What is a watershed?

Sure, it’s a cool name for my underground lair. But a watershed is something much more important that affects all of us. Simply put, a watershed is all the land that drains to a specific location, like a river or lake. If you’ve ever used a funnel, you get the idea of how a watershed works. As water collects, it drains downslope to the lowest point, moving through a network of drainage pathways, both underground and on the surface. Generally, these pathways converge into streams and rivers, which become larger and larger as the water moves on downstream. Eventually the water reaches a major lake, an estuary or the ocean. (Did you know that the water that falls as rain in the southern tier of New York State can end up in Lake Ontario?)

Irondequoit Bay.
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We all live in a watershed. Ours is called the Genesee River Watershed. Anything we do on the land has an impact on our watershed and can affect the quality of our streams and lakes.

Genesee River.
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