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Your River and Its Watershed
The quality of our nation's waters -- rivers, streams lakes, and estuaries
-- is determined by activities within the land area, or
watersheds,
which surround them. Although most discharges of pollutants from factories
and cities directly to our waterways have been strictly controlled for many
years, water quality problems remain. These problems are principally associated
with run-off of
rain and snowmelt. This run-off picks up soil and pollutants from the city
streets, suburban lawns, and rural farm fields to become the principal
reason some 40% of surveyed rivers
aren't suitable for the uses (recreation, supporting fish and wildlife, etc.)
for which States have designated them. Physical changes, like removing streamside
vegetation, interrupting flows with dams, draining or filling
wetlands, and bulk-heading
channels also degrade our water bodies. Even air pollutants from cars, power
plants and other combustion sources harm our waters and the life they support when
pollutants fall back to earth or are carried to the ground by precipitation. Pollution
also seeps into the soil, is carried to aquifers, and then flows underground to rivers,
lakes, or coastal waters.
The web site which follows, Surf Your Watershed,
will tell you more about the activities in your watershed that can be detrimental to the water
it surrounds. You can find your watershed by clicking on a map, or by entering your zip code,
the name of your town or school or the name of a nearby river,
lake,
or estuary. You can also find out
about government programs and grass roots efforts to protect and restore those waters.
Proceed to: Surf Your Watershed
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