how a watershed works, cup your hands in front of you. Imagine that your hands are the land with a cloud raining water down on them. No matter where they land, the rain drops will flow down to the common low point where your hands meet. In this example, your fingertips are the tops of the hills where a river's headwaters begin. The middle of your hands are the valleys where the river flows. The creases in your hands are the tributary streams that come together to form the river. The mouth of the river is where the water leaves your wrist and flows into a larger river and eventually the ocean. Why should a healthy watershed matter to you? Your everyday actions can cumulatively affect the quality of water that flows from your land. Everything that happens upstream affects everything downstream. The health of your watershed and your neighbor's watershed can directly affect the water quality and your personal health. Pollution in your water source can find its way to your body through food, drinking water, air, and even soil. A healthy watershed acts as a catchment where rainfall is intercepted and slowed by native, diverse vegetation that reduces velocity, filters and traps sediment and other nutrients, has healthy soils that allow infiltration and groundwater recharge, and that act as a sponge during water to later slowly release back into streams, lakes, wetlands, and bays. Healthy watersheds provide the following important ecosystem functions. Reduce erosion and stabilize stream banks, trap sediment, store water, improve floodwater retention, improve groundwater recharge, and sustain stream base flow. Healthy functioning watersheds provide many important ecological benefits including better water quality, water quantity, forage, aquatic and wildlife habitat, recreational value, and aesthetic beauty. How can you help protect watersheds? The fewer pollutants on our landscape, the cleaner your watershed and water will be. We can do a lot to make our watersheds healthier. For example, properly dispose of antifreeze, paints, and other hazardous household materials, pick up trash and pet waste that will otherwise end up in our storm drains and pollute waterways, conserve water by fixing leaky faucets and septic tanks and by reducing your landscape irrigation, plant native trees, shrubs, and grasses to prevent erosion and reduce the need for fertilizers and pesticides, tell two friends about watersheds and the link between our actions and water quality.