Watersheds also exist at different geographical levels. The Mississippi River has a huge watershed that covers all or part of 33 states. You might live in this watershed, but at the same time, you live in a watershed of a smaller local stream or river that eventually empties into the Mississippi River. EPA`s activities in the area of healthy watersheds focus primarily on these small watersheds. This land-water dynamic largely determines the health of our waterways and the types of aquatic life in a given area. Effective protection of aquatic ecosystems recognizes their connectivity with each other and with surrounding watersheds. Unfortunately, human activities have greatly altered many water bodies and their watersheds. For example: A watershed – the area of land that drains into a stream, lake or river – affects the quality of water in the surrounding body of water. Healthy watersheds not only help protect water quality, but also provide greater benefits to the people and wildlife that live in them than degraded watersheds. We all live in a watershed, and the state of the watershed is important to everyone and to everything that consumes and needs water. Opinions on the literal geographic significance of the watershed are divided. On one side of the debate, there are those who think the word can only refer to a ridge that separates rivers and streams flowing in one direction from those flowing in the opposite direction.
This is the original meaning of the term, which is probably borrowed from the translation of the German watershed. On the other side of the argument, there are those who believe that the watershed can also apply to the area through which this divided water flows. The latter meaning is much more common in America today, but most Americans seem to have decided to leave the dispute to geologists and geographers, while figuratively using the term “turning point.” A very wide range of activities could be described as healthy watershed protection. These can be regulatory and non-regulatory approaches. EPA`s activities to protect healthy watersheds are not regulated. Approaches used at the state and local levels could be both. The private sector is also active in many forms of protection. Several states have developed national assessments of their healthy watersheds over the past decade. EPA has partnered with states and watershed groups in several other locations to produce more watershed assessments nationwide. In many states, however, there are still no completed studies to identify healthy watersheds or their weak points.
EPA is currently working to provide these states with preliminary assessments of healthy watersheds. Streams, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water are connected to the landscape and all its activities by their watersheds. They are influenced by natural variations in lake levels, water movements to and from groundwater, and the amount of streams. Other factors such as wildfires, stormwater runoff patterns, and the location and amount of pollution sources also affect the health of our waters. The EPA`s healthy watershed assessment process focuses on small watersheds – either watersheds (averaging about one square mile) or a unique HUCHUCA code consisting of two to eight digits (based on the four classification levels of the unitary hydrological system) that identifies each hydrological unit.12 watersheds (average of about 35 square miles). The factors used to describe and compare watersheds, called indicators, are selected specifically for the area of the country studied. Although a selection of indicators adapted to the study area is made on a user-by-user basis, all assessments provide a comparative watershed health index and a watershed vulnerability index. These complementary indices help States and other users determine where the healthiest watersheds are located and how vulnerable they might be. A turning point is a turning point or a historic moment. The day you removed your braces could have been a turning point in your life. Unfortunately not.
Healthy watersheds are rare, especially in the eastern United States, as well as in most other parts of the country that are urbanized, managed, or operated. Large areas of protected wilderness, particularly in the western United States, are where the most healthy watersheds are found. However, in many parts of the country where water pollution has been avoided or well controlled, and communities benefit from their clean waterways, healthy watersheds exist. One of the EPA`s most important responsibilities is to work with states and others to achieve the Clean Water Act`s primary goal – restoring and maintaining the integrity of the country`s waters. Despite the many successes of this pollution control law, tens of thousands of streams, rivers and lakes have been reported to still be affected.