WATERSHED ISSUES

What Is A 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, scientist 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."

Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state, and national boundaries. No matter where you are, you're in a watershed!

If you wonder about the environmental issues surrounding a watershed, visit the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency's Watershed pages.

Our Niantic River Watershed is in peril. The River is listed on both the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency lists of Impaired Waterbodies due to bacterial and other pollution. The number one cause of pollution in rivers has proven to be runoff from developed and agricultural lands. Please read about our Niantic River Watershed Plan and also read here about what YOU can do to protect the Niantic River Watershed.

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