Watersheds

A watershed is an area of land where all the water flows to the same place. When rain falls on a hillside, it rolls downhill into streams, then into rivers, and finally into a lake or the ocean. Everyone lives in a watershed. What happens on the land in your watershed affects the water downstream.

How Watersheds Work

Imagine pouring water on a basketball. The water splits and rolls down different sides. The ridges of hills and mountains work the same way, dividing water into different watersheds. A small stream has a small watershed. A great river like the Mississippi has a watershed that covers more than one million square miles.

Keeping Watersheds Healthy

Anything that goes on the ground in a watershed can end up in the water. Fertilizers, trash, and oil from roads all get washed into streams by rain. Planting trees along rivers helps filter the water. Keeping litter off the ground protects the whole watershed. Taking care of your watershed means taking care of your water.

Fun Facts

• The Mississippi River watershed covers about 40 percent of the lower 48 states!
• There are more than 2,000 major watersheds in the United States alone.
• The Amazon River watershed is the largest in the world, covering about 2.7 million square miles.

Did You Know?

Every piece of land on Earth is part of a watershed, which means the way we treat the land affects our water supply!