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Watershed Information |
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A watershed is the total land area from which surface runoff drains into a stream, channel, lake, reservoir, or other body of water; also called a drainage basin. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. In fact, we all live in a watershed - or two, or more. A watershed can be as small as the area around a creek, to the size of Cook Inlet Basin to ultimately as large as all of the land on Earth! The water draining from the Mat-Su Valley will eventually end up in the Pacific Ocean. All of the people, animals, and plants within
a watersh
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ed
are connected by one thing - the water. The activities of
people upstream have a direct impact on the people downstream.
Pollution and runoff doesn't just affect people, it affects the
plants and animals that live in and around our waterways -
salmon, trout, ducks, moose, etc. People have come to
realize that nonpoint source pollution
- polluted runoff from yards, roads, cities, developed areas...
- is by far the most serious threat to river systems. The
watershed approach makes the connection between what happens
upstream and its effects downstream.