Water Pollution
Watersheds are the areas of land where water runs off into our lakes and streams.
Or, as John Wesley Powell (civil war veteran, geographer, and exploerer of the Colorado river) put it:
"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."
How Watersheds Work
A watershed is an interconnected system area that collect water from rain and melting snow. The water runs off the land and is deposited into the rivers, streams, lakes, and resevoirs. Wherever you live, you are in and have some effect on a watershed.
The major environmental issue concerning our watersheds is the fact that everything that we put on the land is deposited into our waters. This may include trash, oils from roads, sewage, pesticides, sediment/silt, pharmaceuticals, and industrial waste among other sources.
That water is then classified by the EPA into one of several categories depending on how polluted or not polluted it is. Some rivers and lakes may be deemed useful as drinking water supply, swimming/recreation, or for the support of aquatic life.
How Do Watersheds Become Polluted
Decades of industrialization, carelessness, farming with pesticides, and clear cutting forests have caused many of our lakes and streams to become polluted.
- Pesticide Pollution - Some watersheds may be polluted with Pesticides such as DDT. DDT was heavily used as a pesticide between 1950 and 1979, when it was banned in the US. DDt can remain in the soil for decades. When it rains it gets washed into our ricers and lakes.
- Throwing Out Trash - Trash is another major contributor of watershed pollution. Often times when someone irresponsibly throws trash out of their vehicle or while outdoors, that trash ends up in your water supply. But it's not only what we do outside that effects our water supply. A recent study found that male fish that lived below a sewage treatment plant consumed so much estrogen from the water that it actually had the female egg protein vitellogenin in their blood stream. Researchers are also concerned with the amount of antibiotics that are being flushed down the toilet. Their concern is that the bacteria could become immune to treatment and drug-resistent disease could develop.
- Industrial Wastes - In the last 100 years we have seen enormous industrial growth. Have you ever wondered where the waste goes? Think about the iron and steel industry. They've produced waste such as cyanide amonia, hydraulic oils, and acids. Mining operations can include pollutants such as zinc, arsenic, and heavy particles of rock. The food and agriculture industry is just as much to blame as anyone else. They release animal parts, antibiotics, growth hormones and often have high Biochemical Oxygen Demand. Which is a measurement that determines the amount of oxygen a biological organism uses up. Where do these Industrial wastes end up? In your watershed.
- Clear-Cutting Forests - Many of the rivers that are now brown and murky were once clear. Many of the rivers and streams that were written about 100 years ago as being so clear you could see your feet are now so heavily contminated with sediment, you can't even see your belly button. The reason is that our forests have been clear cut to the point where the ground is literally being washed away into our lakes and streams. If there's no grass or roots to hold the dirt in place, it will simply wash away.
Cleaning watersheds may sound like an impossible task, but your carbon credits will make it possible to reclaim our watersheds and make our lakes and stream usable once again.
You can help us clean watersheds. When you buy carbon credits you help support our efforts.