What is a Watershed?

A watershed is defined as an area of land where all the surface water drains into the same place, whether it’s a creek, a stream, a river or an ocean. Therefore, all precipitation, such as rain or snow, that falls on a watershed ends up flowing to the same place.

Watershed boundaries are based on topographical or physical boundaries rather than community or political boundaries.

Watersheds include not only watercourses, but the entire land base draining into the watercourse.  Watersheds are separated by points of land (hills or slopes) at higher elevations than the surrounding lands. From these high points, water drains in different directions into distinct watersheds.

Watersheds can be very large, such as the Atlantic Ocean watershed, or can be divided into smaller and smaller sub-watersheds based on rivers and small streams. All the streams flowing into small rivers, larger rivers, and eventually into the ocean, form an interconnecting network of waterways.