Introduction Ask me for my mailing address and I’ll give you a house number and street name a city province and country Ask me for my watershed address and I’ll tell you Douglas Creek Pacific Ocean This little creek drains 1,295 acres 524 hectares of land in my neighborhood and then flows straight into the Pacific Ocean I haven’t always had such a straightforward watershed address Years ago I lived in the city of Ottawa Ontario and had this address Rideau River Ottawa River St Lawrence River Atlantic Ocean What’s your watershed address If you shrug your shoulders shoulders in answer you aren’t alone Many people have no idea what their watershed address is but it’s really a good thing to know Here’s why First where does your drinking water come from From a watershed near you Where does your home’s gray water washing water and black water toilet water end up In a watershed near you Second what happens when a forest gets cut down to build houses or when a road gets paved It changes the land in a watershed A watershed isn’t just the water in an area it’s all Me at Douglas Creek near my home TRAVIS COMMANDEUR 8 8
Children enjoying a swim in an Indonesian river TI-JA GETTY IMAGES the land and everything on the land too How the land is used can make a big difference to the health of a watershed And a watershed’s health can translate into how much water people and animals have for daily living and how clean that water is Third watersheds the world over are stressed out thanks mainly to us humans We’ve built huge cities dammed and diverted rivers cut down vast forests drained wetlands to create farmland and even meddled with the planet’s climate Each of these actions and lots of others has an effect on one or more watersheds and all the animals plants and people that live there Once I knew I had a watershed address I wanted to learn more about what’s happening in watersheds near and far There are amazing things going on some worrying some inspiring Interested in finding out more Come for a walk with me through the world’s watersheds 9 9
Chapter One Chapter One The lower Fraser River near its mouth seen from an airplane ROWENA RAE My Watery World I grew up in Vancouver BC a city with lots of natural beauty snowcapped mountains beaches forests and the Fraser River This river drains such a large area of land that the entire country of Romania could fit inside its watershed I’ve been lucky to see many parts of this long river from its clear chattering headwaters 870 miles 1,400 kilometers inland to its wide swiftly moving middle to its many-fingered delta and milky-brown exit to the sea One of my favorite views of the Fraser River is from on high I’m reminded of the river’s grandeur and also of the many ways that people affect it by building and farming nearby navigating boats and changing the look of the shoreline A Watery World Beginning with Basics Beginning with Basics What are the two most basic things people need to survive Water to drink and food to eat Where do water and food come from I mean before they get to your kitchen tap and refrigerator Water comes from lakes rivers and streams and from precipitation rain snow and fog Food also comes from lakes rivers and streams as well as from the ocean and the land Together water and land make up watersheds The water part of the word watershed is obvious The shed part comes from an Old English word meaning to divide or separate It refers to a high point of land where a river starts its headwaters or source At this point the hills and mountains form a ridge that guides precipitation in a certain direction as it begins to tumble downhill All the water falling on one side of the ridge goes one way and all the water falling on the other side goes the other way The watershed is all the land on one side of the ridge plus all the water in and on that land Think of the land as a bowl or basin catching the falling or melting precipitation so another term for a watershed is catchment basin
The Mississippi watershed is the largest catchment basin in North America This aerial view shows the Mississippi River in dark blue and the smaller rivers and streams that all eventually flow into it The watershed drains south into the Gulf of Mexico HORACE MITCHELL NASA GSFC No matter where you are on the land whether on a beach at the edge of the sea or in a forest of trees smack in the middle of a continent you’re in a watershed And no matter where you live on a farm with miles between you and the neighboring farm or in an apartment on the busiest street of the biggest city you’re in a watershed Even if you live on an island as I do you’re in a watershed In watersheds the connections between water and land flow deep excuse the pun And these connections are critical for ecosystems and all the plants and animals that live in them including people Nomads by Nature Nomads by Nature Humans have been around for millions of years Our species Homo sapiens began walking on Earth around 300,000 years ago All early humans lived off the land literally They drank from lakes and streams dewdrops on leaves and puddles after rainfall They might have carried a little bit of water with them Early humans often camped near rivers and lakes BRIDGEMAN IMAGES 11 11 Gulf of Mexico
