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What is a watershed?
No matter where you live, you live in a
watershed. A watershed is the land area
that drains to a single body of water such
as a stream, lake, wetland or aquifer (an
underground layer of water). Watersheds
come in many different sizes. A few acres
might drain into a small stream or wetland,
or a few large rivers might drain into an
estuary—where fresh water and salt water
mix. The actions of people who live in a
watershed affect
^Precipitation
Watershed
Boundary
Hillside
the health of
the waters that
run through it.
Rainfall and
snowmelt wash
chemicals, fertil-
izers, sediment,
and other pollut-
ants from the land
into water bodies. To
achieve healthy water-
sheds, EPA needs the help
of people like you!
e call the earth the water planet
because water covers 70 percent of
its surface. Americans depend on
clean water to drink, to irrigate crops, and to run
industries. Water resources provide opportuni-
ties such as fishing and swimming, and wetlands
provide protection from floods. Rivers, lakes,
estuaries, and wetlands also provide critical hab-
itat for wildlife. Estuaries serve as birthplace and
nursery for most saltwater fish and shellfish!
What is the Adopt Your
Watershed campaign?
To encourage stewardship of the nation's
water resources, EPA challenges citizens
and organizations to join the Agency and
others who are working to protect and
restore our nation's valuable rivers,
streams, wetlands, lakes, ground
water and estuaries.
What do we mean
by "adoption"?
"Adoption" means participating
in a citizen-based effort—large
or small—to restore or protect
a watershed, river, lake,
wetland or estuary.
Examples of adoption activities include
• Volunteering to monitor water quality
• Marking or stenciling storm drains
• Organizing stream cleanups
• Planting trees along eroding streambanks
• Hosting a water festival
/ ^M II groups currently registered for the
I • Adopt Your Watershed database
_L_ _^^_can now update their information
online at http://yosemite.epa.gov/water/
adopt.nsf/update. It's important that the
information in the database is accurate, so
we strongly encourage all groups to update
their records! You can also e-mail changes to:
adopt@epa.gov.
The Adopt Your Watershed web site also has
a form for groups interested in receiving a
Certificate of Appreciation for their efforts.
• Working with local government agencies
and others that make water quality
decisions
• Tracking the development and
implementation of Total Maximum
Daily Loads (i.e., pollution budgets) and
watershed plans
How can I find out what
groups are active in my
community?
Go to www.epa.gov/adopt. This online
catalog showcases opportunities to get
involved in activities in your community.
With hundreds of active volunteer
monitoring groups, 12,000 classrooms,
and more than 3,000 watershed alliances
working nationwide, there are many
opportunities to join an organized effort in
your community.
If you don't have Internet access, you can
call EPA's Water Resource Center at
202-566-7729.
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How Can I Make a Difference?
Top Ten Watershed Tips
1. Conserve water every day. Take shorter showers, fix leaks and turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
2. Don't pour toxic household chemicals down the drain. Take them to a local hazardous waste collection
center instead.
3. Use hardy plants that require little or no watering, fertilizers or pesticides in your yard.
4. Do not over apply fertilizers. Consider using organic or slow release fertilizers.
5. Recycle yard waste in a compost pile and use a mulching mower to leave grass clippings on the lawn.
6. Use surfaces like wood, brick or gravel for decks, patios and walkways. They allow rain to soak in and not
run off.
7. Never pour used oil or antifreeze into the storm drain or the street. Visit www.earth911.org to find out
where you can go to dispose of hazardous wastes properly.
8. Pick up after your dog, and dispose of the waste in the toilet or the trash.
9. Drive less—walk or bike instead. Many pollutants in our waters come from car exhaust and car leaks.
10. Adopt your watershed! Learn more at www.epa.gov/adopt.
Tools to Help You Adopt Your Watershed
Programs and Activities for Students
Adopt-A-Watershed www.adopt-a-watershed.org
Educating Young People About Water
www.uwex.edu/erc/eypaw
Exploring Estuaries for Teachers and Kids
www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries/kids
Making Ripples: How to Organize a School Water
Festival www.groundwater.org
Project WET (Water Education for Teachers)
www.projectwet. org
River of Words Poetry and Art Contest
www.riverofwords. org
Schoolyard Habitat Program of the National Wildlife
Federation www.nwf.org/schoolyardhabitats
Wetland Education
www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/education
Girl Scouts' Water Drop Patch Project
www.epa.gov/adopt/patch
EPA Watershed Patch Project
www.epa.gov/adopt/patch/certiftcates
USGS Water Science for Schools ga,water,usgs,gov/edu
This is not a complete list of available resources, and mention of
these Web sites, organizations or products does not mean that
EPA endorses them. For a more extensive list, please visit EPA's
Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds Web site at www.
epa.gov/owow or call the Wetlands Help Line at 1-800-832-7828
or EPA's Water Resource Center at 202-566-1729.
Tools for Watershed Partnerships
EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and
Watersheds www.epa.gov/owow
Low Impact Development Center
www.lowimpactdevelopm en t. org
The Clean Water Act: Online training course
www. epa.gov/watertrain/cwa
EPA's Watershed Academy Web
www. epa.gov/watertrain
Catalog of Federal Funding for Watershed
Protection www.epa.gov/watershedfunding
W.A.T.E.R.S.- Water Assessment, Tracking and
Environmental Results is an exciting new tool that
allows mapping of data from many databases so it can
be viewed at the same time. W.A.T.E.R.S. helps users
find basic answers to questions like "How healthy is my
watershed?" "Should I drink the water?" "Should I eat
the fish?" www.epa.gov/waters
Total Maximum Daily Loads www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl
STORET—EPA's principal repository for water quality,
biological and physical data www.epa.gov/storet
Smart Growth Network www.smartgrowth.org/sgn
Center for Watershed Protection www.cwp.org
Nonpoint Source Education for Municipal Employees
(NEMO) www.nemo.uconn.edu
Join the National Catalog of
Watershed Partnerships I
To learn how your group can be included
in EPA's online catalog of watershed
partnerships, go to www.epa.gov/adopt.
Click on "Join Now."
The Adopt Your Watershed Web site also
has a form for groups interested in receiving
a certificate of appreciation for their efforts.
Volunteer
Monitoring
Across the country,
trained volunteers mon-
itor the condition of their
local waters. Their efforts
help provide quality data
and build local environ-
mental stewardship. For
a national directory of
volunteer water moni-
toring organizations and other information on how
you can get involved, visit www.epa.gov/owow/
monitoring/volunteer. On this site, you can
also learn about World Water Monitoring Day—a
worldwide event celebrated every October 18th—
that affords students, teachers, families. Scouts,
and others an opportunity to use a simple kit to
test the quality of local streams, lakes and bays.
Adopt Your Watershed
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds (4501T)
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
e-mail: adopt@epa.gov
Web site: www.epa.gov/adopt
EPA840-F-05-004
July 2005
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