The most critical situation facing the health of water resources and aquatic ecosystems is not the result of a single activity on or near a lake, river, or stream. Instead, it is the combined and cumulative result of many individual activities throughout a waterbody’s entire natural drainage area, catchment area or watershed. A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. John Wesley Powell, U.S. scientist and geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is: …that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community. World-wide watersheds supply drinking water, provide recreation and respite, and sustain life. Throughout the world, countries depend on clean water and healthy watersheds for food, fiber, manufactured goods, and tourism. This natural capital is the basis for social economic systems in developed and developing countries and the building block for the future in undeveloped countries. In the United States more than $450 billion in food and fiber, manufactured goods, and tourism depends on clean water and healthy watersheds. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state, and national boundaries. No matter where you are, you are in a watershed! As we all live in a watershed, our individual actions can directly affect it. The cumulative effects of all the individual actions of everyone within a watershed may be, and often are devastating to the quality of water resources and affect the health of living things including humans. Management for sustained use of water and other ecosystem resources requires a watershed based approach.
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References
EPA 1996, Watershed Approach Framework, EPA Office of Water.
EPA 2005, Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans to restore and Protect Our Waters, EPA 841-B-05-005.
Further Reading The following references are provided for further reading on the subject of watershed management National Estuary Program is a coastal watershed-based program. Total Maximum Daily Loads are a planning tool that can be used to establish pollution budgets for polluted watersheds.
Nonpoint Source Program provides funding to states to address pol-luted runoff. Section 319 Success Stories illustrate measurable results in nonpoint source pollution reduction.
Targeted Watersheds Grants Program provides implementation and capacity building grants.
Watershed Funding tools and resources are available.
Try out the Watershed Plan Builder online to create your watershed plan.
Technical Tools for Watershed Management includes databases, map-ping, and water quality models.
EPA’s Strategic Plan (Chapter Two: Clean and Safe Water) includes a goal to protect the quality of rivers, lakes, and streams on a watershed basis and protect coastal and ocean waters.
The Watershed Approach is one of the four pillars of the Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative.
Why Watersheds? (1996) describes various benefits of using watershed approaches.
Other Watershed Links includes a list of other websites related to watershed management.
The Watershed and Wetland Protection Information Kit is a collection of resources by the Center for Watershed Protection and the National Association of Counties (with support from EPA) to assist county and local officials with efforts to protect and restore the multiple benefits of their community’s water resources.
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Wolflin, J.P. et al. (2008). Decision Making, Policy And Financing. In: Gönenç, İ.E., Vadineanu, A., Wolflin, J.P., Russo, R.C. (eds) Sustainable Use and Development of Watersheds. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8558-1_31
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